On November 19, 2014, President Obama signed into law S. 1086, the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act (CCDBG) — the reauthorization of a quarter-century old federal program that provides funds to states so that they can subsidize the child care needed by low-income families. The program was designed from the start to encourage participation by faith-based child care providers — the kind of centers and home-based settings that many parents desire.

The CCDBG program was first adopted in 1990, long before any federal faith-based initiative was created to ensure a level playing field in federal grant programs. But because so many parents already were choosing faith-based child care, the program was designed to enable religious providers to participate without giving up their faith character — the quality that attracted the parents in the first place. How so? By requiring states, when funding child care, to mostly use vouchers (also called certificates) rather than grants or contracts. The vouchers go to the parents, who then decide whether they want a secular or a religious child care provider. Because the choice of provider is made by the parents and not by the government, the faith-based providers can accept the federal funding without having to abandon their faith-based practices, teachings, and environment.

This well-designed and well-functioning system was cast into doubt as Congress was considering reauthorization because HHS, the federal department that supervises CCDBG, proposed new regulations. Those proposed regulations would call on states to increase the quality of services and increase the provision of some special services (e.g., hours extending into the evening or later) by allocating more of their federal funds to grants or contracts than to vouchers. Officials would do more of the choosing, and faith-based providers would be less able to participate. Faced with such an idea, congressional supporters of the child care system inserted into the reauthorization bill specific instructions not to go down this path. Here’s the language they put into the bill before sending it to the President:

(b) Parental Rights to Use Child Care Certificates. — Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed in a manner —

(2) to disfavor or discourage the use of such certificates for the purchase of child care services, including those services provided by private or non-profit entities, such as faith- based providers.

That language is now part of the law, confirming the original design of the program, ensuring that faith-based providers will continue to be fully welcome in the program, and ensuring that parents who prefer to entrust their children to such providers will continue to have that choice.