Plan to overhaul child care in CT — Too ambitious, or not enough?

The COVID pandemic exposed the fragility of Connecticut’s child care sector — as well as its vital role in the economy. Now, three years on, a high-profile effort to bolster the state’s early childhood education system is nearing its final stages.

State leaders have placed great expectations on the work of a “Blue Ribbon Panel,” convened by Gov. Ned Lamont in March, which was tasked with developing a five-year strategic plan for the system by the end of this year.

A draft of that plan, released earlier this month, contains an ambitious set of recommendations — and a significant price tag. Still, some advocates say the strategy isn’t bold enough.

The plan includes investments in the workforce, by boosting state funding for providers and offering health benefits and education opportunities for educators. It seeks to make child care more affordable by expanding families’ eligibility for state subsidies, and it seeks to augment supply and access across various segments of the system. Broadly, the plan seeks to reduce complexity, maximize existing resources and identify additional sources of funding.

“This kind of prioritization for child care in Connecticut has not happened in my career, in 40 years, with this level of engagement and participation,” Beth Bye, commissioner of the Office of Early Childhood, told members of the panel at a gathering to review the draft last week. “It speaks to where child care is right now in the conversation about what matters in Connecticut and how Connecticut can move forward.”

Bye said preliminary estimates of what it would cost to meet all the goals laid out in the panel’s draft plan — in the hundreds of millions of dollars — were “stunning.” So the commissioner asked members to discuss in groups which components of the plan they’d prioritize in final recommendations to the governor and the legislature, which are due by the end of this year.