A Democratic senator launched an investigation Monday into the nation’s two largest for-profit child care providers, as rising child care prices squeeze voters already concerned about the cost of living.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) sent letters to KinderCare Learning Companies and Learning Care Group and their private equity owners requesting financial records and information on their ownership structure, cost and pricing trends, safety protocols and employment practices.
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Merkley wrote in the letters that each company’s market influence and substantial use of public subsidies “carry a clear responsibility to ensure that financial and management decisions do not come at the expense of child safety or access to affordable child care,” according to the letters reviewed by The Washington Post.
In the inquiry, Merkley raised concerns that child care providers funded by private equity have an incentive to maximize profits by paying workers less, raising tuition and investing in higher-income and high-population centers. He cited studies indicating that for-profit child care centers are more likely to experience staffing and operational problems and listed alleged safety and labor issues at facilities owned by each company.
In a statement to The Post, Merkley said he hopes to examine private equity’s role in child care and its effect on children and families.
“We’ve all seen the reports of private equity’s often negative influence in other sectors, such as hospitals, nursing homes, and single-family homes. I hope to better understand if that trend is continuing in the child care sector,” said Merkley, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee.
Congressional investigations are not intended to prove criminal guilt or civil liability, but they do inform potential policymaking. They can sometimes lead to congressional hearings and more public inquiries.
Both companies said in statements that they take their responsibility to children and families seriously.
“Every decision we make is grounded in providing safe, high-quality care and being a good place to work for our teachers,” Learning Care CEO John Bork said in a statement. “We believe thoughtful, long-term investment supports that mission, and we welcome the opportunity to work with policymakers to strengthen the system for families and educators.”
KinderCare said in a statement that its “mission is simple and unwavering: to support working families and to provide a safe, nurturing, high quality learning environment so their children can thrive.”
Advocates for the funding model argue that existing federal programs don’t adequately support most families’ child care needs, and that private equity can provide needed resources to make child care available in a challenging industry.
KinderCare said the federal government provides less than $250 in child care funding per child, “while the cost of quality care continues to rise.”
Radha Mohan, executive director of the Early Care and Education Consortium, said in a statement that U.S. child care “is chronically underfunded” and that all kinds of child care providers struggle with staffing and rising costs.
“Federal and state funding falls far below the true cost of quality in nearly every state. Yet companies like KinderCare and Learning Care invest in accreditation and other external markers of quality, serve subsidized children at scale, and provide employee benefits and training despite reimbursement rates that don’t cover the cost of a qualified workforce,” he said.
Mohan added that any solution “must start with fixing the financing of the system itself.”
The cost of child care routinely ranks as one of the biggest concerns for Americans worried about the cost of living. The cost of day care is higher than in-state college tuition and fees in dozens of states, according to the advocacy group Zero to Three.
Private equity has made investments in eight of the nation’s 10 largest for-profit child care organizations, according to a 2024 report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
That report found that private equity could help the child care industry by increasing competition and expanding availability. But it added that the private equity business model of profit maximization could lead to higher child care costs and lower quality of care.
KinderCare reported $2.7 billion in revenue in 2025 and served nearly 215,000 children across 40 states as of early January, according to its latest SEC filing. In 2023, Learning Care Group centers served more than 165,000 children and reported $1.5 billion in revenue, according to Merkley.
Merkley wrote in the letters that each company’s market influence and substantial use of state and federal child care subsidies “carry a clear responsibility to ensure that financial and management decisions do not come at the expense of child safety or access to affordable child care.”
One in five families reported cutting back on child care coverage or restoring to “inadequate” child care because they did not have other affordable options, according to research from Columbia University published in January.
Seven in 10 people said raising children is too expensive, according to the American Family Survey, an annual poll that tracks public opinion about family life in the United States.
Child care concerns often contribute to voters’ general anxiety about the increasing cost of living, which has prompted both political parties to tout their plans to bring down prices on health care, housing, child care, groceries and gasoline. Google searches for “affordability” skyrocketed at the end of last year as people’s incomes lag behind rising costs for everyday goods.
Julie Z. Weil, Joanna Slater and Praveena Somasundaram contributed to this report.
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