THE PUBLIC POLICY CENTER OF THE CONFERENCE BOARD - Sustaining Capitalism - Early Education and Child Care: The Essential Sector

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jacob

Solutions Brief from The Public Policy Center of The Conference Board outlines how the COVID-19 crisis disrupted American education, especially early education and child care. It quantifies closures affecting millions of students and highlights widespread pre-K and child care interruptions, with disproportionate risks for younger and disadvantaged children. The brief argues that sustained investment in high-quality public pre-K and child care strengthens the US workforce and prosperity, and details policy recommendations to expand access, improve financing, upgrade workforce capacity, and modernize regulations.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Early Education and Child Care: The Essential Sector

Recommendations

Investments in Early Learning and Care

Promote Opportunity and Prosperity for All

SOLUTIONS BRIEF THE PUBLIC POLICY CENTER OF THE CONFERENCE BOARD SUSTAINING CAPITALISM A series focused on nonpartisan, reasoned solutions in the nation’s interest to the central challenges we face in order to provide prosperity for all Americans. Early Education and Child Care: The Essential Sector The COVID-19 crisis has been a nearly unprecedented disruption to American education at all levels. By early May, according to one estimate, 45 states and the District of Columbia had ordered or recommended school closures through at least the end of the current school year, affecting close to 50 million public school students.1 Many colleges and universities closed campuses or moved to online-only instruction in March. Disruptions to early childhood learning have also been widespread. Public pre-K programs attended by 1.6 million children nationwide were closed to help stop the community spread of COVID-19.2 Roughly one-third of children under age five typically receive services in an organized child care facility—including preschool classrooms.3 Past crises, like the Great Recession, permanently reduced achievement and attainment among American students, with negative effects particularly concentrated in lowerincome school districts.4 These disruptions may be especially acute for younger, disadvantaged children who would likely have had the most to gain from high-quality early childhood education and services. A growing body of research points to lifelong benefits from investment in children at the earliest stages in life, when the foundation is built for future social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development.5 Several concerning trends make the investment in early learning for children even more important, including the long-expected demographic shifts resulting in an older and slower-growing workforce, compounded by COVID-19’s Recommendations US investments in access to high-quality public pre-K and childcare strengthen the US economy—expanding the size and deepening the capacity of the US workforce while helping all families to achieve growing prosperity. The US should: • Promote high-quality child care and public-supported pre-K as a public good and treat it as an integral part of education and workforce preparation. • Ensure that all children have high-quality early learning opportunities from birth, including childcare and public pre-K education, especially for the most disadvantaged. • Implement a sustainable financing system capable of supporting affordable access to high-quality child care and public pre-K. • Invest in a high-quality early education workforce, including through state adoption of early educator workforce investment tax credits. • Modernize child care regulations to deliver quality, reduce burdens, and encourage innovation. • Draw on business leaders to make the national interest case for investing in early learning. 2 early education and child care: the essential sector [www.ced.org](www.ced.org) impact on businesses across sectors intensifying their use of technology and cutting edge innovative practices. Thus, the US needs an increasingly well-educated and trained workforce that can meet employers’ changing demands and ensure the nation’s economic strength and global competitiveness. COVID-19 has only made it clearer that the nation must invest so that all American children reach their full potential.6 This is fundamental to sustaining capitalism and to our democracy. Of equal importance has been COVID-19’s devastating impact on the child care industry as a whole. COVID-19 has highlighted the fragility of the current child care financing model, as well as the indispensability of such care for supporting the work effort of parents.7 Throughout the country, child care programs have closed, and those that are open are operating far below average enrollment levels, typically restricted to serving only the children of essential personnel.8 A nati

FAQs

How has COVID-19 affected early education and child care in the United States?

The brief describes widespread school closures, campus shutdowns, and closures of public pre-K programs and many child care providers. It notes that child care programs often operate far below average enrollment, limiting services to children of essential personnel.

Why does the brief argue that investing in early learning matters for the future workforce?

It cites research indicating lifelong benefits from early investments in social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development. It also links early learning to economic resilience by building a better educated and trained workforce.

What policy recommendations does the brief propose for supporting high-quality early education and care?

The brief calls for promoting high-quality child care and public-supported pre-K, ensuring high-quality opportunities from birth for all children, implementing sustainable financing, investing in the early education workforce, modernizing child care regulations, and involving business leaders to build support for national investment.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jacob