INSIGHTi
FY2023 NDAA: Military Child Care Programs
August 29, 2022
The Department of Defense (DOD) operates the largest employer-sponsored child care program in the
United States, serving approximately 200,000 children of uniformed servicemembers and DOD civilians
annually, and employing about 20,000 child care workers, at an annual cost of over $1 billion. Several
provisions in the House-passed (H.R. 7900) and Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC)-reported (S.
4543) National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2023 would authorize or amend
military-sponsored child care programs.
Background
Military child care programs are authorized under 10 U.S.C. §§1791 et seq. Child care is provided
through a combination of direct care through military child development centers (CDCs); family child
care homes; school-age care; and fee assistance support to certified civilian providers. These programs are
supported through a combination of appropriated and non-appropriated funds. Parental fees for child care
services are progressively scaled based on total family income. For more information, see CRS Report
R45288, Military Child Development Program: Background and Issues.
Table 1. Selected FY2023 NDAA Child Care Provisions
House-passed (H.R. 7900)
SASC-reported (S. 4543)
Fee assistance program
Sec. 573 would expand the in-home fee assistance pilot
No similar provisions
program from five to six locations.
Sec. 579 would require Service Secretaries to promote
awareness of certain child care benefits.
Sec. 623 would expand covered assistance to civilian
childcare providers to include financial assistance and “free
or reduced-cost childcare services furnished by [DOD].”
CDC Capacity and Staffing Issues
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House-passed (H.R. 7900)
SASC-reported (S. 4543)
Sec. 625 would require DOD to conduct a study and report
No similar provisions
on military installations with limited child care.
Sec. 606 would provide reimbursement of travel and
transportation costs for a child care provider incident to a
permanent change of station or assignment.
Sec. 609E would require a study of CDC provider
compensation at certain installations.
No similar provisions
Sec. 573 would authorize a pilot program to hire special
education inclusion coordinators for CDCs.
CDC Infrastructure
Sec. 2876 would require certain DOD investments in
No similar provisions
improving CDC infrastructure through 2026.
Source: CRS analysis of legislation on Congress.gov.
Discussion
Under 10 U.S.C. §1798, DOD may provide financial assistance to eligible civilian child care providers.
The FY2021 NDAA (P.L. 116-283 §589(b)) required DOD to carry out a five-year pilot program to
provide financial assistance for in-home child care providers (e.g., nannies) at five high-demand
locations. The FY2022 NDAA (P.L. 117-81 §624) authorized the program’s expansion to other
appropriate locations. As of August 2022, the program is offered in the National Capitol Region; Hawaii;
San Diego; Norfolk, VA, and San Antonio, TX – five high-demand regions identified in a 2020
congressionally-mandated report. Section 573 of the House bill would require DOD to expand the pilot
program from five to six high-demand locations. Section 579 of the House bill would require DOD to
promote awareness of the pilot program. Reportedly, as of February 2022, there were five families
enrolled in the pilot program; 43 families with in-process applications; and 2,174 requests for assistance
for 250 available slots across all high-demand installations. Section 623 of the House bill would amend
10 U.S.C. §1798 to change the definition of covered assistance to civilian child care providers to include
financial assistance and “free or reduced-cost child care services furnished by [DOD].”
Provisions in both bills would seek to address capacity and staffing challenges at CDCs. Section 625 of
the House bill would require a report to Congress on CDC capacity, infrastructure, and cost constraints at
certain installations. Section 609E of the House bill would require DOD and the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) to study child care employee compensation in the vicinity of high-demand DOD and
Coast Guard installations in order to compare CDC compensation to similarly credentialed employees at
public elementary schools. Based on the results of these studies, Section 609E would require the total
dollar value of CDC employee compensation to be “not less than the average dollar value of the total
compensation of similarly credentialed employees [...] in such geographic area.” 10 U.S.C. §1792
requires competitive pay rates for CDC non-appropriated fund employees relative to other employees on
the military installation with similar experience, but does not require competitive pay rates relative to
local child care providers or teachers. DOD has reported that CDC staff salaries “compare favorably to
the early care and education field at large” but addressing child care wages remains a priority for its joint
service working group.
Section 606 of the House bill would create a new transportation allowance under 37 U.S.C. §453 for
certain child care providers. This provision would allow a military family with permanent change of
station orders to be reimbursed for expenses associated with travel of a designated provider if child care is
unavailable at the destination CDC within 30 days of arrival. The provision would provide up to $500 for
relocation within the United States and $1,500 outside the continental U.S.
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Section 573 of the SASC bill would authorize a pilot program for hiring special education inclusion
coordinators for CDCs. The DOD standard of care for CDCs requires “procedures for reviewing and
making reasonable accommodation for children with special needs that do not fundamentally alter the
nature of the program.” Selection of pilot program centers would be guided, in part, by the number of
dependent children enrolled in the Exceptional Family Member Program at that locality.
Section 2876 of the House bill would require multi-year service-level investments in improving CDC
physical structures. Funding would come from the Facilities, Sustainment, Restoration and Modernization
(FSRM) accounts within the Operation and Maintenance title. The minimum amount of investment
required for each service would be determined by a calculation of the total replacement cost of all CDCS
across the service. Based on that calculation, the services would have to set aside FSRM money to fund
improvement projects equal to or greater in value than:
1% of total replacement costs for FY2023.
2% of total replacement costs for FY2024.
3% of total replacement costs for FY2025.
5% of total replacement costs for FY2026.
The House Armed Services Committee Report to accompany H.R.7900 expresses disappointment in the
“chronic underfunding” of FSRM, and directs DOD to provide the Committee with a report detailing how
much FSRM funding was spent on CDCs over the past five years.
Author Information
Kristy N. Kamarck
Andrew Tilghman
Specialist in Military Manpower
Analyst in U.S. Defense Infrastructure Policy
Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff
to congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of
Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of
information that has been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role.
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