U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, announced on Mar. 24 an investigation into the two largest private equity-controlled child care companies in the United States, KinderCare Learning Companies and Learning Care Group, as well as their respective private equity owners.
The investigation aims to address concerns about how private equity ownership may affect safety, affordability, and quality in the child care sector. Merkley is requesting information and documents from these companies regarding financial records, ownership structure, tuition trends, safety standards, and employment practices to better understand the impact on families.
"Ensuring working families can access safe and affordable child care is paramount to building out the middle class and making it easier for families to get ahead. Unfortunately, private equity firms have increasingly brought their playbook to essential care industries—including child care—buying up independent providers, rolling them into large chains, and prioritizing investor profits over the well-being of the families and communities that depend on these services," said Ranking Member Jeff Merkley.
According to Merkley's office, since 2023 state regulators in several states have cited KinderCare facilities for issues such as inadequate supervision and unsafe conditions. Between 2015 and 2025, Learning Care Group-owned centers in states including Georgia, Missouri, and Texas reported health and safety violations involving incidents like children left unattended on buses or alleged physical abuse by staff.
KinderCare Learning Companies is owned by Switzerland-based Partners Group; Learning Care Group is owned by American Securities. Together they operate more than 2,600 centers across 40 states under various brands such as La Petite Academy and Montessori Unlimited.
"Our future generations are our greatest resource, and we owe it to them to ensure their safety and security are at the forefront of everything we do. The private equity firms and the child care companies they control owe it to the families they serve to fully cooperate with this investigation," Merkley said.
