Today, Governor Roy Cooper toured the Irene Wortham Early Learning Center in Asheville to highlight recommended budget investments to support children, families and businesses. In March 2023, the Governor announced his proposed budget, First in Opportunity, that will invest $1.5 billion in additional funding for child care and early childhood education.

Governor Cooper visited this center in November 2021, shortly after the NC Child Care Stabilization Grants were first announced. The center received funding through the grant program and used it to raise teacher salaries and maintain staff, including raising starting pay for employees with a high school education to a $15 an hour salary.

“It’s great to be back at the Irene Wortham Early Learning Center during the Week of the Young Child to see firsthand how our funding is making a difference,” Governor Cooper said. “Early childhood education is critical and the House budget proposal fails to make these investments that are necessary for our children, parents and businesses.”

“High quality care and education for young children is crucial for their development and success as they progress through the years. With the stabilization grant, we were able to use the funding to raise our teachers’ salaries closer, to not only close the gap between salary and cost of living, but to be more reflective of the important role that our teachers play in the lives of our children and families,” Aimee Spooner, Children’s Services Director at Irene Wortham Early Learning Center said. “We hope that the funding continues to allow for more grants supporting early childhood education. This will allow us to continue to raise compensation for staff and the ability to recruit more staff members that are dedicated to the same quality of care that we provide here at the Irene Wortham Center.”

Governor Cooper’s recommended budget includes $500 million to continue investing in NC Child Care Stabilization Grants to help maintain access to affordable early childhood education. It also includes $200 million to increase child care subsidy rates in rural and lower wealth communities.

The North Carolina House of Representatives budget proposal released last week minimally funds an increase to the child care subsidy rate, but does not provide enough funding to reinforce stability in the child care industry. The House budget ultimately lacks enough funding to fully support child care centers, including not funding the $300 million in Child Care Stabilization Grants needed to support child care centers when federal funding expires.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) has already distributed more than $800 million in North Carolina Child Care Stabilization Grants to help over 4,300 child care facilities across the state with recruitment and retention efforts.

Governor Cooper has also proclaimed April 1-7 as Week of the Young Child to encourage North Carolinians to support efforts that increase children and family access to high-quality early childhood education.

The Irene Wortham Early Learning Center serves children ages six weeks to Pre-K in Asheville.