Despite Vermont parents’ overwhelming demand for spots in child care and preschools, the supply remains limited. Parents all over the state sit on waitlists for months or even years. If they do score a spot, tuition likely could cost them more than if they sent their toddler to an in-state college for the workday.
And yet, despite the tight market for early childhood services, the educators still usually make less than $20 an hour, and often don’t receive benefits such as health insurance.
Something in this economic system isn’t working for most Vermont families.
Child care is also shaping up to be one of the most significant policy issues state lawmakers tackle this legislative session. Gov. Phil Scott already has released a $50 million proposal to increase to state subsidies. Legislators are expected to release a child care funding bill in the coming days.
This episode, we go to the Orange County Parent Child Center in Tunbridge, where parents and educators discuss how they’re making it work. VTDigger politics reporter Lola Duffort explains how state funding for child care could change this year.
A plan for what’s left of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant
Edi Abeneto of Feeding Chittenden on fighting hunger and breaking down cultural barriers
How to raise emotionally intelligent kids
The star-studded history of a small island in Lake Bomoseen
Who is the University of Vermont for?
Synagogue sold — what happens when a historic house of worship becomes something else
‘It dominates anxiety’ — unpacking the process and impact of health insurance premium hikes
How flooding affects Vermont’s wildlife and ecosystems
‘I was in shock.’ — Reporters on the impact of Vermont’s catastrophic flooding
The fraught politics of Vermont’s motel housing program
A spate of deaths focuses attention on Vermont prisons and the Department of Corrections
A VTDigger reporter’s guide to the Statehouse
Deep in the forest, a patch of common ground
What’s happened at Vermont sheriffs’ departments
Noah Kahan on ‘existing in a place that you've just written about’
Leveling the funding field for small towns
What 97 acres means to Williston
What’s next for Montpelier’s water system?
What keeps Vermonters together across a widening income divide?
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