The Alliance’s key allies in Vermont are Let’s Grow Kids (LGK) and Voices for Vermont’s Children (VVC). LGK is a statewide movement to secure affordable access to high-quality child care for all Vermonters by 2025. LGK partners with local communities to strengthen the existing early childhood education system and mobilizes Vermonters to demand policy change and increased public investment in high-quality child care. VVC conducts research and analysis on policy solutions to improve the lives of children and youth, and advocates for those changes in the legislature and beyond. Their efforts focus on addressing equity through systemic change rather than individual-level interventions.
State early childhood policy progress is dependent both on the state’s policy environment and the numerous efforts — by those listed on this page and many others — who worked both independently and collaboratively to achieve wins for young children.
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 30% (15,000) of the state’s children 0-8 live in households below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (2021). This number represents a decrease from 36% (20,000) in 2016.1
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
State General and Education Fund Appropriations: Growing
Vermont Governor Phil Scott vetoed the state’s fiscal 2024 budget on May 27; the budget was subsequently enacted on June 20 after the state legislature voted to override the governor’s veto. The enacted budget calls for $8.5 billion in total spending in fiscal 2024, including a roughly 13 percent increase in base general fund spending. A July 2023 forecast estimates general fund revenue at $2.9 billion (a 3.6 percent decrease), education fund revenue at $736 million (a 1.0 percent increase), and transportation fund revenue at $353 million (a 3.1 percent increase).3
Largest FY 2021 Revenue Sources (after federal transfers):4
Political Alignment: Divided
During the 2023 session, the state’s Senate and House were both Democrat controlled. The state’s Governor was a Republican.5
Types of Common Ballot Measures Available:6 One
Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Organizations Include:
Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Multi-State Initiatives Include:7
Highlights from the state’s early childhood policy advocacy community include:8
Child Care Bill: The historic 2023 Child Care Bill makes Vermont’s child care system one of the most expansive in the nation.The legislation includes long-term, sustainable public funding that will make a difference for years into the future. On an annual basis, the bill will invest $125 million into Vermont’s child care system to make child care more affordable and accessible for over 7,000 additional children and their families, increase funding for child care programs, and grow the capacity and quality of child care in Vermont.
TANF (Reach UP): Vermont passed legislation that tasks the administration with submitting an actionable, phased plan to raise benefit levels in the Reach Up program to meet 100 percent of basic needs over a period not greater than five fiscal years. In addition, the budget includes increased funding for one-time expenses for Reach Up participants, and the creation of a pilot that will provide cash stipends to participants transitioning off the program as their earnings increase, to counteract the benefits cliff.
Universal School Meals: Vermont has become the sixth state to establish universal school meals. Advocacy partners Hunger Free Vermont led the campaign to ensure that every student will have access to breakfast and lunch, regardless of income.
Tax Credits: In addition to quashing a senate proposal to eliminate the new state child tax credit (CTC) as part of the child care funding package, Vermont’s Children and its economic security advocacy partners successfully extended eligibility for both the CTC and earned income tax credit (EITC) to all state residents, regardless of citizenship status.
The Alliance’s lead grantees in Vermont, Let’s Grow Kids and Voices for Vermont’s Children, are working to advance early childhood policies in several areas that align with the Alliance’s birth-through-eight policy framework:
Child Care
Child Care Workforce
K-3rd Grade
Preschool and Pre-K
Child Health
Early Intervention (Age 0-3)
Family Economic Security
Paid Family and Medical Leave
Early Childhood Finance and Cost Modeling
Early Childhood Governance
Click here for more information on advocates’ policy agenda.
The Vermont state legislature made an historic investment in the state’s child care system of more than $76 million in new funding in state fiscal year 2024 and nearly $125 million in state fiscal year 2025. Despite facing political challenges and uncertainty, Act 76 found a path forward through a veto override with multi-partisan support.
NOTES:
1 Kids Count Data Center, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Children Ages 0 to 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, November, 2022
2 National Center for Children in Poverty, Children Ages 0 to 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, March 2023, NCCP analysis of ACS 1-Year Estimates – Public Use Microdata Sample 2021
3 National Association of State Budget Officers, Summaries of Fiscal Year 2024 Enacted Budgets, October 11, 2023.
4 Urban Institute, State Fiscal Briefs, July 2023
5 National Conference of State Legislatures, 2023 State & Legislative Partisan Composition, February 28, 2023.
6 Ballotpedia, Ballot Measures by State, Kids Count Data Center, retrieved May, 2023.
7 Alliance for Early Success, Multi-State Initiatives for Early Childhood Policy Advocacy, April, 2022.
8 Alliance for Early Success, State-Wide Advocacy Highlights Survey, April-August, 2023.
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© 2024 Alliance for Early Success
The Alliance for Early Success does not endorse or advocate for specific legislation or candidates.
