Each year, the early childhood educators at Bluff’s Little Thinkers in western Iowa spend hundreds of dollars of their own money on classroom supplies and materials, including rugs for “cozy corners” where children can spend a quiet moment, special lights to create a calming environment and sensory items that help kids focus.
Kelsey Andersen, the center director, would like to provide everything her teachers need, but money is tight at Little Thinkers, which serves 72 children in five classrooms. When Andersen inevitably runs out of money for supplies, the center’s teachers have nowhere else to turn to buy books, decorations and other needs that come up throughout the year.
Since 2002, K-12 teachers have been able to deduct a small amount on their taxes — $350 for the 2026 tax year — for classroom supplies they purchase themselves. And now, early childhood educators will have access to the same benefit.
The bipartisan Supporting Early-Childhood Educators’ Deductions Act, or SEED Act, was tacked on to the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 and signed into law on Sept. 18. The provision defines an early childhood educator as someone who works at a facility that cares for more than two children under the age of 6, not including children who live there. The program must receive fees or be paid for by public dollars, as is the case with programs like Head Start.
Research shows that despite earning a median wage of about $13 an hour, about half what K-8 teachers make, nearly 91 percent of early educators reported spending their own money on supplies and materials for their classrooms. Home-based child care staff spend the most, with nearly $300 a year in unreimbursed expenses. Early educators who make less than $35,000 a year report spending $200 of their own funds on classroom materials.
The exclusion of early childhood educators from the tax credit has been especially unjust, considering early educators often work longer hours and more days than their K-12 colleagues, but for far worse pay, said Walter Gilliam, executive director of the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska.
“If we’re going to pay them that terribly, the least we can do is not tax them on their terrible pay,” Gilliam said.
Sarah Rittling, executive director of the nonprofit First Five Years Fund, says the fact that Congress agreed on this credit and moved it through the legislative process signals that legislators are paying more attention to early childhood as an issue for their constituents.
“That they’re willing to move standalone bills, that child care is on top of lawmakers’ minds going into the election, is telling,” said Rittling. Several other child care bills are still under consideration in Congress, including one that would prohibit immigration enforcement activity at child care facilities and another that would use federal money to expand child care for parents who work nontraditional hours.
Andersen doesn’t expect the money to be life-changing for her staff, but she says it signals a larger, much delayed level of respect for early childhood teachers.
“We’ve been reaching into our pockets to create quality learning environments for decades. We’ve been doing educator work. We’ve been buying educator supplies, and we’ve been supporting children’s learning just the same as K-12,” Andersen said. “There doesn’t need to be this huge distinction between educators in preschool and educators in kindergarten. Educators are educators.”
Contact staff writer Jackie Mader at 212-678-3562 or mader@hechingerreport.org.
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