Early Childhood Workforce Tax Credit Toolkit

Pathways to High-Quality Child Care: The Workforce Investment Credit

• Policy Brief (Updated 2025)
• Executive Summary (Updated 2025)
• National Infographic (Updated 2025)
• Presentation: Using Refundable Tax Credits to Improve Professional Development & Increase Wages (Alliance for Early Success, Sept. 2019)
• Presentation: Using Refundable Tax Credits to Improve Professional Development, Wages, and State QRIS (BUILD QRIS National Meeting, July 2018)
• Presentation: Using Refundable Tax Credits for Professional Development (BUILD QRIS National Meeting November 2023)
• State Infographics (Early Educator Wages & Child Demographics)

Enacted: (Louisiana and Nebraska)

• Louisiana Statutory Language for ECE Workforce Refundable Credit (as part of the School Readiness package of credits)

• The Nebraska Tax Credit Act (2023)

• Nebraska Department of Revenue, School Readiness Tax Credit Act (2023) Statute & Explanation

• Public awareness campaign launches to educate Nebraskans about new child care tax credits (First Five Nebraska, 2024)

• Nebraska School Readiness Tax Credit (August 2020, reflecting 2016 legislation and 2020 amendments enacted)
• Nebraska Fiscal Note (2020)
• School readiness tax credit program expanded to benefit more child care providers (First Five Nebraska, August 2020)
• Nebraska Fiscal Note (2016, as legislation was considered)
• Nebraska Dept. of Revenue Explanatory Notice on School Readiness Tax Credits Nebraska ECE Workforce Application for ECE Refundable Tax Credit
• School Readiness Tax Credits for the Early Childhood Workforce and Step Up to Quality Program Participants (Nebraska Dept. of Education)

Louisiana ECE Workforce Refundable Tax Credit Background

(a component of Louisiana's School Readiness Tax Credit Package)

Louisiana child care directors and eligible staff can receive a refundable tax credit if they work at least six months for a licensed child care facility that participates in the state's quality rating system and are enrolled in the Louisiana Pathways Child Care Career Development System.

The refundable tax credit is based on achieved educational levels (it is an earned credit) and is adjusted annually for inflation.

• Linking Tax Credits to Quality Child Care: Promotes Accountability for Public Investments (1 pager, 2025)

• Educating Revenue Estimators (1 pager, 2025)

Advocacy Talking Points:

• Business Leaders
• Child Care Center Staff
• Child Care Center Directors
• Family Child Care Providers
• General Key Stakeholder Leaders

• SB 233, the Workforce Child Care Tax Credits legislation (effective January 2026)
• Tax Credit for Teachers and Directors, 2024 rates by level
• Louisiana School Readiness Tax Credit Summary Description (LA Dept. of Revenue)
• Statutory Language for the Louisiana ECE Workforce Tax Credit
• Louisiana Rule related to administrative process for the ECE Workforce Refundable Tax Credit
• Louisiana Revenue Bulletin, Credit for Child Care Directors and Staff (Dec. 2018)
• Instructions for Completing the Louisiana School Readiness Tax Credit Form R-10615 for Child Care Directors and Staff
• LA Tax Expenditure Estimates (2024)
• Louisiana School Readiness Cost Distribution Table (2024)

• Lessons from the Bayou State, Three Reforms for Improving Teaching and Caregiving, New America (2018)
• Giving Credit Where It’s Due, School Readiness Tax Credits Benefit Louisiana Families and Communities, Louisiana Policy Institute for Children and Louise Stoney, Opportunities Exchange (2016)
• Extra Credit: How Louisiana Is Improving Child Care, National Women’s Law Center (2015)
• Tax Credits for Early Care and Education: Funding Strategy in a New Economy, Louise Stoney and Susan Blank, Opportunities Exchange (2011)

• School Readiness Tax Credit Guidance (Louisiana Dept. of Education, Dec. 2017)
• FAQs for Staff and Directors (Louisiana Department of Education, 2023)
• Louisiana Policy Institute for Children, Advocacy Information
• Report: Giving Credit Where It's Due, School Readiness Tax Credits Benefit Louisiana Families and Communities. (2016)

State Early Educator Tax Credit

Enacted Bills

Tax Credit Toolbox: Advocacy Tools

You Can Use

Advocacy at Work: Sample Documents

• Arkansas: Infographics - Workforce Tax Credit Infographic; High-Quality Early Learning Matters
• Colorado: Support HB 19-1005, the Early Childhood Educator Credit, Colorado Children's Campaign
• Massachusetts: Infographic - Where are Massachusetts Preschool-Age Children? (Strategies for Children)
• Minnesota: Infographic - High-Quality Early Learning Matters; Economic Impact of Child Care 

• The Early Childhood Workforce Index 2018, Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (2018)
• New York Teachers’ Voices, Work Environment Conditions that Impact Teacher Practice and Program Quality, Center for the Study of Child Care Employment  (2018)
• Arkansas Workforce Study (2017)
• North Carolina Workforce Study (2015)
• Sample NC regional report (2015)

Alliance for Early Success Partner Reports Related to Workforce Tax Credits

Need More Information on Child Care Economic Impact?

Check out CED's Child Care in State Economies: 2024 Update

Sample ECE Workforce

Surveys and Reports

Colorado

• Colorado Income Tax Credit for Careworkers  (2024)
• Colorado Early Childhood Educator Income Tax Credit (Updated 2022)
• Colorado Early Childhood Educator Tax Credit Statute

In 2025, the Louisiana state legislature passed legislation (SB 233) that modified the School Readiness Tax Credits as well as changed the name to the Workforce Child Care Tax Credits.