Watching a state legislature debate tax exemptions for data centers while thousands of kids wait on preschool waitlists is almost surreal. That is essentially what has been going on in Virginia for several months. Since the regular 2026 General Assembly session concluded without a budget and a special session in April yielded no results, lawmakers in Richmond have remained impassed. The families who rely most on early childhood programs are quietly bearing the burden of someone else’s political impasse as the July 1 deadline for preventing a government shutdown draws near.
Children are not the main point of contention. It has to do with money and business. The Senate wants to eliminate data centers’ current sales and use tax exemption, which would divert an estimated $1.6 billion a year into sectors like transportation and education. The House is in favor of maintaining the exemption. Abigail Spanberger, the governor, supports the House. Everything else, including $163 million that the House had proposed to create more than 11,500 new early childhood slots and start clearing the state’s accumulated child care waitlists, has been held hostage by this disagreement.
According to the National Institute for Early Education Research, Virginia is currently ranked 31st in the country for giving four-year-olds access to preschool. It is not a good place to negotiate. Nevertheless, the state has failed to approve a budget that would, among other things, enable low-income families to get the reasonably priced child care they have been waiting for. Families making less than 85% of the state’s median income are the target audience for the House’s proposal; for them, a waitlist is a real crisis rather than an annoyance.
Whether any version of that $163 million investment will make it through the final budget negotiations is still up in the air. The Senate’s counterproposal, a $50 million pilot program to collaborate with companies on expanding early childhood care, is a different strategy, smaller in scope, and unlikely to reach the same number of families. The difference between the two chambers is not merely philosophical; it also has to do with the number of kids who enroll in school before turning five.
The uncertainty is making pre-existing issues worse for school districts. Understanding the budget is necessary for hiring personnel, organizing programs, and getting ready for the upcoming fall academic year. While some divisions, especially those in rural or economically challenged areas, have been able to hold the line thanks to stronger local tax bases, others simply cannot. When education leaders talk about this, it seems like they’ve become used to making plans in the dark.
There is at least some fresh momentum, and the House and Senate are set to reconvene on June 18 and June 22, respectively. Republicans and Democrats in the House united last Friday to push a bill that includes funding for child care subsidies and $1.8 billion for public education, among other priorities. “I am proud to support this proposal,” said Governor Spanberger. It remains to be seen if the Senate concurs.
It’s difficult to ignore the fact that children who are most impacted by this delay are also the ones whose families are least able to handle it. When rent is already challenging, private preschool is not an option. When a parent loses a preschool spot, they don’t just find another. On its own, the waitlist does not get shorter. Furthermore, research on early childhood education does not wait for Richmond to sort itself out. Instead, it focuses on what those years mean for cognitive development, kindergarten readiness, and long-term outcomes.
