Childcare Archives - Granite Grok

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ROPER: $100 Million Childcare Tax Is the Straw That Broke the Camel’s Back

April 16, 2026 Rob Roper

The Vermont State House recently hosted “Manufacturing Day” to highlight the successes and concerns of a key – and it turns out declining – sector of our economy. Amy Spear of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce kicked off testimony before the Economic Development Committees, “Manufacturing employment in Vermont has declined 11.3% since 2020. And Vermont … Read more

ROPER: Democrats Are NOT for Affordability – Are Republicans?

April 3, 2026 Rob Roper

Vermont is suffering from an early childcare availability crisis and an affordability crisis. We are suffering under crippling state taxes, particularly, but not limited to, property taxes. If you want to solve these issues, a hard NO vote on S.206 – An act relating to licensure of early childhood educators by the Office of Professional … Read more

ROPER: Are We Really Spending $157,000 Taxpayer Dollars Per Childcare Spot?!

February 1, 2026 Rob Roper

During testimony in the Senate Education Committee regarding Vermont’s taxpayer-funded universal preschool program (Act 76), Senator David Weeks (R-Rutland) challenged advocates with some stunning numbers. Vermonters gasp when learning our K-12 system spends around $30,000 per student on average (second-highest per-pupil spending in the country). But what about Pre-K? That gasp may escalate to a … Read more

ROPER: Subsidies and Regulation Made Childcare More Expensive, Less Available, and Less Effective

January 24, 2026 Rob Roper

The Vermont Futures Project’s Economic Action Plan has a page or so touching on childcare. It notes that “over the past decade, Vermont has seen a decline in childcare capacity, particularly with the closure of home-based providers.” Hmmm…. What happened a decade ago that would have precipitated the rapid closing of hundreds of home-based childcare … Read more

The NHGOP Is NOT Representing Republican Voters

January 8, 2023 Ed Mosca

On January 3rd, the progressive advocacy website called New Hampshire Bulletin posted, Housing, child care to get special attention this session. It could alternatively be titled, The NHGOP Is NOT Representing GOP Voters.

Nora on WMUR Daycare Dilemma - video screenshot

Is WMUR willing to lower the cost of your Daycare and make it more available? I didn’t think so…

May 13, 2022 Skip

This past Tuesday, WMUR ran a piece about how hard it is to get Daycare for the little ones. I can commiserate as TMEW and I own and ran such a center back in the early ‘naughts. I wanted our own business, TMEW had the degrees, and that meant we could supply our own afterschool … Read more

Your State House 11/15/21: Childcare, Emergency Powers, Redistricting

January 12, 2025November 15, 2021 Carol McGuire

This week, my committee met for the last time this year, to finish three bills we’d held over. HB 457, changing the duties of the legislative youth advisory council, was amended to simply allow some of their meetings to be held virtually. This should help the lack of geographic diversity on the council, especially since … Read more

This Badly Written Bill Would Allow Spending Campaign Funds on Childcare Expenses

April 25, 2019 Steve MacDonald

How do you feel about allowing political campaign funds to be used to pay for childcare expenses? That’s what HB651 would make legal. A bill that passed the House and is currently up for consideration in the State Senate.