Senator Merkley Unveils Report Exposing Safety Lapses and Public Resource Drain in Private Equity-Backed Child Care
U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, has released a new report investigating the impact of private equity involvement in the U.S. child care industry. The investigation, which analyzed publicly available information and licensing data from California, Texas, and Virginia, focused on KinderCare Learning Companies and Learning Care Group, two of the largest for-profit child care providers, and their private equity backers, Partners Group and American Securities. The report identified four key findings, including that these private equity-backed centers rely heavily on public funding, with approximately one-third of their revenue coming from public programs. It also found that private equity backers extracted over $1.25 billion in dividends, leaving the child care companies with substantial debt. Crucially, the report concluded that KinderCare and Learning Care Group centers had more frequent, more serious, and more persistent safety problems compared to centers not...
