Fair Start for Kids was landmark legislation. So why are lawmakers talking cuts?

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While the state’s $10-12 billion budget deficit looms over the upcoming session, program cuts might be inevitable even as the Democratic majority looks to new revenue. So far, the sacrificial lamb seems to be the planned increases to early learning and child care programs built into the Fair Start for Kids Act about three years ago.

Fair Start funneled more than $1 billion into early learning and child care programs. The law aimed to make these expensive services more accessible for low-income families by increasing subsidies and income eligibility and growing the child care workforce and infrastructure statewide.

Fair Start included plans for future spending to grow the state-sponsored programs. Bringing the programs into the 2025-27 biennium would cost the state about $1B, which is one of the main reasons why Democrats have been talking about kicking that can down the road.

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