This story is part of CT Mirror Explains, an ongoing effort to distill our wide-ranging reporting into a "what you need to know" format and provide practical information to our readers.

Gov. Ned Lamont is championing a plan that would offer free or reduced-price pre-K education to scores of Connecticut families. The plan is one of several bills that lawmakers are considering to improve access to early childhood education.

The issue has a lot of support from lawmakers, parents, advocates and members of the business community. That’s in part because the COVID-19 pandemic brought the urgent need for child care into focus for many, including Lamont, and became the catalyst for him to create a Blue Ribbon Panel to study the issue. But paying for more families to access child care spots and improving salaries for workers in the sector is an expensive proposition.

Here’s what to know.

Would my family qualify for pre-K under the governor’s plan?

It depends on your household income. Families making up to $100,000 a year would pay nothing for pre-K. Families making up to $150,000 a year would pay just $20 a day. But households earning more than $150,000 a year would still pay out of pocket for pre-K, unless they have access to schools in a district that offers spots, like New Haven and Hartford.

What would the governor’s plan do for infant and toddler care?

Currently, the governor’s plan does not cover infant and toddler care, only children ages 3 to 5. While advocates say infant and toddler care is critically important for Connecticut families, especially to help companies fill more than 90,000 vacancies across the state, many still support Lamont’s plan because they say it represents a major step in the right direction.

Plus, advocates say, Lamont’s plan would maintain the integrity of the infant and toddler system that currently exists by improving salaries for workers in child care centers while building capacity and spots in public schools.

How would I enroll my children in pre-K under Lamont’s plan?

Lawmakers envision a new portal that would provide easily accessible information for parents to quickly see all of the pre-K options available to them. There are currently bills under consideration that propose this solution, including House Bill 5003, a more comprehensive plan to support early childhood care, and House Bill 7044, which focuses on the creation of the online portal.

When would these additional pre-K slots be available?

Office of Early Childhood Commissioner Beth Bye says that a significant number of new subsidized pre-K spots would be added by 2028 and that by 2032 the vast majority of Connecticut’s pre-K population would have access. Those spots would be spread across child care centers, public schools, group child care homes and family child care homes.

How would Connecticut pay for all these new spots?

Under Lamont’s plan, up to $300 million in surplus funds would be directed to a Universal Preschool Endowment Fund. Of that, $30 million could be spent in the next fiscal year, with 10% of the endowment eligible for spending each year thereafter. In his budget address, Lamont optimistically told lawmakers, “our budget anticipates almost $1 billion in the endowment over the next few years — God, the economy, and President Trump willing.”

What other plans are on the table?

Lawmakers are also considering other plans for pre-K. Senate Bill 1 would involve a four phase approach that would eventually build toward covering not only pre-K but infant and toddler care as well, and similar to Lamont’s proposal, it would rely on surplus funds. The first phase of that proposal would call for a “tri-share” model in which businesses would be asked to contribute to the cost of child care for their employees, but participation would be voluntary. Another plan, House Bill 5003, seeks to allow more households to qualify for Care4Kids, would expand the child care subsidy fund, provide support to child care workers and help with renovations to child care facilities. And Senate Bill 1369 would provide financial assistance for working families to pay for child care through a new 1.5% payroll tax on large, for-profit employers.

Why has this issue become a priority?

During the COVID pandemic, the issue of access to affordable, quality child care came to the forefront. Suddenly, medical workers and other essential workers across Connecticut were left without child care. Advocate Eva Bermúdez Zimmerman said COVID “created a dystopian reality” where workers were quitting left and right because child care was simply unavailable and the necessity of child care to the survival of the workforce was suddenly glaring.

In 2023, Lamont created a Blue Ribbon Panel to study child care. The bill being considered by lawmakers is a result of the panel’s report, which found that the sector was struggling with many problems simultaneously, from low-wages for child care workers and pre-K teachers, to the lack of transportation in some rural regions, to limited hours in public school programs that made it impossible for parents to work and make pick-ups and drop-offs. The governor’s plan intends to address all of these issues.

With so many federal cuts, will there really be enough money in the state budget?

That question can’t really be answered yet. With significant federal cuts to all kinds of programs, from libraries and museums to support services for the unhoused, to threats to Medicaid and Medicare, it’ stands to reason’s possible that the kinds of surpluses envisioned when the plan was drafted may not be available.

It’s notable that Lamont has stood by the plan despite all of the upheaval in recent months. Asked at The Connecticut Mirror’s In the Room event, featuring a sit-down interview with the governor on March 26, about what problem he would fix in the state if he could fix anything, Lamont brought up education, specifically early childhood. Like paying down the pension deficit, Lamont framed the issue as a key part of the legacy he might leave behind. 

“I think if you do that, at the end of the day, you’ve left some footprints and made a difference,” he said.