Sen. McClellan proposes $4 billion child care, early learning plan for Virginia families

RICHMOND, Va. (WAVY) – Virginia candidate for governor Sen. Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond) announced a $4 billion Universal Child Care and Early Learning Plan on Friday.

“Rebuilding Virginia starts with our families and children. The coronavirus crisis has worsened Virginia’s child care and early learning crisis, and dramatically impacted lives for so many families,” McClellan said. 

“We need to address the underlying problem: underinvestment in early childhood education and lack of affordability for too many Virginia families.”

The plan will allow for increased access to affordable child care and early childhood education for more than 500,000 Virginia children, according to a statement released by McClellan’s office Friday.

The pandemic has caused hardships across the child care community and many facilities remain closed “which has sent a ripple effect through Virginia’s economy – including women dropping out of the workforce at record rates,” the statement continues.

Additionally, “new Bureau of Labor Statistics data out this month showed that women accounted for all of the U.S. economy’s job losses in December — and that Black and Latina women were disproportionately impacted.”

McClellan’s child care and early learning plan is part 1 in her 3-part plan to invest in Virginia’s education system from birth to career. 

“Today, I am proposing a new plan that will ensure universal child care and early learning for Virginia families.

“The Universal Child Care and Early Learning Plan will guarantee every family access to affordable, high-quality child care. This is a necessary investment into the children, families, workforce, and economy of Virginia.

“This child care and early learning policy will make Virginia a national leader in child care and early childhood education affordability and help get Virginians back to work,” she continued.

The plan would call for child care and early learning to be recognized as a “public necessity that will be affordable and accessible for all Virginia families.”

The plan will:

• Provide Virginia families that earn up to 200% of the poverty level with waivers for free child care. 
• Ensure no family in Virginia will pay above 7% of their income for child care. 
• Create more than 80,000 new jobs for Virginians in the new child care system. 

Read the full plan here.