TRENTON, NJ – New Jersey’s Child Care system is in crisis and in need of additional funding to stabilize the workforce, pay educators and providers a living wage, and ensure more families can access assistance. Governor Mikie Sherrill and the Legislature had an opportunity to increase child care funding in the FY2027 budget to address this urgent need and they did not take it.
Despite the budget investments in programs to support families and children, the $18 million dedicated to the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) does not fully ensure that the program will not close as it was forced to do in this past budget year.
In fact, the budget specifically states that CCAP will remain operational at the discretion of the Department of Human Services. There are no guarantees nor structural protections for those low-income parents who cannot work when they cannot access affordable child care. There is only the hope that the administration and department will continue to keep the program open even as demand for assistance remains high. This instability falls hardest on women of color, who are both the majority of the underpaid care workforce and the parents most likely to be pushed out of the labor force when care is unaffordable.
More public investment is needed to meet the need. The budget did include some new revenue from closing corporate tax loopholes. More progressive revenue measures such as the Super Millionaires tax that have popular support and ask the wealthiest and most profitable corporations to contribute more were not. That is a structural inequity baked into the budget itself, forcing in particular low-income women and women of color to pay the price while the wealthy are excused from paying their fair share.
The Governor and the Legislature should address the needs of families struggling to make ends meet and afford child care by expanding child care subsidies and raising wages for child care workers. Child care in New Jersey averages $20,213 annually for infant care in the state, and consumes approximately 19% of the average monthly family budget—far exceeding the 7% maximum that the federal government defines as affordable.
New Jersey deserves a child care system that is stable, equitable, and funded at the level of need —including fair wages for the educators and providers who do this essential work—not managed crisis by crisis, year by year, while the wealthy are excused from paying their share. This budget falls short of that standard.
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About Child Care For All NJ
Child Care For All NJ is a statewide organizing table that brings together parents, child care providers, early childhood educators, workers, and allied organizations to fight for a fully funded, equitable child care system in New Jersey. Through grassroots organizing, policy advocacy, and coalition building, we advance the principle that child care is essential infrastructure and that every working family deserves access to affordable, high-quality care.
