Many New Hampshire child care centers lack the resources necessary to provide dedicated staff for children with additional developmental and behavioral needs. Because of this, many centers have been forced to decrease the number of children they can accommodate in classrooms with high-needs children, exacerbating the overall child care availability crisis.
SB 596 would help child care centers better support high-need children and further address the state's child care availability crisis.
About the Bill
SB 596 aims to address this issue by providing additional funding to centers catering to high-needs children through the New Hampshire Scholarship Program. This extra funding would enable
child care centers to hire paraprofessionals and other support staff to adequately meet the needs of all children and safely maximize enrollment in their facilities.
In some situations, children are expelled from child care centers due to high needs, leaving their working parents without child care and disrupting the child's learning process. SB 596 would
also ensure child care centers are well-equipped to care for high-needs children and reduce the rate of expulsion.
Bill Status
The Senate passed SB 596 with amendment and the bill has crossed over to the House of Representatives. The House Education Committee held a public hearing on the bill on Monday, April 22 and voted 11-9 on an "Ought to Pass" recommendation. SB 596 will go to the House floor on Thursday, May 2 for a vote.
