Kidango is an early learning nonprofit committed to setting every child on a path to thrive in kindergarten and in life. As the largest child care provider in the San Francisco Bay Area, we provide children with safe, healthy and nurturing environments and relationships, fostering the social, emotional, and academic skills they need to learn, grow and realize their potential. From our position at the nexus of practice, policy and research, we advocate for evidence-based early learning and care policies that help close the opportunity and readiness gaps for our youngest learners.
Kidango’s advocacy, policy, and research team is committed to designing and moving forward policy solutions that uplift the voices and perspectives of families and child care professionals. Kidango’s advocacy process is built to involve families and child care professionals at each step of the way. Our budget and policy priorities this year were shaped by focus groups and insights directly from Kidango classrooms and staff, from departments ranging from enrollment to nutrition.
Our state has made huge commitments and policy changes to move towards an Early Care and Education (ECE) field that is professionally and financially supported to create environments where all children can thrive. Our priorities this year are grounded in our strongly held conviction that we must continue this momentum if we are to achieve the transformative system changes California has laid out in the Master Plan for Early Learning and Care. This can be seen in the issues we will advocate for on a state level, as well as our focus on implementing new policies and practices in the most beneficial ways possible for children.
Policy Agenda
Budget and Policy Priorities
FY26-27 Policy Priorities:
As a leading early care and education (ECE) non-profit, Kidango has been proud to partner with Governor Newsom’s administration and the California Legislature. We have made historic progress towards achieving the goals set out in the Master Plan for Early Learning and Care and becoming a “California for all kids.” We know that early care and education not only gives children a strong start in life, but also enables parents to work, thereby driving local and state economies. And yet, less than half of all children in California – and only 1 in 4 families below the federal poverty level – have access to child care.
At this critical moment, we must remain resilient and continue the momentum and progress. We emphasize the importance of helping families access and afford child care, and of improving wages for early childhood caregivers. To do this, Kidango will advocate for the following budget and policy priorities for 2026-27:
- Fulfill the commitment to deliver the remaining 200,000 childcare spaces promised in the 2021–22 State Budget Act.
- Raise the wages of early childhood caregivers by implementing rate reform.
- Implement a reversion account to keep unspent ECE dollars in the field.
- Remove unnecessary bureaucratic barriers and regulations to ensure scarce public dollars go to serve children and families.
- Continue to strengthen the Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (ECMHC) Model across the state and support programs to utilize this approach.
- Create a waiver process to promote innovative curricular, instructional, and support service models that will best serve the needs of children and families.
- Maintain funding in the amount of $35 million statewide to provide for County Offices of Education (COEs) to sustain and enhance Universal PreKindergarten (UPK) implementation efforts.
We look forward to working together and standing firm as a state on our commitment to children. To be a California for ALL and a leader in our nation, we must continue to take bold and innovative action to meet the needs of children and families.
Kidango’s 2026-27 State Budget Recommendations for California’s Leaders
- Kidango’s 2026 Letter to Governor Newsom, Senate Pro-Tem Limón, Assembly Speaker Rivas
- Early Care and Education Budget Coalition Letter
- First 5 Association Budget Letter on Ensuring Young Children Retain Access to Preventative Mental Healthcare
Legislation
Sponsored and Supported Legislation
AB 2429 (Rubio) Child Care: Mental Health Consultation Services
Kidango is proud to sponsor AB 2429, authored by Assemblymember Blanca Rubio and introduced Feb. 20, 2026, to expand and strengthen Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (ECMHC) in Early Childhood Education programs throughout California.
ECMHC continues to grow as a model that can build the capacity of teachers to respond effectively to all children and create trauma-informed and inclusive environments. Since the passage of AB 2806 in 2022, also authored by Assemblymember Rubio, more ECE providers have been able to implement ECMHC with a roadmap on best practices and program requirements to follow. Now, we have the opportunity to make key adjustments to the model, which will make it easier for providers to implement and allow consultants to further customize their approach based on needs of the children, families, and teachers.
Bill Information:
Take Action:
Send your support letters through the position portal.
Bill Status:
April 15, 2026, Assembly Education Committee Hearing. Watch it live!
March 24, 2026, Assembly Human Services Hearing. Results 7-0 Aye Votes
AB2429 has been double-referred to the Assembly Human Services and Assembly Education Committees.
Kidango Supported Legislation
♥ SB1110 (Becker)- SB 1110 will build a more stable and robust childcare subsidy system, based on a solid infrastructure and resourced for consistent services to childcare providers, inclusive of CCPU requirements, and offers more comprehensive whole family supports to families who are engaging in the program.
♥ SB902 (Grayson)-SB 902 specifies that a signature required by the Child Care and Development Services Act may be satisfied by an electronic signature in compliance with the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA). Additionally, the bill authorizes the Department of
Social Services to adopt regulations to implement these provisions.
♥ SB1051 (Menjivar)- SB 1051 would empower Bridge Navigators to submit referrals to county child welfare agencies for their approval of a childcare voucher for an eligible foster child under the Emergency Child Care Bridge (Bridge) Program. Social workers would retain full authority to determine eligibility for the Bridge program, but they would now have greater support to ensure that no child falls through the cracks in accessing this necessary resource.
♥ AB2092 (Bonta)-AB 2092 would establish a statewide integrated data system under the California Department of Social Services (CDSS). The primary goal of the bill is to link data across multiple state-funded programs that serve children from birth to age five—such as childcare, preschool, and developmental services.
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If you’re passionate about early childhood education and would like to make your voice heard, join our advocacy network.
For more information about policy and advocacy at Kidango, please contact Maéva Renaud, VP of Advocacy & Policy, at mrenaud@kidango.org.
Legislative Resources
