In this letter, senior fellows Gina Adams, Heather Sandstrom, and Diane Schilder offer comments on the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families’ proposed rulemaking on restoring flexibility in the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). The cited research evidence underscores the importance of retaining four key regulations from the 2024 Final Rule that are being proposed for recission. Specifically, the authors recommend

• not repealing the federally mandated cap on family copayments,
• not repealing the requirement to use some grants or contracts for direct services,
• not repealing the requirement to pay child care providers prospectively, and
• not repealing the requirement to pay child care providers based on a child's enrollment rather than attendance.

They provide evidence that these regulations clearly support the intent of the CCDF statute in three ways.

First, the CCDF statute clearly focuses on ensuring that parents receiving subsidies have the same access to child care options as parents without subsidies and can choose child care options that meet their needs. The policies proposed for recission directly support this statutory intent by strengthening child care affordability and availability of care.

Second, the 2014 CCDF law and final rule clearly state that child care subsidy payment practices should reflect generally accepted payment practices of providers who do not accept child care assistance. The current requirements are based on common practices most child care providers use for their private-paying parents.

Third, the Act is clear that payment policies should recognize the fixed costs of providers and delink payments from attendance.

The evidence provided shows that both research and best practice support keeping the current regulations as they are. Furthermore, these regulations establish mechanisms to ensure that the goals and language of the 2014 CCDBG Act are upheld. They are key to supporting CCDF goals around ensuring the affordability of care for families and ensuring a stable supply of high-quality child care programs that are willing and able to serve children in the subsidy system so as to support parental choice.