In Vermont, A Decade-Old Campaign Winds Down and Reflects on Progress

In 2015, Let’s Grow Kids, a statewide advocacy organization, was launched in Vermont with a clear goal: secure affordable access to high-quality child care for the state’s families by 2025. Let’s Grow Kids has now officially ended its operations, but that’s not due to a lack of success. Instead, the organization was designed from the start to be a time-limited, ten-year endeavor and, according to former CEO Aly Richards, that’s part of the reason for its success over the last decade: “It’s what I credit for why we were able to keep the level of discipline and focus. It created external and internal accountability,” says Richards.

A recently released impact report illustrates just how much progress was made with the help of Let’s Grow Kids over the past ten years. For example, reimbursement rates to providers have increased by up to 255 percent which means greater funding to invest in program quality and staff compensation. A 2024 national survey revealed that 79 percent of child care directors in Vermont had raised staff wages in the past year compared to just 51 percent nationally. That progress is one reason Richards feels content stepping away and trusting that the campaign’s work will continue in other forms: “You needed a Let's Grow Kids to put child care on the map. You needed a Let's Grow Kids to get a dedicated, sustainable public revenue source, and now it's in the machinery of state government,” says Richards.

The sustainable public revenue source is a reality thanks to Act 76, a landmark bill that passed in June 2023 and made Vermont a national model for its commitment to young children. Prior to passage of the bill, Let’s Grow Kids worked with over 42,000 supporters to engage with lawmakers and make the case for increased child care investment. Act 76 resulted in an annual commitment of over $100 million to the state’s child care system, thanks in part to a new payroll tax that went into effect in July 2024. As a result of Act 76, the eligibility cap for child care subsidies has gradually expanded from 350 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) to 575 percent FPL (about $185,000 for a family of four), making about 80 to 90 percent of Vermont families with young children eligible for help paying for child care. Families with an annual income of less than 175 percent FPL (about $56,000 for a family of four) now pay no copayments at all, an improvement from the previous guideline of 150 percent FPL. Since Act 76 went into effect, over 4,700 more children have enrolled in the state’s child care subsidy program and more child care programs have opened than closed in every quarter.

Let’s Grow Kids has also focused on improving compensation and preparation for the state’s child care workforce. “The research is unequivocal that the quality of the experience of the child and the program revolves around the level of preparation and support of the teacher, “ says Richards. In 2024, the Vermont Association for the Education of Young Children (VTAEYC), with the help of Let’s Grow Kids, submitted an application to the state’s Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) to establish early childhood education as a licensed profession. Earlier this year OPR concluded that licensure is, in fact, appropriate for early educators, and the Vermont Senate passed a bill that would turn OPR’s recommendations into law.

The bill is headed to the Vermont House of Representatives in 2026. If enacted, Vermont could become the first state to adopt the national guidance contained in the Unifying Framework for the Early Childhood Profession. Released in 2020, the guidance recommends professional licensure for early educators and calls for three distinct designations (Early Childhood Educator I, II, and III) based on education and experience. The hope is that professional licensure will lead to not only higher quality care and education, but also to increased wages and benefits for the workforce through minimum compensation standards and clear, well-resourced career pathways.

While Let’s Grow Kids is no longer in operation, the work will continue in other forms. The Let’s Grow Kids Action Network, a 501(c)(4), will advocate and lobby to ensure that the investments made as a result of Act 76 are protected while supporting candidates in future elections who prioritize child care. Additionally, much of the work performed by Let’s Grow Kids will transition to other organizations, including Building Bright Futures, First Children’s Finance, and the VTAEYC.

Future work will also focus on assisting other states in their efforts to follow Vermont’s lead and expand funding for early childhood education. Plans are in the works to publish a case study and toolkit that Richards is hopeful will prove helpful as state policymakers and advocates across the country make the case for increased investments in young children: “I think we can accelerate other campaigns and policy work on this by showing what worked and what didn't. We can say ‘We actually did this and the sky didn’t fall. Here’s the hard data.’ I think that will be helpful for folks.”