It’s been a difficult year for Mary Moody, owner of the top-rated Silver Bluff Kids Early Learning Center in Haywood County. She said her business has struggled since federal pandemic funds used to keep childcare centers open ran out in 2025.

Moody didn’t want to cut staff salaries after the federal money ran out, she said in an email, but avoiding wage cuts and paying higher operational costs meant the center had to end contributions to retirement plans and employee health insurance reimbursements “because the money simply wasn’t there.”

The center also had to cut back on art and craft supplies and some activities. 

The new state budget tosses a financial life preserver to rural businesses like Moody’s that provide subsidized childcare, offering them some hope of stability after a long period of hardship.

The budget commits $97 million in federal funds to raise subsidy rates, and it also sets a minimum rate, called a “rate floor,” that will end up sending more money to rural childcare providers than they otherwise would have received. Subsidies help low-income families cover childcare costs. 

“This is what we have been begging for for years,” said Mandy Mills, executive director of the Southwestern Child Development Commission.

Rural providers collect fewer subsidy dollars per child than urban providers. Payments are based on market rate studies, as well as the quality of the childcare center or home and the age of the child. 

Rural providers have argued for years that the rates they’ve been paid fall far below their actual costs. 

Mills’ commission administers subsidies for 14 western counties and operates the childcare resource and referral service for 37 counties. The rate floor will make a huge difference in rural western countries, she said. 

“It’s going to be a game changer,” she said. “We have had programs closing right and left.”

It’s not just childcare providers who called for a rate floor. Child advocates and businesses did, too.  called the rate floor a “breakthrough” and “the single most consequential childcare provision in the budget.”

Establishing a rate floor was also a top recommendation from Gov. Josh Stein’s

Rural centers and home-based childcare operators that had been struggling are in line for significant increases.

A top-rated, five-star center in Randolph County receives a $867 subsidy per month for each infant, said Leanna Martin, director of early childhood education policy and research at NC Child. Starting in October, that same center will see subsidies increase by $500 a month for each infant.

In another example, reimbursements for five-star home-based care for 3- to 5-year-olds in Alleghany County will increase from $407 per month to $900 a month. 

The hope is that childcare options will expand in rural areas, with the increased payments encouraging centers and homes to accept more children. 

“When reimbursements were so low, they were losing so much money,” Martin said. 

There’s a tremendous need for infant care, but costs for providers are higher for babies because childcare centers need one staff member for every five babies. Staff-to-child ratios are higher for older children. 

Centers throughout western North Carolina closed classrooms because they could not hire or keep enough staff, said Mills. When centers needed to cut back, infant care was the first thing to go. 

Moody at Silver Bluff Kids is anxious to restore employee benefits and hire a new teacher. 

“The subsidy rate floor will, number one, allow us to avoid the big financial burden we have had. It will allow us to reinstate either a health insurance policy or a health insurance reimbursement plan with higher reimbursement rates than we were previously able to contribute to employees’ insurance. We will also contribute again to the staff’s retirement plans,” Moody said. 

The center is fully enrolled with 54 children. Moody couldn’t afford to hire a new teacher, so she and the assistant director have been filling in. Moody said she spends her nights and weekends doing paperwork. 

“The rate floor, in my opinion, will allow centers to thrive,” she said. “ I think it will be a game-changer for retaining highly qualified staff and recruiting additional staff. This investment will allow many centers like ours to continue providing the high-quality care we are known for, without the financial stress of trying to figure out how to fit it all into the budget creatively.”

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. NC Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Laura Leslie for questions: info@ncnewsline.com.

California’s latest budget includes $116 million over three years to help schools identify and support students experiencing homelessness — the first time the state has dedicated funding specifically for this purpose.

Homeless student advocates welcomed the investment after years of lobbying lawmakers to supplement the federal dollars California gets annually to address student homelessness. However, advocates cautioned that one-time funding will only go so far to address the long-term problem of student homelessness.

Nearly 300,000 students in California were identified as experiencing homelessness in 2024-25, according to state data. However, homeless student advocates say that number is likely an undercount because it’s challenging to identify homeless students. With dedicated funding, schools can hire specialized staff trained to identify students facing housing instability and develop longer-term support programs.

“There is a great need, but the hard part with this population is you have to find them and identify them, and we have never funded that,” said Margaret Olmos, senior director at the National Center for Youth Law.

For years, Olmos and other advocates urged California lawmakers to provide state funding dedicated to homeless students, arguing that the federal McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act — about $15 million annually to California — was insufficient to meet districts’ needs.

This year’s 2026-27 budget includes a one-time, three-year competitive grant program totaling $116 million. Although advocates had hoped for an ongoing funding stream, they called the allocation a significant step forward.

“Short-term money is very, very difficult for schools to utilize,” Olmos said.

Why dedicated funding?

California schools already can use several funding buckets to support students experiencing homelessness, including funding for community schools, Title 1 for schools to support low-income students, and supplemental dollars via the Local Control Funding Formula.

But those funding sources can help students only after they have been identified as experiencing homelessness. The state’s $116 million investment is intended primarily to help schools find eligible students and connect them with services, according to the .

“Whether it’s community school funding or other funding that California’s providing for its students, if homeless students aren’t identified, if they don’t have regular transportation, a way to get to school, has somebody who’s attending to all those other needs — they’re not going to be able to benefit from those other investments,” said Barbara Duffield, executive director of SchoolHouse Connection, an organization that advocates for homeless students.

Identifying students can be difficult if families are reluctant to disclose housing instability or do not realize they are considered homeless under federal law and thus qualify for services.

Under the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, student homelessness is defined more broadly than it is for the general population under the more commonly used definition from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Under McKinney-Vento, students are considered homeless if they lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence — including many who are temporarily living with relatives or friends because of economic hardship.

This definition includes students living “,” meaning families who share housing due to economic hardship. The HUD definition doesn’t include families who are doubling up. live “doubled-up,” but they could go uncounted if they or people offering support are not aware of the different definitions of homelessness.

In recent years, California has taken steps to improve identification and access to resources.

, for example, requires schools to administer an annual housing questionnaire and report the results to the California Department of Education. Schools are also required under federal law to designate homeless liaisons responsible for identifying students and connecting them with services.

During Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration, billions have been allocated to address homelessness statewide, with a small percentage set aside for youth. have applied for and received grants via that program, but funds are exclusively for housing, and not for services such as transportation, food assistance, clothing, school supplies and more that students need.

Olmos and other advocates say that this is where schools come in. School staff work to identify homeless students, though often with little to no dedicated funding.

A teacher or classroom aide might notice a student whose grades have slipped, or another’s who has an unkempt appearance. An attendance team might note sudden increased absences and might know they should flag a homeless liaison.

In many cases, that a family recently lost housing, cannot afford basic necessities or lacks reliable transportation to school.

California received in McKinney Vento dollars during the 2025-26 school year, distributed among 151 of the state’s more than 900 school districts and 58 county offices of education. An additional was allocated to support the , jointly managed by the Los Angeles, Contra Costa and San Diego county offices of education. The homeless liaisons for each of these three large counties answer questions submitted by liaisons or school staff from other districts, help train new liaisons and offer webinars on McKinney Vento requirements, among other things.

Because federal funding for student homelessness nationally has remained flat nationwide for at least three years — about $129 million annually — advocates say California cannot rely on significant increases from Washington. 

The state’s $116 million will “signal to other states that there’s a way forward, but also that, within California, this is one-time funding that will help really show policymakers and educators that this needs to be the new normal in California,” said Duffield. “Because there’s no indication that homelessness is going to be down significantly in the next couple years.”

A proof of concept

Supporters of the new funding point to the federal American Rescue Plan-Homeless Children and Youth, known as ARP-HCY, as an example of the difference dedicated funding can make.

, through the ARP-HCY program, school districts nationwide received $800 million in one-time Covid-19 relief funding, including $98.76 million for California. Districts used the money to hire homeless liaisons and support staff, provide emergency housing assistance, expand after-school programs and connect families with basic services. 

But when the federal government announced in 2024 the would not be replenished, some of those programs began ending as well.

Homeless student advocates say California’s new $116 million allocation creates a new opportunity to demonstrate the value of dedicated funding, while also highlighting the challenges of relying on one-time grants.

“I think there’s a lot of lessons to be learned from ARP-HCY,” said Duffield. “How the funds go out, what they can be used for, how the actual disbursement is being tracked. All of that from the get-go.”

If districts can demonstrate measurable results, the hope is lawmakers will make the funding permanent, said Olmos.

“Our North Star has not changed. There has to be dedicated funding to this group that is safe in California moving forward,” she said. “So we have a window to prove that this is a wise investment, and we are really hoping that we don’t lose it.”

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COLUMBIA – A state-funded initiative to train South Carolina college students on a quantum supercomputer for future high-tech, high-paying jobs kicks into gear in January.

The newly formed South Carolina Quantum Association will start pairing students and professors with companies seeking industry advancements that only a quantum computer can provide, according to the group’s organizer, Joe Queenan.

The nonprofit is funded through a $15 million . The initial millions spent will pay for quantum consultants to coach students each semester through spring 2025, starting at the University of South Carolina before expanding to other colleges. It will also pay to rent time on a quantum computer housed at the University of Maryland but accessed through a web portal in the nonprofit’s office in Columbia’s Five Points.

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Because the technology is new, there are few experts in the field.

The association’s goal is to make South Carolina students specialists of this next-era technology through hands-on training before they graduate.

The hope is that a concentration of such experts in the Palmetto State could, in turn, lure more companies here to take advantage of the trained workforce stepping out of the state’s public and private universities.

“If we can train a generation on the skills needed, they’re going to be sought after by every entity in the world at a great salary,” state Sen. Dick Harpootlian told the SC Daily Gazette.

That’s why the Columbia Democrat lobbied for the state dollars. He wants to make the technology, with its complex computing capabilities, widely available through college and workforce training programs.

While classic computers operate under a binary system of 1s and 0s, quantum computing is multidimensional. These computers solve in minutes complex calculations involving vast numbers of data points that would take years using a standard computer.

Some promising uses for the technology include the development of new pharmaceuticals and batteries. Banks are using it to prevent cyber-theft, reduce risky lending, and meet new regulations put in place in the wake of the Great Recession, according to IBM, which has more than 20 quantum computer systems around the world.

For example, to develop a new drug, scientists typically work by trial and error. It’s a long process. Researchers run thousands of tests in hopes that a molecule will be found that can combat a disease. But a quantum computer could run even the most complex simulations to determine how subatomic particles that make up a molecule interact. The same is true for scientists searching for new materials for batteries that would make them charge faster and hold more power.

In Silicon Valley, Mercedes-Benz is partnering with IBM to test how sulphur molecules behave in different environments, with the goal of replacing lithium-ion batteries. And Boeing recently gave $3.5 million to a Chicago-based quantum group to study quantum-enabled sensors.

Congress has funneled at least $3.7 billion to quantum research hubs across the country since 2019.

The same entrepreneurial leaders behind Columbia’s GrowCo organization, a conglomeration of technology startups that want to increase the number of high-tech companies in the Capital City, are leading the SC Quantum Association.

‘An open race’

The non-profit wants to get South Carolina in the game, alongside early adopters in more established quantum clusters such as Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., and Boulder, Colorado. Its leaders also want to leverage the state money to win more federal dollars.

“We can be world-renowned for what we do here,” Harpootlian said. “The question is, are we going to be last in the country or are we going to be the first.”

Webbed partnerships already have sprung up around studying the technology, signing on Ivy League giants such as Harvard and Yale, renowned technology schools such as MIT and Virginia Tech, as well as a handful of state schools.

While those places may be ahead in terms of research dollars, Queenan said, the technology is still new and broad enough for South Carolina to distinguish itself by starting now.

“It’s still an open race but it’s going to take highly skilled workers,” he said.

The fast pace of the technology’s development means demand for experts in the field is outpacing the availability of talent. The quantum association wants South Carolinians to fill that niche.

Harpootlian, whose district includes USC and Five Points, wants to reverse what he calls the “exodus of our best and brightest” and make South Carolina a technological center.

“What we see is, the kids who want to develop skills in technology, they leave,” he said.

This wasn’t his first attempt to land a quantum computer initiative in Five Points, though he did recraft his request to win more support.

Last year, Harpootlian got a $25 million earmark in the budget to buy a quantum computer. But , and legislators in with that line-item veto.

McMaster did not veto the cheaper option of renting the time.

Later phases of the state-funded initiative involve designing a quantum computing specialty degree program that colleges across the state could replicate. At least one of those will be offered at a historically Black college in South Carolina. Organizers also want to launch an online training academy for workers looking to transfer into a high-tech career.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. SC Daily Gazette maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seanna Adcox for questions: info@scdailygazette.com. Follow SC Daily Gazette on and .