Summary
With pandemic-era funding gone and budgets stretched tight, early childhood leaders are being asked to do more with the same resources, often through outdated, fragmented systems. For many, improving early childhood system efficiency is the only path to sustaining services. This article draws on real-world examples and personal experience to show how external partners can offer the fresh perspective needed to uncover waste, modernize operations, and create lasting impact for children and families.
[Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes]
The hidden cost of outdated systems
For state agencies overseeing early childhood systems, the work is deeply personal and deeply complex. Leaders are charged with managing licensing, quality assurance, subsidy systems, workforce supports, and family access. It’s mission-driven work, but too often it’s carried out through systems that are aging, siloed, and misaligned.
Public-sector systems can carry the weight of decades-old decisions, like the old story of the family who always cut off the ends of a roast to make great-great-grandma Jean’s recipe. Each generation replicated the process until someone eventually asked why and discovered Jean’s roasting pan had been too small to hold a full roast. The reason was no longer relevant, but the ritual remained.
Why early childhood system efficiency matters now
As one state administrator recently shared, “We know the pain points. We live them every day. But it’s hard to fix the plane while flying it.” That’s where the value of external perspective becomes clear. Bringing in a consulting partner doesn’t mean giving up control; rather, it means gaining insight and perspective.
Sometimes, you need a partner who hasn’t lived in your system to help you see it clearly.
External teams can:
- Spot inefficiencies that have become normalized over time.
- Provide comparative insight into how other states have modernized similar systems.
- Facilitate cross-agency collaboration in ways internal teams may not have capacity to lead.
- Offer objectivity in assessing data architecture, business processes, and policy bottlenecks.
With changing federal investments, the sunsetting of COVID-era funding, and increasing attention from governors and legislatures, early childhood agencies are at a crossroads. Leaders must address:
- Compliance with complex, evolving federal rules
- Disparities in family access and provider reimbursement
- Urgency in workforce and capacity challenges
Every dollar lost to redundancy or inefficiency is a dollar not supporting a child, family, or provider. Modernizing for efficiency isn’t a luxury. It’s a moral and operational imperative.
What efficiency looks like in practice
Efficiency doesn’t mean throwing out the baby with the bath water. Efficiency means streamlining toward clarity and impact.
A powerful example is Iowa’s Child Care Connect initiative. By developing a centralized, data-informed platform, Iowa was able to:
- Map child care supply and demand across regions with unprecedented precision.
- Identify gaps by age group, zip code, and time of day.
- Use this insight to target public investments in communities with the highest need.
- Empower local stakeholders with tools to plan, collaborate, and act.
With this kind of visibility, Iowa didn’t just spend money, they solved the right problems with it. That’s the power of combining strong leadership with modern infrastructure.
More broadly, system efficiency can include:
- A centralized data platform that connects subsidy, licensing, and QRIS in one login
- Integrated eligibility systems that allow families to apply once for multiple benefits
- Streamlined provider payments that align with true cost models and arrive on time
- Decision dashboards that help state leaders respond in real time to supply and demand gaps
Efficiency isn’t just tech. It’s trust, time, and transparency restored.
You don’t have to go it alone
As early childhood leaders it’s too common a problem to make do with broken systems. Like teachers taping broken board books together, we patch things up and make it work. This is NOT efficiency.
Early childhood leaders don’t need to go it alone or just keep getting by. Leaders need to feel empowered to get the help needed to make changes. Bringing in external consultants with a deep understanding of child care systems, data modernization, and public sector governance can help states move faster and smarter without starting from scratch.
Resultant provides a no-cost gap analysis to help states identify opportunities for improvement, even amid ongoing budget constraints. This preliminary scan helps agencies identify inefficiencies, overlapping systems, and missed opportunities for modernization with zero risk and high potential reward. For some states, that first step has opened the door to transformational change.
Conclusion
Sustaining progress in early childhood systems doesn’t always require new funding or massive overhauls. Sometimes, it starts with a clearer view of what’s already there and what’s getting in the way. With the right support, leaders can make smarter use of existing resources and build systems that truly reflect the needs of those they serve.
When I oversaw statewide Child Care Resource and Referral (CCRR) systems as a family services director, I was so immersed in the work that I couldn’t always see what needed to shift until someone helped me step back. That experience drives my commitment to be the outside perspective to help other leaders find clarity and momentum.
States don’t lack commitment. They often simply lack the capacity to zoom out. The right partner can help you see the whole system, realign what’s broken, and return your energy to what matters most: the children and families you serve.
See what’s possible. Connect with our team.
