New bill makes early childcare free for lower income households

Early childcare professionals in the Northwest Corner applaud the announcement of the passing of a new childcare affordability bill in the state, even if some details remain unclear.

On May 31, Connecticut state legislation passed a first-of-its kind bill that offers free early childcare to families with a total annual income of less than $100,000, and limits childcare costs to just 7% of annual income for families who make more.

“We’ve been on the back burner for a long time,” said Salisbury’s Housatonic Child Care Center Director Tonya Roussis, explaining that the moment feels like a reckoning of sorts for early childhood caregivers. “It’s nice to see that this is coming to the forefront, and we are being recognized.”

The bill, known as Senate Bill 1, has been a top priority for Senate democrats in the 2025 legislative session, which adjourned on June 4. The proposal was strongly backed by Governor Ned Lamont (D), who described it as “an investment in our future by expanding access to affordable pre-school” in a Feb. 2025 press release, explaining that early socialization and education prepares young children to succeed while their parents are able to earn more income.

The bill passed by a large margin, 32-4, in the state Senate on May 30, followed by a House vote the next day that was split on party lines, 101-45.

The core of the bill establishes an endowment fund from annual budget surplus amounting to up to $300 million per year that would subsidize families’ costs beginning in 2028. In a news release celebrating the May 30 Senate vote, State Sen. Doug McCrory (D-2) described the endowment as a “first-in-the-nation” strategy to address mounting early childcare and preschool costs.

The bill met opposition from Republicans who considered using surplus budget funds for off-budget spending irresponsible. A spokesperson for state Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding (R-30), who voted against the bill, stated that the senator was in favor of much of the bill but could not support what he felt was a violation of the state’s fiscal guardrails. He attempted to pass an amendment that would use capital from the state general fund rather than budget surplus for the endowment, but it was voted down.

Speaking at the session, Harding said the bill was “playing budget gimmicks with early childhood.”

Childcare, like in many places, is costly in the Northwest Corner. Roussis said in a region where annual preschool costs average between $14,000 and $17,000, the new legislation is welcome. “For those families making less than $100,000… they need to work, they need to live, they need to survive. And having this one piece off their financial plate is probably going to do so much for them.”

The bill also promises higher pay and better health care benefits to childcare professionals, which Roussis hopes will address underpay for highly qualified educators in the field. She said 90% of HCCC teachers have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in early childhood care and deserve fair compensation.

While Roussis is celebrating the bill’s passing as “amazing progress for the field of early childhood,” she’s aware that funding may be a long way away from a program like HCCC. “Private centers are down the road,” she said, explaining that the funds will primarily be allocated through state programs at first, like the Office of Early Childhood’s “Early Start CT” program. As the endowment grows, she is hopeful that organizations like HCCC will receive their share.

Other local childcare centers are cautious about the uncertainties surrounding how the funds will be directed and dispersed. Fran Chapell, who directs the Canaan Child Care Center, said that the Early Start program will subsume the OEC’s “School Readiness” program that has funded CCCC’s families, and that the details of how the shift will play out are yet unclear.

“It’s hard to know what the future is going to bring until we have more information,” she said.

Until then, Chapell is focusing on community partnerships as means to alleviate some of the cost burdens on young families.

The CCCC recently took over North Canaan’s community garden, Chapell said, and in the first week of June local families came out to help plant tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and other vegetables donated by East Canaan’s Freund’s Farm. When ready for harvest, the produce will be brought to the Fishes and Loaves Food Pantry, which will help reduce costs on food expenditures for families trying to make ends meet.

Chapell said a number of other partnerships, like a grant from the Salisbury Chapter of the Rotary Club which helps pay for school supplies or another grant from the Northwest CT Community Foundation that subsidizes winter clothing expenditures, also help to ease financial pressures on families facing such a variety of essential costs.

Partnerships, and looking to neighbors, she said, are the way to access the wealth or resources that the community offers. “We don’t have everything in the Northwest Corner, but we do have a lot that offers support for our families.”