Most Kansas child care owners don't realize a state budget bill passed this year will ripple through their labor market—and their payroll.
Here's what most Kansas child care owners don't know: buried in HB2513, the state's four-year appropriations bill, is a provision that will raise state employee pay by 1% effective July 1, 2026. On its surface, that sounds like a government issue. It isn't. It's a staffing issue for you.
Section 149(g)(1) of HB2513 mandates a 1% across-the-board pay increase for state employees, funded by a $13.2 million state general fund appropriation. The increase takes effect with the first payroll period chargeable to fiscal year ending June 30, 2027—meaning July 1, 2026 or later, depending on the state's payroll schedule.
On its own, a state employee raise doesn't directly affect private child care centers. But the mechanism behind it does.
The provision affects child care owners in two ways:
Direct impact: If your center contracts with the state for staffing services or bills the state at state wage rates, your costs will rise. The state's labor costs are now higher, and those costs flow through to vendors and contractors.
Indirect impact—and the bigger one: State pay raises set a market signal. When Kansas raises what it pays its employees, private employers in the same labor market feel pressure to match or come close. If you compete with state jobs for the same workers—teachers, aides, kitchen staff, drivers—you'll likely need to raise wages to keep people from leaving for state positions. Even if you don't contract with the state, you're affected by the wage floor it establishes.
Child care is already a field where wage competition is tight. Staff turnover is costly. A state pay bump, even 1%, can shift the economics of hiring and retention across the entire sector.
The increase is effective with the first payroll period chargeable to fiscal year 2027, which begins July 1, 2026. That gives you roughly six months from now to anticipate the impact on your labor market and budget planning.
If you contract with the state, review those agreements to understand how wage changes flow through your billing. If you don't, monitor what happens to state wages in your region and watch whether competing employers—schools, county offices, state agencies—see staffing shifts. Talk to peer centers about their wage expectations for 2026–2027.
This isn't a crisis, but it is a signal. A 1% state raise is modest, but it's real money in a sector where margins are thin and labor is your largest cost. Planning ahead beats scrambling later.
For a detailed breakdown of how state wage policy affects child care staffing and budgeting, Kansas child care associations have resources available to members.