The 2025 state legislative sessions provided both opportunities and hurdles for states to improve their child care systems. In 2025, all states were in session while 47 states and Washington, D.C., were scheduled to pass budgets, meaning policymakers in every state had an opportunity to advance proposals that improve the child care system.
But this was also the first year states navigated a legislative session without the availability of federal relief funding specifically allocated for child care. And while fall 2024 budget forecasts looked generally healthy and some states—including Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Virginia—ended 2024 with budget surpluses, other states found themselves on the opposite end facing budget shortfalls. Uncertainty over spending at the federal level has caused some states to scale back their budgets or begin conversations around potentially returning in the fall for special session to adjust their approved expenditures.
While not an exhaustive list, this report explores the progress states have made around child care and early learning policies during their 2025 legislative sessions. You can find a more comprehensive overview of state policies implemented in 2025, as well as in past years, in CCAoA’s State Policy Dashboard.
CCAoA’s analysis found that during the 2025 legislative session, states enacted legislation around several common policy themes for child care and early learning. While not exhaustive of all legislative and administrative activities this year, this resource explores legislation and funding states passed aligned to these seven themes:
- Overall funding increases for child care
- New or enhanced funding streams for child care
- Flexible grants to support child care operations
- Compensation efforts & workforce supports
- Public-private partnerships
- Alignment to the 2024 Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) final rule
- Changes to child care regulations
Read the full analysis, State Session Round-Up: Summer 2025, here.
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