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Washington, DC, is a national leader in early childhood education, offering free, high-quality pre-K to every 3- and 4-year-old through a comprehensive system that includes DC Public Schools, public charter schools, and community-based organizations. Under Mayor Bowser’s leadership, OSSE has invested more than half a billion dollars over the past three years to expand access to early learning, increase educator pay, improve child care facilities, and support providers, especially through challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Initiatives like the Access to Quality grant and the nation’s first Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund strengthen DC’s mixed-delivery early childhood system, providing families with diverse, high-quality options while empowering educators and supporting the child care workforce. Complementing these programs is the Child Care Subsidy Program, which helps low- and moderate-income families access quality child care. Last year, OSSE engaged families, providers, and partners to gather insights on improving the subsidy program, ensuring it better supports those it serves.
High-quality early learning benefits children, families, and the economy. OSSE ensures licensed facilities meet rigorous standards, provides tools like My Child Care DC to help families find care, and offers programs like Strong Start for infants and toddlers with developmental delays.
These investments and supports reflect DC’s commitment to creating a strong foundation for children’s success and ensuring the city remains a top choice for families to live, work, and thrive.
Antoinette S. Mitchell, Ph.D.
Interim State Superintendent of Education
Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE)
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DC Child Care Subsidy Program
Listening to Families and Providers to Inform Policies and Procedures
The Child Care Subsidy Program helps DC families pay for the cost of child care. The program supports families with low and moderate incomes, or other special circumstances that create a need for child care assistance, to access high-quality education and care in the District.
Last year, OSSE set out to review key policies and procedures that guide the DC Child Care Subsidy Program and identify areas that required updates. As OSSE conducted this review, we knew it was critical to engage and listen to those the program impacts most, so we spent time meeting with families, child care providers and other partners who support families to learn more about their experiences applying for, using and accepting child care subsidies and listen to their ideas for how to improve the program.
This feedback helped OSSE identify policies and procedures that needed to be clarified or updated to better meet the needs of families and child care providers, including the need to update the application process for families, make reimbursements more predictable for providers and improve access to the program for DC early childhood educators.
On Oct. 1, 2024, OSSE implemented updates policies and procedures for the DC Child Care Subsidy Program. The updates streamline the application and eligibility determination process for families. OSSE simplified the documentation requirements for families to demonstrate eligibility and removed the requirement for families to complete a pre-screening interview.
OSSE also updated how it calculates a provider’s reimbursement for subsidized child care services and expanded access to the program for individuals who work at child development facilities licensed by OSSE. Child care providers who enroll children receiving subsidies will now be paid based on enrollment, rather than attendance, which will give providers more predictable and stable funding and more closely mirror how they are paid by families who pay privately.
These updates and others will help make it easier for families to access the care they need and encourage more child care programs to serve children using subsidies.
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To prepare to support DC families and child care providers ahead of the implementation of updated policies and procedures for the DC Child Care Subsidy Program, OSSE’s Division of Early Learning (DEL), Licensing, Compliance and Subsidy Unit and partners from the Department of Human Services Child Care Services Divisions (DHS CCSD) gathered for a daylong symposium. During this meeting, the group conducted a deep dive into the updates and explored how to support DC families to complete the process to apply to the subsidy program and providers to implement the new procedures.
The Access to Quality Child Care for Children with Disabilities grant program expands the supply of quality, accessible and affordable child care for infants, toddlers and school-age children with disabilities. Recently, CentroNia Inc., Easter Seals Serving DC-MD-VA, Inc., Educare of Washington DC and National Children's Center, Inc. were awarded grants to administer the program on behalf of OSSE. The grantees will create and operate child care slots designed and equipped to meet the needs of infants, toddlers and school-age children with disabilities.
OSSE recently launched the inaugural DC Math Task Force, bringing together math education experts and leaders from across the city. Building on the model of the Early Literacy Task Force, members will meet regularly during the 2024-25 school year to develop a comprehensive set of recommendations so that all DC students achieve proficiency in math skills and concepts, setting them up for success in subsequent grade levels and life.
With the recent release of OSSE’s biennial Educator Workforce Report, residents can now dig into a comprehensive analysis of the educator workforce in the District of Columbia. The 2023-24 Educator Workforce Report highlights DC's diverse educator workforce, improved teacher retention rates, decreased teacher vacancies, opportunities to strengthen teacher preparation and special education pipelines, career advancement trends, and disparities in access to experienced and effective educators for economically disadvantaged students.
 Earlier this month, OSSE awarded $4.3 million in competitive grant funds to 17 local education agencies (LEAs) to expand, launch or strengthen in-school, high-impact tutoring (HIT) programs for their students, with a focus on reaching those who are furthest from opportunity. In September, OSSE also awarded contracts to 13 HIT providers with demonstrated success that will partner with schools to offer HIT programming during the school day. Across these grants and contracts, OSSE-funded HIT programs will serve approximately 6,000 students during the 2024-25 school year across more than 90 DC public and public charter schools. Schools that will receive this critical HIT programming include many of the District’s lowest performing schools, according to the District’s accountability framework, as well as schools with more than 70% of their populations as economically disadvantaged. Programs are already underway in schools and all will be in progress by January 2025.
To celebrate the start of DC College Application & Exploration Month, Superintendent Mitchell joined Capital City Public Charter School for the annual March to the Mailbox event highlighting seniors sending their applications to colleges.
The DC Futures Program helps DC college students earn their first associate or bachelor’s degree by offering last-dollar scholarships covering tuition, fees, and attendance costs at three local universities. It also provides coaching and support services to overcome personal and financial barriers, potentially making college free for some participants. This school year, the program is celebrating a major milestone: 929 returning students enrolled, surpassing the goal of 900 and proving that futures are brighter than ever!
OSSE released the District of Columbia Attendance Report for school year 2023-24, showing the lowest chronic absenteeism and truancy rates for DC students since returning to classrooms following the COVID-19 pandemic. Both chronic absenteeism and truancy improved, with chronic absenteeism decreasing 3.9 percentage points from 43.1 percent in the 2022-23 school year to 39.2 percent in 2023-24 and chronic truancy decreasing 6.6 percentage points from 36.9 percent in the 2022-23 school year to 30.3 percent in 2023-24.
The Request for Applications (RFA) for the Fiscal Year 2025 Child and Educator Wellness Grant was released on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
This new grant aims to:
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Strengthen early childhood education (ECE) facilities and DC public/charter schools by integrating health and wellness practices to boost student and staff success.
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Utilize technical assistance providers to connect ECEs, schools, and community organizations in adopting evidence-based practices for healthy, whole-child and whole-educator environments.
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Build a consortium of experts to enhance OSSE resources and tools, driving improvements in healthy programming across DC schools and ECE facilities.
During a recent event celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month, OSSE Customer Service Representative Tamika Smith had the honor of introducing Mayor Bowser. Tamika participated in the District’s Aspiring Professionals Program, a six-month paid internship for individuals with disabilities, and excelled during her placement with the Office of the State Superintendent for Education (OSSE), earning a permanent full-time position. Two years later, she serves as an inspiring example of how determination and proper support can break barriers to success.
Team members from the Mayor’s Office of Racial Equity (ORE) joined a virtual session this month with OSSE staff to provide an inside look at the District’s Racial Equity Action Plan (REAP) and highlight OSSE’s role in developing the recently launched DC Racial Equity Dashboard. Attendees discussed intersectionality and how they can collectively drive meaningful change.
This fall, Superintendent Mitchell visited schools across the District to gain a firsthand understanding of their programs, challenges, and successes while strengthening connections between schools and OSSE. By observing classroom instruction and targeted programs, the Superintendent focused on key issues such as transportation, academic performance, and early childhood education. These visits concluded with collaborative discussions to address school needs, celebrate achievements, and identify opportunities for OSSE to provide meaningful support.
Superintendent Mitchell's visits this fall have highlighted key milestones and celebrations across DC schools, including welcoming students on the first day of school, ribbon-cutting ceremonies for new facilities, and recognition events like the National Blue Ribbon School award. These visits also focused on engaging with innovative teaching practices, feedback on high school graduation requirements, and showcasing programs like CTE, literacy instruction, and special education supports.
If you would like to schedule a school visit with Superintendent Mitchell, please contact osse.communications@dc.gov and a member of our team will contact you regarding scheduling.
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