Back to The State of the South
The number of licensed child care programs in North Carolina continues to decline
Since February 2020, the number of licensed childcare programs in North Carolina has decreased by 5.3%, and the loss has accelerated in the past year.
EdNC has been tracking changes in the number of programs over the past year as pandemic-era stabilization funding has expired. Using quarterly data provided by the NC Child Care Resource and Referral Council (CCR&R) in partnership with the NC Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE), we found that 40% of the net loss in licensed childcare programs since the pandemic began occurred in just the past year.
In other words, the pace of closures has doubled — from an average net loss of four programs per month from February 2020 through June 2023, to an average net loss of nine programs per month from July 2024 through June 2023— as stabilization grants have diminished.
An extension of those grants was set to expire on June 30, creating a “funding cliff” that was expected to prompt as many as one-third of programs to close their doors. But in the final week of June, the General Assembly committed $67.5 million to extend compensation grants, at a reduced amount, to childcare providers.
Kandice Scarberry, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services (which oversees DCDEE), said this amount is “insufficient to fully cover the first two quarters of the fiscal year,” which began July 1.
Rather than falling off a funding cliff, North Carolina’s licensed childcare system is now rolling down a steep hill toward the end of 2024.
Read the entire article here.
Child care makes opportunity possible for the South, and many child care providers and families prefer and choose home-based child care for its trust, flexibility, and cultural responsiveness. Despite this reality, many Southern states including NC are seeing a decline in support and availability for home-based child care. This is why MDC works to strengthen the capacity and voice of those directly impacted by the inequities of NC’s childcare system. Learn more here.
