Access to quality childcare is fundamental to economic development. In early December 2025, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, the VA Chamber Foundation, and the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation published results from their 300-employer survey on childcare and the Virginia economy. The findings were bleak: 88% of employers report that employees are late or absent due to childcare issues; 41% report that employees have denied job offers or promotions because they cannot secure childcare; and 34% have seen employees leave the workforce entirely because of childcare issues.
In March 2024, I wrote about the critical need for expanded childcare access in Virginia, emphasizing that workforce development strategies must include solutions to the childcare challenge. At the time, our region was one of the worst in the state for accessibility to childcare and that remains true today. While much work has been done in the past 18 months, these new data further underscore the continued importance of prioritizing childcare as an essential element of economic infrastructure. To repeat myself from last year, childcare is a “must have,” not a “nice to have” in building and maintaining a strong economy.
In a few weeks, a new governor will take office in Virginia. Virginians will also herald the beginning of a new legislative session. The employer survey data demonstrates that businesses across the Commonwealth recognize childcare as foundational to economic competitiveness and are ready to participate in solutions; the time is ripe for meaningful change in how we treat ECCE as a Commonwealth. There are four key priority areas that should guide that approach:
1. Increase access to quality childcare. This means expanding licensed childcare slots across all care settings – center-based, home-based, and school-based programs. Support for mixed-delivery models allows families to choose care that fits their needs while ensuring all providers can operate sustainably. We must pay particular attention to expanding options for families needing nontraditional hours and serving rural communities where center-based care may not be viable.
2. Fairly compensate early childhood educators. Childcare workers currently earn a median wage of just $14.60 per hour – less than food service workers and significantly less than kindergarten teachers. Creating compensation structures that enable early childhood educators to build careers in this field is essential for workforce stability and program quality. Fair compensation reduces turnover, attracts qualified professionals, and recognizes the skill and importance of this work.
3. Find innovative approaches to reduce childcare costs for all Virginia families. This includes tax incentives and grant programs that make employer-sponsored benefits financially viable for small and medium-sized businesses, subsidies targeted at families across income levels, and cost-sharing models that distribute expenses among government, employers, and families. We should explore how successful approaches in other states, such as Universal Child Care in New Mexico, might be adapted for our region’s needs.
4. Build ways to fund the ECCE system adequately. Sustainable funding requires recognizing childcare as essential economic infrastructure worthy of state investment, not a peripheral family service. This means establishing dedicated funding streams, leveraging federal resources effectively, creating incentives for private and local investment, and building public-private partnerships that share costs and responsibilities. Adequate funding addresses both supply expansion and quality improvement simultaneously.
Insufficient access to childcare hinders the economy of the entire Commonwealth, including the Roanoke Valley, part of Ready Region West (yellow on the accompanying map). According to the Early Childhood Care and Education supply/demand data, maintained by the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation, families and employers in our region continue to suffer an imbalance of supply and demand of childcare. In the period of 2024 to 2025, supply decreased by 1,145 seats despite an increased demand of 791 seats – all for children under the age of five – in an already overburdened system. Further, our region saw an overall decrease in the number of available early childhood care and education sites, down to 256 centers compared to 278 the year prior. Compounding the issue of shortfall in licensed capacity is the reality that a severe workforce shortage and high turnover among early childhood educators, means most facilities are not operating at their licensed capacity in the first place. At present, parents are competing for care at a disadvantage as there are roughly 2 children seeking care for every spot available. This does not even factor in quality and educational preferences.
Additionally, when childcare does become available, it is often not affordable for families in Ready Region West. The federal government guideline for affordable childcare, outlined by the Office of Personnel Management, suggests childcare should consume no more than 7% of a household budget to be considered “affordable.” However, in our region, the average cost of childcare, for a single child, is more than $10,000/year for toddlers and preschoolers and more than $14,000/year for newborns and infants. These rates are simply unaffordable for most given that 20% of children under five living in Ready Region West live below the federal poverty line ($26,650 for a family of three) and additional 26.2% live at <200% of the federal poverty line. Childcare, at the most basic level, is difficult to find and expensive; a combination that not only slows economic development but also adds to the challenges of economically disadvantaged families.
I believe that Virginia has the talent, intellectual capital, and will to create a more prosperous state that develops business with the benefit of its citizens at the fore. With strategic state investment, innovative public-private partnerships, and sustained commitment from employers, policymakers, and community leaders, we can build an early childhood education and care system that serves as a model – one that strengthens families, empowers businesses, and secures our region’s economic future. The question before us is not whether we can afford to invest, but rather how quickly we can mobilize the collaborative approaches needed to expand access and improve quality.
Ryan King is the chief of staff and executive director of administration for Roanoke College.