Oro Valley needs to go to the public and the public needs to involve itself. How and where a community grows is everything. It's traffic, climate, parks, community health, environment, crime, taxes, economic development.... Plus more in local government meetings this week. Read more»

A federal program critical to helping low-income families pay for child care received a $1.9 billion increase late last year - but if states simply use the funds to provide more families with vouchers or subsidies, there might not be enough providers to serve them. Read more»

The Tucson City Council voted unanimously Tuesday in favor of beginning plans to fund childcare services for their public safety employees, including cops, firefighters and dispatchers, as a way to recruit and retain long-term workers . Read more»

The city manager is asking Tucson to fully subsidize public transit for another six months while searching for a permanent funding source. Plus more in local government meetings this week. Read more»

Both Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and her Democratic opponent Katie Hobbs have released detailed education policy plans that would affect the more than 1.1 million children who attend public schools in Arizona. Read more»

The federal Department of Education allows child care providers to participate in its Public Service Loan Forgiveness program - but only if they work in a nonprofit or federally run child care center for 10 years, leaving many out in the cold. Read more»

In the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, experts say more families will be needing social supports at a time when those supports are already severely lacking, further burden the nation’s collapsing and severely underfunded child care system. Read more»

The Tucson Parks and Recreation Department's KIDCO afterschool child care program is accepting reservations for the upcoming school year. Read more»

The pandemic “shecession” is fading as more women return to jobs across the country, aided by new workplace flexibility that could lock in future increases in female employment. Read more»

Many parents thought school reopenings this year would free them to return to the workforce, but that prospect has been delayed again and again as waves of coronavirus variants have sent children home after classroom exposures or illnesses. Read more»

In a nearly two-hour press conference on Jan. 19, President Joe Biden stretched the facts and left out important context on vaccinations, funding for lead pipe removal, child poverty and more. Read more»

Federal COVID-19 relief dollars for child care providers will continue to flow this year, but advocates warn that the money won’t solve the industry’s fundamental, long-term challenge: how to provide quality services and pay workers a competitive wage while keeping prices affordable. Read more»

Arizona families may have seen the last – for now – payment under an expanded child tax credit program, passed earlier this year as part of the pandemic-relief American Rescue Plan, that advocates say has been a “game changer” for low-income families in the state. Read more»

Instability in Arizona’s child care system is costing the state an estimated $1.8 billion in economic activity a year, according to a new U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation report, as gaps in care force parents to forgo professional and educational opportunities. Read more»

U.S. House Democrats united around a landmark $1.85 trillion social spending and climate bill on Friday, sending the major plank of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda to the Senate - though major revisions are expected to gain support from Senate Democratic moderates. Read more»