Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Representatives Katharine Clark (D-MA) and Don Young (R-AK) just introduced the "Child Care Access Means Parents in Schools (CCAMPIS) Improvement Act of 2017."
CCAMPIS is the only federal program that supports child care services for low-income parents in college, and services are provided year-round. According to numerous studies, the number of parents attending college has grown significantly over the last 15 years and many colleges eliminated child care services, leaving parents with the burden of trying to find safe, quality care while balancing their course schedule.
The CCAMPIS Act of 2017 would:
- Permanently reauthorize the CCAMPIS program and increases funding to $67 million annually;
- Require the Department of Education to work with stakeholders to review the annual performance report to ensure they are informative but not over-burdensome;
- Require the Office of Post-Secondary Education at the Department of Education to report to Congress a year after enactment about how the Department can better serve student parents.
This program is authorized under the "Higher Education Act," and CCAMPIS funds about 85 programs annually on a $15 million appropriation. In FY 2018, both the President and the House Appropriations Committee proposed eliminating this program.
Child Care Aware® of America proudly endorses this legislation.
Ask your legislators to co-sponsor this legislation and support student-parents in need.