Joshua Hall

A House Democratic priority bill aimed at improving access to affordable early childhood care is moving along in the legislature.

A public hearing was held this week on House Bill 5003, An Act Concerning the Early Childhood Care and Education Fund, before the Committee on Children and received overwhelming and wide-ranging support during public testimony.

Connecticut is home to approximately 181,000 children under the age of five and the majority of Connecticut's young children (73%) are being cared for outside of the home while their parents work. Affordable and accessible childcare is a necessity for Connecticut families and businesses to thrive.

Our state has one of the highest costs of childcare in the country and affordable childcare available for working families is woefully inadequate, so it is critical to find ways to make childcare and early childhood education more affordable and accessible.

Rep. Kate Farrar, a House Deputy Majority Leader from West Hartford, said the legislation looks to improve childcare availability in a number of ways. “It delivers faster funding for families and also addresses the need to attract and retain childcare educators. It also creates a way to continue to fund the much-needed updates and new childcare facilities that our state needs,” she said.

High-quality and affordable early childhood care and education contribute toward building a more robust economy and help encourage the success of working families and future generations. These are much-needed sound investments in our state’s future and will go a long way toward helping parents earn a living while being able to better provide for their children’s care and early education.

You can read more about our bill on Early Childhood Care in this article from CT News Junkie.