Five Core Principles to Guide Policy
Our five core principles reflect foundational beliefs about what makes ECE a worthwhile investment of public dollars. Grounded in experience and values, these five principles — targeting support where it's needed most, putting families first, strengthening markets, empowering communities, and focusing on results — shape every recommendation on this site.
Starting with clear principles provides policymakers with a coherent foundation for decision making — to guide effective policy design and ensure that public funding for ECE is money well spent.
1. Target Support Where It's Needed Most
Focus public dollars on families who can't access quality programs on their own
Smart policy focuses public spending on families who can't access quality ECE programs on their own. Higher-income parents already have choices — they may prefer to spend less, but they can afford quality when it matters. Lower-income parents can't.
When parents lack access to quality programs, the economic damage cascades: they reduce work hours or leave the workforce entirely, businesses lose productive employees, and welfare costs rise. Targeting support converts these parents into empowered consumers who strengthen the entire ECE market through their purchasing power.
By focusing resources on those with the greatest need, states transform lives and strengthen their workforce without creating new government dependencies. This approach delivers measurable impact — reducing child poverty, increasing workforce participation, and strengthening family self-sufficiency — rather than wasting taxpayer money on universal entitlements that serve families who don't need help.
This targeted approach ensures every dollar works harder—expanding access, driving quality through competition, and building stronger state economies.
2. Put Families First
Empower parents, not government, to choose what’s best for their child
Parents, not bureaucracies, should decide what's best for their children. Effective ECE policy trusts parents to make the right decisions when empowered with real choices and reliable information.
Yet too often, government programs substitute regulatory compliance for parent judgment, funding programs instead of families. When public dollars fund programs, government — not families — decides what quality looks like. When funds flow directly to families, parents make confident choices about their children's care.
A families-first approach respects that different families have different values and needs. It fosters a diverse marketplace where providers must compete to earn parents' trust. This drives quality improvement through competition, not bureaucratic checklists. Programs reflect community values and family needs, not one-size-fits-all mandates. Parents gain dignity through choice while children benefit from care that truly fits.
Markets thrive when consumers have power — and in ECE, those consumers should be parents.
3. Strengthen Markets, Don’t Replace Them
Expand access and quality by making markets work for all families
The ECE sector already operates as a diverse, competitive marketplace. Parents choose among private centers, home-based providers, faith-based programs, nonprofits, and public options. This diversity is a strength to preserve and expand — not a problem to solve through government intervention.
Markets fail when lower-income families lack purchasing power, not because markets themselves don't work. The solution isn't replacing private providers with government programs — it's fixing the market failure that excludes lower-income families.
As more parents gain purchasing power, providers compete for their business—expanding supply and driving better quality through market demand rather than bureaucratic regulations. This market-strengthening approach delivers concrete benefits: small businesses — many women-owned — flourish, competition drives innovation, and diverse options that reflect community values emerge.
4. Empower Communities to Lead
Support community-driven initiatives by employers, non-profits, and faith-based groups
Communities understand their families' needs better than distant state capitols. Rural farming communities face different challenges than urban centers with shift workers. Military families need different solutions than university towns. When states empower local solutions instead of imposing statewide mandates, ECE systems become more responsive, innovative, and effective.
Community leadership multiplies public investment through private partnership. Local employers create solutions that keep workers productive. Faith-based organizations provide trusted care reflecting family values. Nonprofit networks support small providers with business services and professional development. These partnerships create sustainable solutions driven by local needs and sustained by community investment.
States should remove barriers preventing community solutions while providing targeted support that amplifies local efforts. The goal: diverse, locally-driven systems that serve real families — not centralized bureaucracies that serve themselves.
5. Focus on Cost-Effective Results, Not Spending
Track results to ensure public dollars achieve what matters most
Too often, states measure ECE success by how much money is spent, not by whether families and children are better off. But inputs don't guarantee outcomes.
States should measure what actually matters: Are more parents in the workforce? Are fewer families relying on welfare? Are children arriving at kindergarten better prepared to succeed? Tracking meaningful results shows whether policies are working—and where to strengthen them.
This isn't about government picking winning programs—parents do that through their choices. The goal is to ensure public dollars produce the outcomes that count: thriving young children, self-sufficient families, and stronger state economies.
Related pages: Policy Priorities · Key Policy Goals · Policy Framework
