Bills targeting Montana’s child care challenges maintaining steam

With the 2025 legislative session shifting into its final weeks, early childhood care and education advocates throughout the state are closely watching a string of policy proposals still alive in the Montana Legislature to address ongoing challenges in the child care sector.

Workforce shortages have continued to drive much of the debate over those measures. According to a state health department report from 2023, employee turnover was the top contributor to open positions in the child care industry that year, and Montana Advocates for Children coordinator Grace Decker estimates that 1 in 3 child care workers leaves the profession annually. Low pay remains the most commonly cited reason for such departures, with the Montana Department of Labor and Industry reporting the average child care worker wage in 2022 at $12.73 an hour.

House Bill 456 emerged early on as an effort to address the financial strain for child care workers with children of their own by making them automatically eligible for state child care assistance. Sponsored by Rep. Jonathan Karlen, D-Missoula, the proposal is estimated to help cover tuition costs for as many as 400 children of child care workers who don’t currently qualify for Montana’s Best Beginnings scholarship, at a total cost of $5.4 million. HB 456 cleared the House with strong bipartisan support in early April and is slated for its first Senate committee hearing in the coming days.