Issue |
House Budget |
Senate Budget |
FAMILY ECONOMIC SUCESS |
Expand childcare subsidies for low-income working families and extended child care for Head Start students |
$17 million |
$17 million |
FOSTER CARE |
Increase financial support (“maintenance rates”) for foster and adoptive parents |
$22.6 million
(25% increase) |
$18.9 million
(20% increase) |
Enhance child welfare worker training |
No funding |
$1.6 million |
Improve recruitment and retention of foster parents |
No funding |
$3.5 million |
Offer localities incentives to create community-based services by increasing the state’s contribution for community-based care and reducing the state’s contribution for services provided in residential settings* |
Included |
Included |
Increase the number of visits social workers make to children in foster care |
$2 million |
No funding |
EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION |
Expand preschool for low-income children |
$25 million |
$39 million |
Fund scholarships for early childhood educators |
No funding |
$2 million |
Implement a voluntary quality rating and improvement system for early childhood programs |
No funding |
$3 million |
Support the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation |
No funding |
$1 million |
HEALTH CARE |
Expand prenatal care to additional low-income women |
No funding |
$1.6 million |
Exempt many psychiatric drugs from “fail first” and prior authorization requirements that are imposed on many other drugs |
$2 million |
$2 million |
