# Virginia HB1208: Public education; early childhood care and education, child care access calculations, report. Virginia HB1208, Public education; early childhood care and education, child care access calculations, report., is a 2026 Regular Session House bill sponsored by Briana D. Sewell (Democratic); status signed, last action 2026-04-08 (Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0456)); PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-12). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB1208-2026 - As of: 2026-10-12 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: Virginia HB1208 - State: Virginia - Session: 2026 Regular Session - Title: Public education; early childhood care and education, child care access calculations, report. - Status: signed - Chamber: House - Introduced: 2026-01-14 - Last action: 2026-04-08, Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0456) - Sponsor: Briana D. Sewell (Democratic) - Cosponsors: 0 - Touches household money: yes - Roll calls: 13 (361 yes, 144 no in all) - Economic provisions PRIA read: 4 ## Summary Public education; early childhood care and education; child care access calculations; report. Requires the Department of Education to establish and maintain calculations for the provision of early childhood care and education services based on cost of quality rate per child, actual data from the prior year, an estimate of parental demand and choice preferences based on historic growth trends and current eligibility criteria, and an estimate of the number of slots to be added to support local or regional economic development efforts and public-private partnerships focused on increasing the supply of child care services, giving priority to localities or regions identified as child care deserts, as determined by the Department. The bill also contains several provisions relating to the use and appropriation of funds as applicable to such calculations, including (i) providing that the calculations shall not obligate the General Assembly to a specific appropriation, (ii) requiring the calculations to be used to provide information to guide the General Assembly in making decisions about the proportion of parental demand for and supply of early childhood care and education services to be addressed and level of appropriation required to address such demand, and (iii) providing that the annual overall funding available for slots shall be subject to appropriation as determined by the General Assembly. The bill also provides that if waitlists for slots at early childhood care and education sites remain, up to $5 million from prior-year unexpended state general funds appropriated for such purpose in a general appropriation act may be carried forward to the current fiscal year to temporarily provide additional slots during the current fiscal year solely to reduce or eliminate waitlists, unless the general appropriation act authorizes a greater amount to be carried forward and that such prior-year funds shall not be used to increase the base amount of funding required in the subsequent fiscal year and the Department shall monitor program utilization and attrition to ensure that no families will lose access at the end of the current fiscal year. Finally, the bill requires the Department to annually submit to the Commission on Early Childhood Care and Education and post on its website a report on the data used to calculate the minimum funding and number of slots for the calculations in accordance with the provisions of the bill. This bill is identical to SB 134. ## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read - Child-care funding plans include older children: benefit, medium. Virginia's child-care subsidy funding calculations must include each child under 13 in qualifying families. Family income cannot exceed 85% of state median income. The family must include at least one child age five or younger who has not started kindergarten. Other subsidy eligibility requirements… - Temporary child-care slots for waitlisted families: benefit, medium. Virginia must maximize and fully spend recurring federal program funds before using state general funds. Current-year state general funds must be spent before using prior-year funds. When waitlists remain, up to $5 million in unused prior-year state funds can pay for temporary slots during the curr… - Child-care slots shift toward family needs: benefit, low. By May 15 before each upcoming year, regional entities must report needed Mixed Delivery Program slots. School divisions must report Virginia Preschool Initiative needs, and localities must report Child Care Subsidy Program needs. The Department of Education must calculate regional needs for recogn… - Public funding estimates for Virginia child care: benefit, low. Virginia's unified early-childhood system connects school-based, licensed, and unlicensed programs to support kindergarten readiness and help families compare care. The Department of Education must publish funding estimates for each two-year budget period. Estimates include updated per-child presch… ## Sponsors and cosponsors - Sponsor: Briana D. Sewell (Democratic), House ## Roll call votes | Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2026-03-14 | House | Conference report agreed to by House | pass | 76 | 20 | | | 2026-03-14 | Senate | Conference report agreed to by Senate | pass | 39 | 0 | | | 2026-03-05 | Senate | Senate insisted on substitute | pass | 38 | 0 | | | 2026-03-03 | House | Senate substitute rejected by House | fail | 0 | 98 | | | 2026-02-27 | Senate | Education and Health Substitute agreed to | pass | 0 | 0 | | | 2026-02-27 | Senate | Passed Senate with substitute Block Vote | pass | 37 | 0 | | | 2026-02-26 | Senate | Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) | pass | 40 | 0 | | | 2026-02-26 | Senate | Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote) | pass | 0 | 0 | | | 2026-02-25 | Senate | Reported from Finance and Appropriations | pass | 15 | 0 | | | 2026-02-19 | Senate | Reported from Education and Health with substitute and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations | pass | 15 | 0 | | | 2026-02-13 | House | Read third time and passed House | pass | 74 | 22 | | | 2026-02-09 | House | Reported from Education with substitute | pass | 18 | 3 | | | 2026-02-04 | House | Subcommittee recommends reporting and referring to Appropriations | pass | 9 | 1 | | ## Actions (48) - 2026-04-08: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0456) (Governor) - 2026-04-08: Approved by Governor-Chapter 456 (effective 7/1/2026) (Governor) - 2026-03-31: Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1208) (House) - 2026-03-31: Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 (Governor) - 2026-03-31: Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 31, 2026 (House) - 2026-03-31: Signed by Speaker (House) - 2026-03-30: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1208ER) (House) - 2026-03-30: Enrolled (House) - 2026-03-30: Signed by President (Senate) - 2026-03-14: Conference report agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N 0-A) (Senate) - 2026-03-14: Conference report agreed to by House (76-Y 20-N 0-A) (House) - 2026-03-14: Conference Report released - 2026-03-10: House Conferees: Sewell, Askew, Kent (House) - 2026-03-10: Conferees appointed by House (House) - 2026-03-09: Conferees appointed by Senate (Senate) - 2026-03-09: Senate Conferees: Locke, Favola, Pillion (Senate) - 2026-03-06: House acceded to request (House) - 2026-03-05: Senate insisted on substitute (38-Y 0-N 0-A) (Senate) - 2026-03-05: Senate requested conference committee (Senate) - 2026-03-03: Senate substitute rejected by House (House) - 2026-02-27: Passed Senate with substitute Block Vote (37-Y 0-N 0-A) (Senate) - 2026-02-27: Education and Health Substitute agreed to (Senate) - 2026-02-27: Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute (Senate) - 2026-02-27: Read third time (Senate) - 2026-02-26: Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote) (Senate) - 2026-02-26: Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A) (Senate) - 2026-02-26: Rules suspended (Senate) - 2026-02-25: Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) (Senate) - 2026-02-23: Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1208) (House) - 2026-02-19: Committee substitute printed 26108243D-S1 (Senate) - 2026-02-19: Senate committee offered (Senate) - 2026-02-19: Reported from Education and Health with substitute and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) (Senate) - 2026-02-16: Referred to Committee on Education and Health (Senate) - 2026-02-16: Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) (Senate) - 2026-02-13: Read third time and passed House (74-Y 22-N 0-A) (House) - 2026-02-12: Engrossed by House - committee substitute (House) - 2026-02-12: committee substitute agreed to (House) - 2026-02-12: Read second time (House) - 2026-02-11: Read first time (House) - 2026-02-09: Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1208) (House) - 2026-02-09: Committee substitute printed 26107408D-H1 (House) - 2026-02-09: House committee offered (House) - 2026-02-09: Reported from Education with substitute (18-Y 3-N) (House) - 2026-02-04: Subcommittee recommends reporting and referring to Appropriations (9-Y 1-N) (House) - 2026-02-03: Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1208) (House) - 2026-01-30: Assigned HED sub: Early Childhood and Innovation (House) - 2026-01-14: Referred to Committee on Education (House) - 2026-01-14: Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26104909D (House) ## Bill text - Chaptered, 2026-04-08: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1217915.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1217914.PDF) - Enrolled, 2026-03-30: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1214338.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1214337.PDF) - Conference Report, 2026-03-14: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1211613.HTML) - Substitute, 2026-03-14: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1211610.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1211609.PDF) - Substitute, 2026-02-19: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1170000.HTML), [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1170674.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1169999.PDF), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1170673.PDF) - Substitute, 2026-02-09: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1134046.HTML), [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1134310.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1134045.PDF), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1134309.PDF) - Introduced, 2026-01-14: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1087757.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1087756.PDF) ## Related bills - HB5: Employment; paid sick leave, civil penalties. (signed) - SB199: Employment; paid sick leave, civil penalties. (signed) - HB95: Va. Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; landlord remedies, noncompliance with rental agreement. (signed) - HB1393: Electric utilities; pilot program for energy assistance and weatherization for certain individuals. (signed) - HB834: Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; fire or casualty damage, termination by landlord. (signed) - HB675: Protection of employees; coercion or threat based on immigration status, civil penalty. (signed) ## Sources - [Chaptered (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1217915.HTML) - [Chaptered (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1217914.PDF) - [Enrolled (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1214338.HTML) - [Enrolled (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1214337.PDF) - [Conference Report (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1211613.HTML) - [Substitute (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1211610.HTML) - [Substitute (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1211609.PDF) - [Substitute (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1170000.HTML) - [Substitute (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1170674.HTML) - [Substitute (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1169999.PDF) - [Substitute (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1170673.PDF) - [Substitute (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1134046.HTML) - [Substitute (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1134310.HTML) - [Substitute (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1134045.PDF) - [Substitute (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1134309.PDF) - [Introduced (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1087757.HTML) - [Introduced (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1087756.PDF) ## Related - [HB5: Employment; paid sick leave, civil penalties.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB5-2026) - [SB199: Employment; paid sick leave, civil penalties.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-SB199-2026) - [HB95: Va. Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; landlord remedies, noncompliance with…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB95-2026) - [HB1393: Electric utilities; pilot program for energy assistance and weatherization for…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB1393-2026) - [HB834: Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; fire or casualty damage, terminat…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB834-2026) - [HB675: Protection of employees; coercion or threat based on immigration status, civil…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB675-2026) - [Virginia bills](https://policyrisk.com/states/virginia/bills) - [Virginia state hub](https://policyrisk.com/states/virginia) - [All state legislation](https://policyrisk.com/state-bills) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB1208-2026 (as of 2026-10-12).