Child Care Gained Little Ground Over the Past Decade

The Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) administers Child Care Services, the Pre-Kindergarten Program, Nutrition Services and Quality Initiatives. State resources only support the Pre-K program and Child Care Services. The FY 2024 budget includes $506 million for the agency.

For FY 2024, the legislature and the governor approved about $62.5 million for Child Care Services, up from $61.4 million in FY 2023. Child Care Services includes the Childcare and Parent Services (CAPS) program, the state’s child care subsidy and support to child care providers. The $1.1 million in additional funds to Child Care Services includes a $2,000 pay increase for state workers in the division and an adjustment for the state match to draw down all available federal funding. Georgia has never adequately funded the CAPS program, even though the poverty rate for children five and under has been at least 20 percent since 2011. Funding for Child Care Services has only increased by about 13 percent over the past decade while child care costs have grown and workers are leaving the profession for higher wages elsewhere.

State Investment in Child Care Has Increased by Only 13 Percent

Since FY 2014

$5.5 million increase for the Child Care and Parent Services (CAPS) program

Recent increases have been adjustments to the state's contribution to the federal-state match.*

Note: The Federal Medical Assistance Percentages or FMAP determines the amount of federal matching funds for state spending on certain social services. When the federal contribution or FMAP declines, the state must contribute more in matching funds to maximize federal funds to the state.

Source: Governor’s Budget Reports and HB 19.

Georgia does the bare minimum to draw down all available federal resources, and it is inadequate given the needs of families and child care providers. The growing costs add greater economic pressure on women, who are often the primary caregivers, even if they are working. Women of color tend to have lower incomes than their white counterparts and are less likely to be able to afford the high cost of child care. Only about 15 percent of eligible Georgia children receive child care subsidies. Moreover, before the additional federal funds provided during the pandemic, the state’s CAPS reimbursement rates to providers trailed market rates at the 75th percentile, which made it hard for many child care businesses to invest in their staff. The pandemic has only made the crisis more visible. Federal resources from COVID relief packages protected Georgia’s child care system from the greatest harm, but these resources will expire in fall of 2024, creating a massive decline in the overall resources for child care.

Weekly Costs of Infant Care at the 75th Percentile*

Note: The federal Administration for Children and Families Office of Child Care has established the 75th percentile child care market rate as a benchmark for determining equal access to child care services for those receiving child care subsidies.

Source: Department of Early Care and Learning. Georgia Child Care Market Rate Survey, 2013 and 2021.

Although the state cannot make up for the hundreds of millions Georgia received in federal relief payments for child care, it must offer more than modest bumps or flat spending. For example, the state can increase its funding to CAPS by $20 million to add more subsidized slots for children and increase resources to child care centers. Additionally, the state missed the opportunity this year to use the $6.6 billion budget surplus to support staff who work in child care and early learning facilities. Georgia should have, as it did last year with federal money, made additional $1,000 bonus payments to early childhood educators and staff who are not part of the state’s Pre-K Lottery program and did not receive a pay increase this year.