Home » State Early Childhood Policy Landscapes » North Carolina Early Childhood Policy Landscape

North Carolina

North Carolina, like all states, has a unique early childhood policy landscape that is shaped by economics, demographics, political history, coalitions, and other factors that create a state-specific environment for policy advocacy.

State early childhood policy progress is dependent both on the state’s environment and the numerous efforts—by the organizations listed on this page, other organizations, parents, policymakers, practitioners, and more—who work both independently and collaboratively to achieve wins for young children.

2024 State Early Childhood Policy Environment and Progress

Early Childhood Landscape:

Research shows that family economic security is foundational to children’s overall wellbeing. Research also shows that widespread disparities in opportunity (especially by race) drive wide disparities in outcomes. States with policies that offer strong support to young children and their families are more likely to see 1) declining numbers of children in low-income households and 2) low racial disparity among those children.

Young Children in Low-Income Households: Declining

Approximately 42% (448,000) of the state’s children 0-8 live in households below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (2022). This number represents a decrease from 46% (500,000) in 2017.¹

Racial Disparity Among Young Children Living in Low-Income Households: High

Black, Hispanic/Latino, and/or Native children aged 0-8 are significantly more likely to be living in households below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level than are Asian and non-Hispanic White children.²

(NOTE: Selecting for age 0-8, state, and race can yield small cell sizes that can make percentages less accurate. Bars marked with S indicate data with extremely small cell sizes, which is not displayed. Bars marked with C should be interpreted with caution. Though the cell sizes are larger, they still fall below a threshold of reliability.)

Advocacy Landscape:

State General Fund Appropriations: Growing

In September 2023 the North Carolina legislature approved a biennial budget for fiscal years 2024 and 2025, and in October the budget became law without the governor’s signature. The biennial budget includes net general fund appropriations of $29.7 billion in fiscal 2024, an increase of $2.2 billion, or 7.9 percent, over the base. For fiscal 2025, net general fund appropriations are $30.8 billion, an increase of $1.1 billion, or 3.8 percent, over fiscal 2024. The revised consensus revenue forecast estimates general fund revenues of $33.7 billion in fiscal 2024 and $33.4 billion in fiscal 2025. The expected unappropriated balance remaining in fiscal 2024 is $1.6 billion and is $221.0 million in fiscal 2025.³

Largest Revenue Sources (after federal transfers):⁴

- - Charges: $2,107 per capita
  - Individual Income Taxes: $1,506 per capita

North Carolina uses all major state and local taxes. Charges are public payments connected with a specific government service, such as tuition paid to a state university, payments to a public hospital, or highway tolls.

State Budget Rules:⁴

North Carolina uses a biennial budget. The legislature must pass a balanced budget and is prohibited from carrying a deficit over into the following year. State spending growth is limited by a budget rule based on personal income growth, but the legislature can override the rule with a simple majority vote. North Carolina limits authorized debt incurred by the state, but not debt service.

Permanent State Funding Stream Dedicated to Early Childhood: Yes

Guidelines from the North Carolina legislature dictate a portion of lottery proceeds is spent on pre-k. In 2020, 11 percent of lottery revenue (almost $79 million) went to fund pre-k in the state.

Political Alignment: Divided

During the 2024 session, the state’s Senate and House were both Republican controlled. The state’s Governor was a Democrat.⁵

Types of Common Ballot Measures Available:⁶One

- Legislature-Initiated Constitutional Amendments – A constitutional amendment that appears on a state’s ballot as a ballot measure because the state legislature in that state voted to put it before the voters.

Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Organizations Include:

Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Multi-State Initiatives Include:⁷

2024 Policy Progress:

2024 highlights from the state’s early childhood policy advocacy community include⁵:

Advocates won adjustments to the 2023 Appropriations Act in the form of child care stabilization grants. As the federal funding for child care stabilization grants were ending, this last-minute funding was provided to child care providers to continue providing compensation grants to their staff. This was at 75% of the previous funding levels.

Legislators also passed the Disaster Recovery Act of 2024, which benefits western NC child care providers, families, parents, and children directly impacted by Hurricane Helene. This $273-million bill also temporarily waives or modifies certain mandatory standards for a license for child care facilities in an area impacted by Hurricane Helene. A second “Disaster Recovery Act Part II” bill provided $10 million in disaster relief for child care centers and family child care homes. Additional relief came in SB 382, which provided an appropriation of $33.75 million in for the continuation of the compensation grants portion of the Child Care Stabilization Grants at a reduced portion for Q3 (January – March).

SB 876 reforms North Carolina’s quality rating improvement system (QRIS), so that child care providers will have alternative pathways to become a licensed provider or to increase their star ratings, leading to increased reimbursements.

H10 adjusted funding to Medicaid. Given the state’s recent expansion of Medicaid, this benefits residents who qualify for care with $277M recurring for the Medicaid rebase and $100M nonrecurring for the state’s transition to managed care.

HB 917 expanded community organization grants to be awarded to community organizations focused on teaching children how to cope with stress in healthy ways, as well as limit their access to lethal measures, as part of an overall goal to prevent suicide among North Carolina youth.

Ongoing Grantee Areas of Advocacy:

The Alliance’s lead ally in North Carolina, NC Child, advances thoughtful policy solutions around early childhood education, child health and well-being, and family economic security. They do this through conducting and analyzing evidence-based research and data, collaborating with leaders at the North Carolina General Assembly, and engaging communities across North Carolina’s 100 counties.

NC Child is working to advance early childhood policies in several areas that align with the Alliance’s birth-through-eight policy framework:

Early Care and Education

Child Care

Child Care Workforce

Preschool and Pre-K

Child and
Maternal Health

Maternal Health

Infant & Child Health

Family
Supports

Early Childhood Infrastructure

Click here and here for more information on advocates’ policy agenda.

RECENT ADVOCACY SNAPSHOT:

Work Continues to Include Family Child Care Providers in Public Pre-K Systems

February 7, 2025

In an effort to extend the reach of publicly funded pre-k programs, policymakers and advocates are turning toward a strategy of increasing pre-K enrollment spots beyond school and center-based classrooms, such as in family child care homes. A new national initiative aims to help family child care providers in Alabama, Michigan, Nevada, and North Carolina integrate into publicly funded pre-k programs.

NOTES:

¹Kids Count Data Center, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Children Ages 0 to 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, January, 2024.

²National Center for Children in Poverty, Children Ages 0 through 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, October 2024, NCCP analysis of ACS 5-Year Estimates – Public Use Microdata Sample 2018-2022.

³National Association of State Budget Officers, Proposed and Enacted Budgets, FY 2025.

⁴Urban Institute, State Fiscal Briefs, June 2024.

⁵National Conference of State Legislatures, 2024 State & Legislative Partisan Composition, April 29, 2024.

⁶Ballotpedia, Ballot Measures by State, Kids Count Data Center, retrieved July, 2024.

⁷Alliance for Early Success, Multi-State Initiatives for Early Childhood Policy Advocacy, July, 2024.

⁸Alliance for Early Success, State-Wide Advocacy Highlights Survey, April-October, 2024; and 2024 Prenatal-to-3 Legislative Highlights, Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center, July, 2024.