This story was reported and written by VPM News.
Outgoing Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin rolled out his final budget proposal Wednesday, touting growing state revenues, large Medicaid investments and more.
While he mentioned early childhood education investments, the issue wasn't a central focus of this year's budget address — as it was two years ago.
At that time, it was predicted that tens of thousands of children in Virginia would lose access to child care when an infusion of federal pandemic relief funds supporting the state's Child Care Subsidy Program ran out.
The state invested hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure that didn't happen. However, since then the waitlist for subsidized child care in Virginia has continued to grow — hovering between 12,000 and 14,000 children in recent months.
A recent statewide survey detailed the economic and emotional toll that a lack of state-subsidized child care is taking on Virginia families.
As of Oct. 1, there were about 4,800 infants and toddlers on the waitlist for the Child Care Subsidy Program — which provides full-day and after care for eligible kids under 13, or under 18 if disabled — along with 2,800 preschoolers and 6,100 school-aged kids.
Overall, that's roughly 13,700 waitlisted children.
Lawmakers and advocacy groups have called for enough funding to fully clear the waitlist, but Youngkin's budget proposal doesn't include full funding.
Instead, Youngkin announced Wednesday that his budget would move $137.6 million of unused funding from the Virginia Preschool Initiative, a public preschool program for at-risk kids, to free up funding for about 6,700 slots for children from birth to 5 on the CCSP waitlist.
"The opportunity for us to create nearly another 7,000 slots by being dynamic with the way we are funding based on demand is critically important," Youngkin told VPM News.
According to Jenna Conway, deputy superintendent of early childhood care and education, VPI's funding formula has historically over-estimated program demand and capacity at the school district level.
Conway also told VPM News that the roughly 6,700 slots would be enough to nearly eliminate the Child Care Subsidy Program waitlist for kids ages birth to age five for FY27.
Until recently, the un-utilized VPI funding went back into the general fund — but now, per a new state law passed in 2024, must be redirected for other early childhood education purposes. However, Del. Candi Mundon King (D–Prince William) told VPM News that Youngkin's reallocation of resources from one early childhood education program to another is like "robbing Peter to pay Paul."
Now, the ball is in Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger's court: She previously told VPM News that she would prioritize eliminating the child care subsidy waitlist.
"I'm sure the new governor and the General Assembly will ensure mothers and families have access to those child care slots," Mundon King said.
She added that child care has been vitally important to her family over the years: As a young mom with three kids, Mundon King and her husband were spending as much as $35,000 to $40,000 a year on child care.
"Especially when you have a child with a disability, which was my experience, finding specialized care and people who had the skills to provide care … can make or break your family," Mundon King said.
Her teenage daughter recently passed away after a yearslong battle with sickle cell disease.
Mundon King said she even quit a job over the cost of child care when she was a young mom.
"Child care is critical to our ability to work and provide for our families," she said. "So giving us halfway answers is not good enough for working families."
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