A bill creating a program to expand access to Oklahoma’s child care subsidy program for employees of child care facilities was sent to the governor Thursday.
House Bill 2778 by Rep. Trey Caldwell (R-Faxon) and Sen. Chuck Hall (R-Perry) would create the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Program with a sunset of Nov. 1, 2028. The program would be administered by the Oklahoma Partnership for School Readiness – which serves as the state’s Early Childhood Advisory Council – under the direction of Oklahoma Human Services (DHS)
Eligibility would extend to child care employees at licensed facilities with a total annual gross household income not exceeding $120,000 for a two-parent household or $60,000 for a single-parent household. Children would be required to attend a program participating in the DHS child care subsidy program.
Employees who meet the household income limits would have their income exempt from consideration for calculating cost-sharing or co-payment responsibilities. And, if an employee qualifies under usual subsidy program requirements they would have their co-payment waived.
DHS estimates this would create a fiscal impact of $21 million annually. But, according to the bill’s fiscal analysis, roughly half of these workers are already eligible for a subsidy, reducing the impact to $10 million. Requirements to waive co-pays for subsidy participants would cost $1.5 million, putting the bill’s total anticipated impact on the state budget at $11.5 million annually.
The Oklahoma Partnership for School Readiness said in a Facebook post that the program is aimed at supporting recruitment and retention in the child care workforce.
“With $5 million in federal Preschool Development Grant funding already secured, OPSRF is ready to begin building infrastructure and launching implementation immediately,” the partnership said. “A state investment of $5 million in FY26, followed by $10 million annually over the next two years, will allow us to fully deploy and evaluate this critical initiative.”
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