The Anchorage Child Care & Education (ACCEE) Fund
The Anchorage Child Care & Education (ACCEE) Fund
Proposition 14 – the Anchorage Child Care and Early Education (ACCEE) Fund – passed with strong support from Anchorage voters in 2023. Proposition 14 dedicates the Municipality of Anchorage’s marijuana tax revenue to support child care and early childhood education. The funds started accumulating in January of 2024 and will be dispersed beginning in 2025, with an estimated $5 million available annually.
The Municipality, under the guidance of the ACCEE Fund Board, is now working to implement its first budget, passed by the Assembly in November 2024 and supported by the Mayor. This budget lays out ACCEE Fund programs that will be funded in calendar year 2025. The three major programs include: (1) a program to pay for the cost of child care for early education sector employees, so that we can stop the ongoing reduction in the child care and early education workforce; (2) funds for operational assistance for child care and early education entities; and (3) funds for pilot projects meant to spur innovation and lead to a more sustainable sector. Funds are expected to be released in summer 2025.
This budget was largely based on the ACCEE Fund Implementation Team’s final report and recommended budget for 2025, which was released in September 2024. The Implementation Team was formed as a temporary entity to lay the foundation for the important work the ACCEE Fund will accomplish in the years to come. The submission of the Implementation Team’s final report and budget recommendations marked the end of this near-year-long, community-directed effort. The ACCEE Fund is now guided and supported by the ACCEE Fund Board.
Jessica Simonsen, Vice Chair of the ACCEE Fund Board and Co-Chair of the Implementation Team, said the following about the final report and resulting budget. “The Implementation Team’s final report reflects ten months of work to understand the problem at hand. The sector is in crisis; the expected $5 million in annual revenue is not enough to fill the deep need for funding throughout the sector, but we must begin somewhere. It’s our belief, building on the feedback of hundreds of parents and practitioners throughout this process, that we should start with improving access, and our proposed budget aims to do that.”
Thank you.
Thank you! We did it. With the passage of Proposition 14 in April 2023, we made a significant and lasting commitment to investing in child care and early education. And Anchorage kids, families, and businesses will be better off because of it.
We are currently working to implement the Anchorage Child Care and Early Education (ACCEE) Fund. We aim to develop a system that meets immediate child care and early education needs in our community while also building a more sustainable system for years to come.
Please read below for more information about the ACCEE Fund.
About
In April of 2023, Proposition 14 – the Anchorage Child Care and Early Education Fund (ACCEE Fund) – passed with strong support from Anchorage voters, by a nearly 12-point margin. Proposition 14 dedicates the Municipality of Anchorage’s marijuana tax revenue to child care and early childhood education. The funds started accumulating in January of 2024, with an estimated five million dollars available annually. The ACCEE Fund can be spent creating access to child care and early education programs; supporting reading programs; supporting child care or early education provider training, professional development, staffing, and/or livable wages; or funding facilities. Funding can be delivered in a variety of ways, including through the issuance of grants or the completion of studies or research related to child care and early education.
Proposition 14 also established the Anchorage Child Care and Early Education Fund Board. Members are appointed by the Anchorage Mayor and confirmed by the Anchorage Assembly. The Board advises the Mayor and Assembly on use of the funds and presents a proposed budget to both annually. In September of 2024, since Board members were not yet appointed, the Implementation Team (see below) prepared a draft 2025 budget, which it submitted in its final report to the Mayor and Assembly. That draft was amended by the Mayor and presented to the Assembly. A final budget was passed in November 2024, and funds will start being dispersed in 2025. In future years, the Board will propose annual ACCEE Fund budgets.
To ensure ACCEE funds are used effectively, a private and public partnership between the Municipality of Anchorage and the Alaska Children’s Trust was formed soon after the proposition passed. In the fall of 2023, the Implementation Team was formed. The Implementation Team was responsible for analyzing child care and early education best practices, strategies, and trends; communicating and engaging with the public about the ACCEE Fund; participating in listening sessions and meeting with other stakeholders, such as providers, parents, businesses, and community partners; developing a draft 2025 budget and detailing how best to use these funds immediately as well as how to build a sustainable system for our families; bringing forward an ordinance to the Anchorage Assembly that lays out the Board’s responsibilities, composition, and operations; and supporting the Board as it is seated. The Implementation Team prepared and submitted a final report and budget in early September, 2024, and soon after Board members were appointed and confirmed.
Anchorage Assembly Resolution 2023-404, passed on November 21, 2023, described the implementation plan and timeline for the ACCEE Fund, and Anchorage Assembly Information Memorandum 45-2024, dated April 9, 2024, provided an update of work done by the Implementation Team through March of 2024. The Implementation Team’s final report and proposed budget are also now available.