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In May 2023, the state of Vermont passed landmark legislation establishing a near-universal child care system, known as Act 76. The law followed nearly two decades of groundwork and an advocacy campaign led by Let’s Grow Kids, which built broad public and political support for reform.

By documenting Vermont’s path to reform, a new report highlights practical lessons for advocates and policymakers seeking to expand public investment in child care. These lessons include: 

1. Lay the groundwork by increasing access where possible.

Vermont, as a state, had laid significant groundwork for improving access to high-quality early education before tackling the more ambitious, publicly funded child care infrastructure. The universal pre-K system, which began under Gov. Howard Dean in 1997 and then became more robust under Gov. Peter Shumlin in 2014, became an existing structure by which the state could collect data on and continue to build up from.

2. Bring child care providers into the process early.

The programmatic work with child care providers across the state was a necessary step toward building trust, establishing a base of support, and hearing directly from providers about what an effective child care system with public support would look like. For over a decade, the precursor organization to Let’s Grow Kids worked with providers to improve quality, and when Let’s Grow Kids was ready to begin the campaign in earnest, a well-defined network already existed. It helped that Rick Davis had brought many child care providers onto his team as staff and consultants, so he had access to collective decades of experience in the field with trusted names.

3. Learn from what doesn’t work.

Let’s Grow Kids tested, researched, and explored myriad ideas on how to support a child care system that were ultimately discarded. These included relying on Medicaid dollars, a judicial strategy, and alternative tax mechanisms through either property or income taxes. It was a critical step to decide that the best course of action for Vermont was the payroll tax; it was just as crucial to explore other strategies and rule them out.

4. Build a series of successive wins.

Legislatively, there needed to be a series of successive wins, beginning in 2015, before Let’s Grow Kids could approach the legislature with the more ambitious ask in 2023. It also helped that the data and research cited on how to build and support a child care system came from external sources, including the state’s Department of Children and Families and from well-respected external organizations like RAND.

5. Anticipate additional costs and hurdles.

Philanthropically, it took Let’s Grow Kids more time than anticipated to be recognized by national donors as a changemaker worthy of investment. Some of this hesitancy may be due to the newness of child care as a major advocacy issue that could be successful in a statewide campaign. Let’s Grow Kids ultimately had to build their philanthropic support from within the state and take extra time and energy to sell their prospective donors on the importance of “systems change” rather than direct services.

6. Pick a timeline and stick to it.

Having agreed to sunset the organization after 10 years gave Let’s Grow Kids a defined mission and helped raise support and philanthropic dollars, since many understood their donations to have an end date.

7. Be ready to pivot.

The COVID-19 pandemic required a major shift in their efforts. In doing so, Let’s Grow Kids deepened its relationship with providers and strengthened its relationship with the state government, which then relied upon the organization to help facilitate support and access to supplies to keep child care open.

8. Cultivate meaningful connections with the business community.

Bringing the business community on board with the idea of child care infrastructure and including them in the ideating of what could be done to raise revenue for the solutions both helped cement the business community’s support and bring about a new cadre of champions ready to testify at the state legislature.

9. Cast a wide net for supporters.

Politically, Let’s Grow Kids cast a wide endorsement net, hoping to bring more people into the fold as child care champions rather than exclude anyone who indicated they were open to being supportive. This included endorsing Republican Gov. Phil Scott. While he ultimately vetoed their signature legislation, he still proposed a one-time infusion of $56 million from the general fund to expand child care subsidies.

10. Continue the work, even after the organization is gone.

As part of their sunset, Let’s Grow Kids facilitated work with several organizations to continue various processes, and in doing so could ensure the work and mission continued after their sunset.

11. Encourage others to replicate.

Let’s Grow Kids was nimble, well-funded, and mission-focused, but such tactics are not unique to one particular state. The lessons learned here can be brought to other states to build support for a publicly funded child care system. As with every major endeavor, hard work, strong leadership, and a bit of opportunistic timing can help, but there is no set of individual circumstances in Vermont that could not be replicated elsewhere.