Childcare Landscape Study - Flipbook - Page 50
Davidson County Child Care Landscape Study Results
8
Approximately Two-Thirds of Child Care Centers Accept
Certificates, Accounting for 15% of Full-Time Enrollment
Many families in greater Davidson County may find child care costs unaffordable, leading
some to seek support through Tennessee’s Child Care Certificate Program, which provides
financial assistance, or subsidized child care, to help make care more affordable for families
with low or moderate incomes in which parents are working or enrolled in education or
training programs.f,22,23 Child care programs can make an operational decision on whether
they want to participate in the Child Care Certificate Program and currently 66 percent of
centers in greater Davidson County accept child care certificates.24
We asked programs to tell us how many of their occupied full-time slots are filled by children
using certificates. Based on these Child Care Provider Survey responses, we estimate that among
the 16,955 child care slots occupied by full-time children across all child care centers in the
region, 15 percent use certificates to help cover the cost of child care tuition. The proportion of
slots supported by certificates is similar across all age groups. Certificates currently support 16
percent of enrolled full-time infant slots, 15 percent of toddler slots, and 14 percent of preschool
slots (see Figure 5).
Figure 5: Share of Occupied Full-Time Child Care Slots Filled by Children Using Certificates
Infants
Toddlers
Preschool
271
(16%)
1,694
Total Occupied Slots
772
(15%)
5,145
Total Occupied Slots
0
10,116
Total Occupied Slots
0
1,416
(14%)
Full-Time Slots Occupied by
Children Using Certificates
Source: Davidson County Child Care Provider Experience Survey. The Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center, 2025. n=246.
Note: Percent of slots occupied by children that use certificates is limited to full-time slots only.
Moreover, in Tennessee, as in most states, eligibility for a child care certificate does not
guarantee that families receive tuition assistance. Based on US Census Bureau data, of all the
children ages birth to 5 in the region, an estimated 48 percent, or approximately 27,000
children under 5, are income-eligible to receive a child care certificate.25 The exact number of
slots that providers would be willing to offer to children whose families use certificates is
unknown. Further, centers that could potentially accommodate more families using certificates
f At the 75th percentile in Davidson County, current monthly center-based child care tuition is estimated at $1,645 for
infants $1,537 for toddlers, and $1,382 for preschoolers. See Brief 4 for more information about the cost of center-based
child care and current certificate reimbursement rates.
Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center 2026
www.pn3policy.org
