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Virginia bills · 2026 Regular Session

Virginia HB 1208

Public education; early childhood care and education, child care access calculations, report.

  1. Introduced
  2. In committee
  3. Passed House
  4. Passed Senate
  5. To Governor
  6. Became law

Sponsors

Cosponsors (25)

Summary

Official abstract published by the Virginia legislature· SUMMARY AS PASSED

Public education; early childhood care and education; child care access calculations; report. Requires the Department of Education to establish and maintain calculations for the provision of early childhood care and education services based on cost of quality rate per child, actual data from the prior year, an estimate of parental demand and choice preferences based on historic growth trends and current eligibility criteria, and an estimate of the number of slots to be added to support local or regional economic development efforts and public-private partnerships focused on increasing the supply of child care services, giving priority to localities or regions identified as child care deserts, as determined by the Department. The bill also contains several provisions relating to the use and appropriation of funds as applicable to such calculations, including (i) providing that the calculations shall not obligate the General Assembly to a specific appropriation, (ii) requiring the calculations to be used to provide information to guide the General Assembly in making decisions about the proportion of parental demand for and supply of early childhood care and education services to be addressed and level of appropriation required to address such demand, and (iii) providing that the annual overall funding available for slots shall be subject to appropriation as determined by the General Assembly. The bill also provides that if waitlists for slots at early childhood care and education sites remain, up to $5 million from prior-year unexpended state general funds appropriated for such purpose in a general appropriation act may be carried forward to the current fiscal year to temporarily provide additional slots during the current fiscal year solely to reduce or eliminate waitlists, unless the general appropriation act authorizes a greater amount to be carried forward and that such prior-year funds shall not be used to increase the base amount of funding required in the subsequent fiscal year and the Department shall monitor program utilization and attrition to ensure that no families will lose access at the end of the current fiscal year. Finally, the bill requires the Department to annually submit to the Commission on Early Childhood Care and Education and post on its website a report on the data used to calculate the minimum funding and number of slots for the calculations in accordance with the provisions of the bill. This bill is identical to SB 134.

Text versions

Roll-call votes

State vote data last updated Oct 15, 2026, 8:04 PM.

DateVoteResultYour legislators
Mar 14, 2026
Senate		Adopt Conference Committee Report RpassSet your home in Virginia to see
Mar 14, 2026
House		H VOTE:passSet your home in Virginia to see
Mar 5, 2026
Senate		Insist & Request RpassSet your home in Virginia to see
Mar 3, 2026
House		H VOTE:failSet your home in Virginia to see
Feb 27, 2026
Senate		Passage RpassSet your home in Virginia to see
Feb 26, 2026
Senate		Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading)passSet your home in Virginia to see
Feb 25, 2026
Senate		Reported from Finance and AppropriationspassSet your home in Virginia to see
Feb 19, 2026
Senate		Reported from Education and Health with substitutepassSet your home in Virginia to see
Feb 13, 2026
House		H VOTE:passSet your home in Virginia to see
Feb 9, 2026
House		Reported from Education with substitutepassSet your home in Virginia to see
Feb 4, 2026
House		Subcommittee recommends reportingpassSet your home in Virginia to see

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