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In Nashville, Tennessee, numerous families grapple with the high costs and limited availability of child care. Recently, a new legislative measure has been approved by both the House and Senate, aiming to launch a pilot program that seeks to enhance accessibility and reduce expenses for child care services.
The 2025 State of the Child report from Tennessee highlights a stark reality: enrolling an infant in a daycare center costs families almost $14,000 annually. This amount surpasses the in-state tuition fees at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
“The financial burden of child care is a significant barrier for those planning to start or already raising families,” remarked Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis). “In Memphis, families are shelling out $300 weekly for a three-year-old’s care, which is unsustainable, especially when wages aren’t keeping pace.”
The newly proposed “Promising Futures Act” aims to tackle the dual challenges of rising child care costs and workforce shortages. It introduces two pilot initiatives: a workforce scholarship program to attract and retain child care professionals by subsidizing tuition for parents who enter the field, and the “Care Share Tennessee” program, which incentivizes employers to voluntarily contribute to child care support for their employees.
“This initiative is part of our broader effort to resolve both the affordability and accessibility issues in Tennessee’s child care sector,” explained Rep. Mark White (R-Memphis), the bill’s sponsor. “By adopting strategies successful in other states, we cover tuition for parents entering the child care workforce and establish Care Share Tennessee to encourage employer investments. This plan fosters a collaborative effort among businesses, employees, and the state to provide essential child care solutions within the workforce.”
Originally, Republican lawmakers proposed funding the three-year pilot through taxes on hemp and vape products. Now, legislators have shifted the funding source, using a new tax on money transfers sent out of the country to pay for the program instead.
The pilot program will launch with $5 million dedicated to child care workforce scholarships and another $5 million for the employer cost-sharing initiative.
State officials say the Tennessee Department of Human Services is expected to begin administering the program in January, though it is still unclear when families will begin seeing benefits.