With $4.2 billion more in revenue in the current fiscal year (2021-2022) than expected and $1.9 billion more in the next fiscal year, North Carolina must use funds to financially invest in the solutions necessary to combat the care crisis.
In 2021, the state created a stabilization program for child care centers across NC with American Rescue Plan Act dollars, allowing child care providers to raise wages of workers to a livable wage, pay bonuses for teachers who worked throughout the pandemic, and invest back in children through resources at child care centers.
In 2023, those funds will expire, and many experts in the field are predicting a mass exodus of workers from the field without new investment. That will cause a care crisis in our state and affect workers across industries.
We need historic investment in child care now.
Sign the petition to raise outdated subsidy rates and make an immediate impact for family child care homes and small providers who are the backbone of child care in North Carolina.
The cost of child care is skyrocketing and making care for our state’s children unaffordable for families.
Wages are stagnant for the people taking care of and educating children in the most important developmental years of their lives. Many child care teachers make below a living wage.
State funding from the American Rescue Plan Act will expire in 2023. Without additional funding, experts predict a mass exodus in the child care industry.
