The two sides
The Universal Child Allowance covers the family 25% share so parents can pay the copay without a cliff at any income, with no application and no caseworker. Delivered via FedCard from birth to age 17. UCA detail →
- Federal anchor sites at VA, DoD, USPS, GSA buildings under existing
38 USC 7809authority. No new statute needed. - Private leased and owned centers in child-care deserts, prioritized by COMPASS desert index.
- Family, Friend, Relative, Neighbor (FFN) caregivers formalized through navigators. Modeled on
MN 142D.24(2,500 caregivers in 2025).
The 50/25/25 operating split
50/25/25 is statutory mandatory spending. The Accord share is not appropriated annually — it flows automatically with enrollment. The employer share is met by on-site care, a network contract, or pool payment.
| Share | Who pays | At maturity ($/yr, central case) |
|---|---|---|
| 50% | Accord (General Fund) | $24.9B |
| 25% | Employer or host agency | $12.4B |
| 25% | Family (largely covered by UCA) | $12.4B |
Two tiers: Basic and Concierge
| Tier | Eligible for public funds? | Pricing | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | Yes — receives 50% Accord match + employer 25% + family 25% | Set regional rate per age group, not cost-plus | Standard + extended where deserts demand |
| Concierge | No — 100% family pay | Market rate; may cross-subsidize extended hours | Unrestricted |
The concierge tier exists deliberately. It absorbs willingness-to-pay above the basic rate without diverting public funds, and its cross-subsidy of extended hours is permitted.
The five-phase build
| Phase | Years | Label | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0–1 | Setup | Legislate 50/25/25 as mandatory spending; stand up regional pools; adopt MN-style FFN navigators in 10 pilot states; add slot-density and waitlist metrics to COMPASS. |
| 1 | 1–3 | Unsubsidized anchors | Open federal sites at VA/DoD/USPS/GSA at full parent fee, no Accord subsidy, prioritized by desert index. Prove demand, test extended hours, train first FFN cohort. Capital only: ~$4–5B/yr from General Fund. |
| 2 | 3–5 | Desert grants + thin match | Capital grants for net new licensed slots in census tracts where ≥46% of children under 6 live in deserts. 10% universal operating match to all licensed providers (prevents closures while UCA lifts demand). FFN caregivers register as legal nonlicensed providers, paid through CCAP. |
| 3 | 5–8 | Ramp to full share | Accord operating match increases from 10% to 50% as new slots come online. Employer mandate triggers (50+ workers AND 30%+ nonstandard hours): on-site, network contract, or pool payment. Private leased centers scale at the same rate. |
| 4 | 8–10 | Maturity | Capital program sunsets. Operations at steady state. FFN networks fully integrated, providing overnight, infant, and culturally specific care that centers cannot profitably offer. |
Who pays for what
| Total capital | $43.5–$69B |
| Per-seat planning average | $15,000 |
| NY DOE bounds | $10,000–$16,667 |
| PWBM (per preschooler) | $21,000 |
| Funding source | 100% federal General Fund (debt-retirement savings; not ring-fenced) |
| Total new-slot operating | $38.4–$61B/yr |
| New slots created | 2.9–4.6M |
| Per child / year | $13,254 |
| Accord 50% | $19.2–$30.5B/yr |
| Employer or host 25% | $9.6–$15.3B/yr |
| Family 25% (UCA) | $9.6–$15.3B/yr |
The FFN track
FFN — Family, Friend, Relative, Neighbor — is the third delivery channel. It exists because centers cannot profitably serve overnight shifts, infant care below age 1, or families whose work schedules or cultural needs do not match standard center hours.
Funding split for FFN is intentionally different from centers. Training, navigators, safety kits, and translation are paid by federal FFN grants to community organizations on the MN 142D.24 model. Care itself is paid at the same regional rate as centers, only when the caregiver is a registered legal nonlicensed provider serving CCAP-eligible children.
Navigators (one per ~50 caregivers) handle CPR certification, safety-kit distribution, licensing pathway support, and parent matching. Minnesota's program supported 2,500 caregivers in 2025; the federal program scales the model to all 50 states.
At maturity (Year 8)
The 4.2M-child gap identified by the Bipartisan Policy Center closes by Year 8 — two years earlier than the original ten-year framing, on the strength of the federal-anchor + private-leased + FFN-navigator mixed-delivery channels running in parallel. National licensed-slot supply rises from ~10.8M to ~15M.
Operating costs stabilize at the 50/25/25 split. Capital drops to maintenance only. FFN provides the overnight, infant, and culturally specific care that centers structurally cannot serve, as Minnesota's data on shift-work families demonstrates.
Pre-K is covered inside the 0–5 mandate. Ages 3 and 4 sit under the same access guarantee as ages 0–2. Pre-K educators are part of the broader 0–5 childcare workforce. States and localities retain authority over Pre-K teacher pay, curriculum, and program standards.