Closing Va.’s child care affordability gap could cost up to $4.5B a year

Good morning from The Mercury.

By Nathaniel Cline

Closing Virginia’s child care affordability gap would require up to $4.5 billion annually over the next decade, according to the Virginia Department of Education — an investment that, under one scenario, would also raise annual pay for 43,000 educators by an average of $17,000. 

Virginia currently lacks at least 140,000 child care slots needed to support working families. Earlier this year, the General Assembly directed the agency to report on parent demand and service needs, calculate funding needs based on current program eligibility, measure historic growth, and account for relevant economic-development projects.

By Charlotte Rene Woods

Virginia is bringing healthcare and workforce organizations together to help residents keep their health coverage and navigate new federal requirements for Medicaid and other assistance programs.  

Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources Marvin Figueroa on Monday announced the Virginia United Coalition, formalizing a partnership that builds on a series of roundtable meetings with him and Gov. Abigail Spanberger throughout the summer, as well as an executive order she signed. 

By Shannon Heckt

An Oct. 26 special session to elect judges to the Court of Appeals of Virginia has been called off because of scheduling conflicts, scrapping lawmakers’ return to Richmond. 

The session was expected to last at least three days, which Senate Majority Leader Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, said was difficult for many lawmakers to plan around.  

“Members were planning on all kinds of travel plans and family plans and all kinds of stuff. Scheduling special sessions is difficult outside of the regular session,” Surovell told The Mercury in a phone interview Monday.

By Shauneen Miranda

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday establishing a Women’s Health Division within the National Institutes of Health. 

The new division is set to work with the agency’s existing Office of Research on Women’s Health, which was established in 1990 and “has served as the focal point for women’s health research at NIH,” according to the NIH website.

The White House said first lady Melania Trump was involved in formulating and leading work on the order, which also creates a White House Women’s Health Task Force that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles will co-chair. 

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