The Annie E. Casey' Foundation's 2026 Data Book shows a mixed and uneven picture of child well-being across the country. Since 2019, seven of the 16 key indicators have improved, seven have worsened and two remain unchanged. Bright spots include: -reductions in teen births and children living in high-poverty areas; -declines in child poverty; -increases in parental employment and educational attainment; -improvements in on-time high school graduation rates; and -a slight decrease in the share of children and teens who are overweight or obese. These gains reflect a combination of economic recovery, effective public policies and sustained public health efforts.

On May 12, the Office of Head Start published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposing to rescind the 2024 Head Start teacher wage regulations. The regulations required the creation of wage scales and progress toward pay parity by 2031, with Head Start salaries reaching public pre-K levels or 90% of kindergarten teacher pay. The goal of the Head Start program is to improve the school readiness of children in economically disadvantaged circumstances to break the cycle of poverty. To do so, Head Start must produce robust impacts on learning and development that sustain gains in educational achievement. In response to rigorous evidence that Head Start did not uniformly produce such results, the 2007 reauthorization of the Head Start Act under the George W. Bush administration, required higher qualifications for the Head Start teaching workforce, increased operating hours, and greater accountability for educational quality. Nearly two decades later, funding limitations have undermined the progress that the law requires. Proposed changes to Head Start in the recent NPRM would reverse requirements for teacher salary parity, while others changes that may be proposed, such as increasing class sizes and child-teacher ratios, risk further undermining rather than improving Head Start effectiveness and returns to taxpayers. Head Start requires more funding, not less, if it is to fulfill its purpose.

Our latest report, Child Care in America: 2025 Price & Supply, finds that the nation’s child care system made little progress in 2025, with supply failing to keep pace with families’ needs and prices remaining out of reach for too many families. CCAoA’s latest analysis of child care supply and prices across the country highlights a system under strain, and many families continue to be forced to make trade-offs between financial stability and workforce participation.

A Henrico preschool where children learn in English, Spanish and American Sign Language is preparing for a major expansion. BilingualKid Language Immersion School currently has 200 students on its waitlist. It is the only Spanish immersion preschool in Central Virginia.

Virginia families struggling with the surging cost of child care could see some relief under a new program signed into law by the governor. The legislation establishes the Employee Child Care Assistance Program, which is designed to incentivize employers to contribute to the child care costs of their employees.