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
After a brief debate, the House of Representatives voted 190-170 to pass SB 596. The bill will now advance to the House Finance Division III Committee. The Committee will not to hold a public hearing and will instead hold a work session on SB 404 on Tuesday, May 7, at 10:00 am. Email the Committee to show your support for SB 596.
