Chapter 725, 2025 Acts of Assembly, Items 125.10 B.6, C.4, and D.1.d direct the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) to review and revise attendance requirements for the Child Care Subsidy Program (CCSP), Mixed Delivery (MD) Grant Program, and the Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI), to ensure participating children fully benefit and available resources are maximized. VDOE is directed to consult with the Commission on Early Childhood Care and Education (Commission) on the proposed changes prior to submitting a report to the General Assembly by December 1, 2025.

In line with recent practice, VDOE worked with the Commission to establish a workgroup in response to this requirement. The workgroup reviewed policy shifts, stakeholder engagement, and public investment – all of which have supported reductions in chronic absenteeism in the CCSP and VPI in recent years. The workgroup also reviewed updates on the new attendance-tracking system for CCSP, scheduled to launch later this year. This new system will support better tracking and data collection and inform future policy changes to improve attendance and child outcomes.

As is practice for the Commission, a summary of the workgroup’s activities and discussion was shared with the full Commission at its October 22, 2025 and December 3, 2025 meetings to solicit feedback and the final draft was approved by the Commission’s Steering Committee following the December 3, 2025 meeting. At this time, due to the impending implementation of a new statewide attendance tracking system, no policy changes were recommended to the Commission. In line with the workgroup’s findings, future changes to attendance policies should be explored once the new system is in place and there is accurate, up-to-date data on attendance. In addition, Governor Youngkin’s Building Blocks for Virginia’s Families called for improving Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) attendance, and these efforts have resulted in recent improvement in attendance trends over this biennium, thus mitigating the need for immediate policy changes.

This report provides details regarding current, attendance-related policies and data-informed insights for each of Virginia’s public ECCE programs – CCSP, MD, and VPI – and provides an overview of the new, modernized attendance-tracking system.