HR2845-119

What This Bill Does

The PROSPECT Act is a detailed student-parent child care and workforce bill. It authorizes 9 billion dollars for fiscal years 2026 through 2030 for Education Department grants to community colleges, minority-serving institutions, and consortia. The grant structure includes one-year planning grants, access grants for free high-quality infant and toddler care for as many as 500,000 children of student parents, impact grants for community child care supply and quality, and pipeline grants for early-childhood educator preparation programs. It also amends Child Care and Development Block Grant eligibility so higher-education, secondary-education, and equivalency programs count, bars states from using more restrictive eligibility standards, and changes Social Security Act child care matching so states meeting a 75 percent market-rate payment threshold for infants and toddlers can receive a 90 percent federal match for that assistance.

Who Benefits and How

Community college student parents benefit because access grants can provide free high-quality infant and toddler care that reduces barriers to graduation and debt. Minority-serving institutions benefit because the bill prioritizes them for grant funding and lets them build child care centers, lab schools, and educator pipelines. Infants and toddlers of student parents benefit from expanded licensed or registered care, including nontraditional-hours care and supports for disabilities or dual-language learning. Early childhood educator students benefit from new certificates, associate-degree pathways, articulation agreements, apprenticeships, and microgrants.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Department of Education must run competitive grant competitions, evaluate outcomes, and submit annual reports to Congress. Community colleges and minority-serving institutions must perform needs assessments, convene infant and toddler child care committees, pay living wages for staff, and file detailed reports. State child care lead agencies must adjust eligibility and matching-plan rules if they want the enhanced federal child care match. Federal taxpayers bear the cost of the 9 billion dollar authorization and higher federal matching payments.

Key Provisions

• Appropriates a 9 billion dollar authorization for fiscal years 2026 through 2030.
• Creates planning, access, impact, and pipeline grants for community colleges, minority-serving institutions, and consortia.
• Funds free high-quality infant and toddler child care for up to 500,000 children of student parents.
• Expands Child Care and Development Block Grant eligibility for education and job-training programs.
• Provides a 90 percent federal child care match for infant and toddler assistance when states pay at least 75 percent of market rates.