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The race to elect the next president hasn鈥檛 officially started, but soon President Joe Biden will turn toward defending his seat in the White House. As he does so, he鈥檚 likely to talk about what he鈥檚 done for the child care and early childhood education sector. And while the vision he had championed for a large, federal investment in creating a more affordable, accessible system hasn鈥檛 become reality, there are many things he鈥檚 done and overseen that will leave a lasting mark well beyond his presidency.

鈥淏iden has been the caregiver-in-chief in terms of championing these issues,鈥� said Melissa Boteach, vice president for income security and child care/early learning at the National Women鈥檚 Law Center. 鈥淭his administration has really been a standout leader on child care.鈥�

Biden recently released his annual budget, which over 10 years to child care and early childhood education. , that funding would allow states to expand child care for more than 16 million children while ensuring that low-income families get care for free and families earning up to $200,000 would pay no more than $10 a day for each child. It would also send states money to provide high-quality, universal, free preschool in a variety of settings for all four-year-olds, and after states accomplished that they would also be able to expand it to three-year-olds.

On top of those funds, the budget would also spend $22.5 billion on existing child care and early education programs, including a $1 billion increase for the Child Care and Development Block Grant over what Congress approved at the end of last year. It puts an extra $1.1 billion into Head Start and $45 million into Preschool Development Grants to states.

It’s 鈥渢he largest investment that鈥檚 ever been made in a president鈥檚 budget,鈥� Boteach said. 鈥淭his budget is setting a goalpost.鈥� Despite the fact that Biden鈥檚 attempt to include for child care over three years in his Build Back Better plan ultimately failed, his budget calls for even more funding than that. 鈥淗e鈥檚 building upon the commitment, not backing away from it,鈥� she said.

The budget also 鈥渟hows you can reduce the deficit,鈥� Boteach pointed out, 鈥渁nd still invest in child care if you do the popular step of taxing corporations and wealthy individuals.鈥�

Still, presidential budgets, while telegraphing an administration鈥檚 priorities and values, rarely get enacted as-is, and there is little chance that Congress will pass legislation to match the child care and early childhood education funding Biden鈥檚 included. Still, he has overseen some other concrete changes for the sector.

Last year, Congress passed the CHIPS and Science Act, which creates $39 billion in incentives to build semiconductor plans in the U.S. The Commerce Department has since for companies that seek those incentives, and is one that they outline how they will ensure child care for their employees and 鈥渟trongly consider defraying the price of care such that it is within reach for low- and medium-income households.鈥� Companies will be some of the subsidy money they receive to meet that requirement, such as building on-site child care facilities, giving workers money to afford care or investing in existing providers to ensure they have enough slots.

The effects of the requirement will be small. It鈥檚 not likely to do much to address the crisis roiling the sector in which providers can鈥檛 hire and retain enough employees, leaving people who need care .

Some worry that it will also misalign with policy goals. 鈥淭his is not the optimal way to do child care policy,鈥� said Chris Herbst, associate professor at Arizona State University who studies the child care industry. 鈥淚ndustry-targeted child care policy is not what the market needs.鈥� He is concerned that, because the money goes to people who work at semiconductor plants, it will go to higher earning workers, 鈥渨hich is inefficient, and feels inequitable as well,鈥� he said. They are likely already paying for child care out of pocket, so this money will just replace what they were already spending. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not going to bring anybody new into the labor market as a result,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not going to expose any new kids to high-quality child care.鈥� It also leaves out anyone in school or training programs who need child care while they learn, even if their ultimate aim is to get a semiconductor job.

Boteach sees it as a worthwhile marker, however. 鈥淚t sends an important message that child care is economic policy,鈥� she said.

She acknowledges it won鈥檛 have an impact on the sector 鈥渁t scale.鈥� But many of the workers who will be employed at new semiconductor and other plants that get the CHIPS funding will need child care鈥攅specially if these companies plan to attract women to these jobs鈥攁nd Boteach sees this requirement as a way to ensure that the increased demand doesn鈥檛 disrupt existing child care markets. 鈥淚f all of a sudden you have all these workers coming in to build the plant and operate the plant,鈥� she said, and they鈥檙e trying to find slots for their kids without any extra supply, 鈥渋t鈥檚 going to drive up prices and push out some of the families who use child care locally.鈥�

鈥淭his is about providing a point of planning,鈥� Boteach said.

What is already having a much larger impact is funding that Biden signed into law at the start of his term: the American Rescue Plan Act, which included $39 billion for the sector, the amount of funding the child care industry had ever received in the country鈥檚 history. 鈥淚t was huge,鈥� Boteach said with a laugh. have received stabilization grants made possible by the money, and say it helped them stay open. An stayed open that would have otherwise closed.

The money also helped prompt states to with child care innovations, from giving providers healthcare and retirement benefits in Oregon to offering subsidies to nearly all residents in New Mexico to waiving parent copays in Indiana. 鈥淭he amount of innovation on child care right now is really exciting,鈥� Herbst said. Those experiments are at risk of being erased when the money runs out this year and next. Still, 鈥淭here鈥檚 going to be a tremendous amount of learning that happens as a result of all of this experimentation that may work its way back up to the federal level and find its way into legislation,鈥� Herbst said. 鈥淭hat will ultimately improve the quality of our debate whenever we have another serious debate about this at the federal level.鈥�

States at least have one ongoing pot of money that they can turn to, a pot that鈥檚 even bigger now. In December, Biden signed an appropriations bill into law that included for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, a $1.9 billion increase over last year鈥檚 funding, representing the second-largest increase in the grant鈥檚 history. Boteach called it 鈥渉istoric.鈥�

Ultimately, although child care and early childhood investments were stripped out of Democrats鈥� reconciliation package, both Herbst and Boteach remain positive about where the issue stands. 鈥淚鈥檓 actually more optimistic than I have been in a while,鈥� Herbst said.

The pandemic forever changed the way the country views care. 鈥淏etween parents and businesses and people who are caregivers in general, you can鈥檛 really unsee the last few years,鈥� Boteach said.

The debate over Build Back Better, meanwhile, 鈥渃hanged the debate, and it moved it forward,鈥� Boteach said. 鈥淲e have moved from child care being a nice to have to a political imperative.鈥� The country got closer than it had in a half century to investing in a robust, national child care system. It used to be that advocates like Boteach had to push candidates for office at both federal and state levels to 鈥渞eally embrace and have a plan on this,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a default now that you need to have a robust and long-term plan to address this country鈥檚 child care crisis to be a serious candidate. That鈥檚 a huge step forward.鈥�

鈥淚 really do think we鈥檙e having a moment,鈥� Herbst said. 鈥淲e are in a drastically different spot than we were even just a few years ago.鈥� Child care legislation will keep getting reintroduced, he said, and each time it鈥檒l improve on the last. 鈥淥ne of these days we鈥檒l get it.鈥�

This story originally published on Early Learning Nation and is now archived on 麻豆精品. Learn more here.