Rooted In Education.
Committed to Community.
Child Care Stability That Strengthens Educators, Families and Communities.
The John and Janet Buckner Education Fund is developing a disciplined pilot to help eligible Colorado K–12 educators manage the cost of early childhood care.
The Colorado Educator Child Care Stability Partnership will begin with an inaugural cohort of approximately 25 educator families with children from birth through age five.
Through need-informed financial assistance paid directly to eligible care providers, the Partnership is designed to reduce family child care cost burden, support continuity of care for young children, and help educators remain in the work they are committed to doing.
The inaugural pilot will allow the Fund to test the model, learn from participating families and providers, and generate evidence that can guide future enhancement and responsible expansion. Participant commitments will not be made until the resources necessary to support the full pilot have been secured.
Our Mission
Thriving Together
We strengthen communities by connecting educator workforce stability with access to affordable, high-quality early care and learning.
Case for Support
Why Invest Now?
The high cost of child care places significant pressure on educator families—and on the schools and communities that depend on them.
Origin Story
A Legacy of Service
Inspired by John and Janet Buckner’s lifelong commitment to education and public service, the Fund turns a legacy of practical leadership into action.
Colorado Educator Child Care Stability Partnership
An Inaugural Pilot for Colorado K–12 Educators
Targeted Child Care Assistance, Family Choice and Disciplined Learning
We operate at the intersection of educator workforce stability and early childhood access. The Partnership is guided by four principles:
Start With Educator Families
Child care costs can place acute financial pressure on educators during the years when their children are youngest. The pilot focuses resources where that pressure may affect both family stability and continued workforce participation.
Support Two Generations
Helping an educator maintain stable child care can support both the educator’s ability to remain in the workforce and the young child’s access to consistent care and early learning.
Build Alongside Existing Systems
The Partnership is intended to complement, not replace, public programs, employer benefits, family contributions, and other available resources.
Learn Before Expanding
The Fund will begin with a defined pilot, examine implementation and participant experience, and use what it learns to guide future program enhancement and responsible expansion.
A Structural Affordability Gap.
Many educator families earn too much to qualify for income-based assistance while still facing child care costs that are difficult to absorb on an educator’s salary. This places them in an affordability gap between public eligibility and the full market cost of care.
The pressure is often greatest during the earliest years, when care can be most expensive and least available. Families may also encounter limited provider capacity, long waitlists, transportation barriers, and care schedules that do not align with the school calendar or educator workday.
These pressures do not affect every family or community in the same way. Rural, frontier, suburban, urban, and Indigenous communities may face different combinations of cost, availability, distance, and provider choice.
When child care becomes unstable or unaffordable, an educator’s ability to remain in the workforce may also become less stable.
A Defined, Fully Capitalized Pilot.
The inaugural Partnership is designed to serve approximately 25 eligible Colorado K–12 educator families with children from birth through age five. Participating families may receive need-informed financial assistance for up to three years per eligible child.
Targeted Assistance
Awards will be informed by child care cost, household circumstances, available public benefits, family contribution, and other relevant factors.
Cohort-Based Enrollment
Families will be introduced to the program in manageable cohorts, allowing the Fund to support participants responsibly and improve implementation as the pilot progresses.
Reserved Commitments
The Fund intends to secure the resources necessary to honor participant commitments before launching the pilot.
Statewide Learning
The pilot will seek participation reflecting Colorado’s geographic and demographic diversity so the Fund can better understand how the model operates across different communities.
A Coordinated Model Addressing Affordability, Choice and Learning.
Affordability Support
Need-informed assistance will help reduce the difference between what participating families can reasonably contribute and the cost of eligible child care.
Family Choice
The Partnership is being designed to respect family choice and the different ways families access care across Colorado. Eligible arrangements may include licensed center-based and home-based care and, where program requirements can be satisfied, trusted Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) care.
→ Final provider eligibility, safety, quality, documentation, legal, and insurance requirements will be established before applications open.
Provider Participation and Payment
The Fund will make payments directly to participating providers and use regular verification and reconciliation to support responsible stewardship of program resources.
Participant Support
A secure application and program portal will help families submit information, maintain required documentation, and communicate with the Fund throughout their participation.
Learning and Continuous Improvement
The pilot may examine child care continuity, family financial strain, educator employment, participant and provider experience, and access across different communities. Findings will inform future program development and expansion.