Plan to expand child care subsidies advances – Lawrence Eagle-Tribune
By Christian Wade
State lawmakers are making another push to approve a plan expanding access to child care options for parents while attracting and retaining new workers to ease chronic staffing shortages in the industry.
The proposal, which was approved by the Legislature’s Education Committee last week, would expand financial assistance for families seeking child care, establish new funding for child care providers and boost pay and benefits for early educators.
Senate President Karen Spilka, who has made early education and care a top priority for her two-year term as the chamber’s leader, said passage of the bill would expand access to affordable child care for parents across the state “by supporting families, providers, and educators.”
“Our state’s families face child care bills that are higher than the cost of in-state college tuition, and that are often so high that they force one parent to drop out of the workforce,” the Ashland Democrat said in a statement. “If we are serious about solving our labor shortage, supporting families, and getting new parents back into the workforce, we must act to lower the cost of child care.”
A key plank of the proposal calls for expanding eligibility for subsidized child care by raising the income level to qualify for state-backed programs.
The current threshold is 50% of state median income for a family of four — which is about $55,000 annually for a family of four. The plan calls for “gradually” increasing that level to 85% of state median income, or $93,662 for a four-member family.
The Common Start coalition, which includes labor unions, business and advocacy groups, praised the bill’s progress and said its final passage would make the state “significantly more affordable, greatly improve our economic competitiveness, and dramatically increase racial and gender equity.”
“This comprehensive early education and child care legislation would provide the specific structure that is needed to deliver affordable care options for families; significantly better pay and benefits for early educators; a permanent, stable source of funding for providers; high-quality programs and services for children; and substantial relief for businesses and our economy,” the group said in a statement.