Ohio budget must include support for child care access and workers, advocates say

Yahoo

07-03-2025

Children in child care. (Photo by Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent)
Child care must be a priority in the next Ohio state operating budget, advocates told a legislative committee considering the state's spending on child wellbeing, saying that a proper system would bring benefits not only for the kids, but for the state as a whole.
'Child care is the industry that allows all other work to happen,' said Chris Angellatta, CEO of the Child Care Resource and Referral Association.
Leaders of coalitions and organizations across the state pushed the Ohio House Children & Human Services Committee to keep parts of Gov. Mike DeWine's executive budget proposal related to child care, and some even brought their own ideas on how the budget could work better for children, and the parents who could reenter the workforce if they had affordable, accessible quality child care.
'We've heard a range of challenges,' said Stephanie Keinath, executive vice president of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce.
The chamber collaborated with the Montgomery County kindergarten readiness advocacy group Preschool Promise, holding meetings with local employers about their child care needs. The challenges it heard ranged from a lack of backup child care, confusion on how employees can navigate eligibility for benefits and 'the bigger challenge of how to increase capacity in parts of our community that lack the infrastructure,' Keinath said.
The chamber of commerce also partnered with child advocacy group Groundwork Ohio and Wright State University for a summit on the impact of child care on the workforce, and interacted with more than 300 business leaders as part of the summit.
'What has become clear, through all our conversations with employers, is that there is no single solution that will work for all businesses,' Keinath told the committee. 'What may be feasible for some of our large employers will likely not be feasible for the over 48% of small businesses who cite lack of child care as a major obstacle for staffing.'
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Keinath was among the many advocates who urged the committee to continue the Child Care Choice Voucher Program, which is maintained in the newest House budget proposal, and would allow subsidies for households whose annual income is up to 200% of the federal poverty level. That's $62,400 for a family of four.
'This expansion of eligibility … is a key factor in ensuring that an important part of our workforce can return to work or remain working,' Keinath said.
Among the other budget items the child care supporters pushed for was an expansion to the state's Publicly Funded Child Care program eligibility, which could rise to 160% of the federal poverty line if legislators move it forward.
'We know that this is a step in the right direction, but increasing eligibility to 300% could make an even greater impact on Ohio's children and families,' said Brianna Booker, policy associate with the Children's Defense Fund Ohio. That would be $93,600 for a family of four.
The County Commissioners Association of Ohio joined advocates in supporting the child care changes that could make it into the budget. Montgomery County Commissioner and CCAO member Carolyn Rice said the counties, which administer public assistance programs like the publicly funded child care system, are 'uniquely positioned to recognize both the current challenges many families have accessing child care and the positive impact that child care can have on a family's journey toward economic prosperity.'
But more could be done, particularly to help those who take care of children in those quality child care facilities, Angellatta said. He pitched a pilot program to the House committee that would create 'categorical eligibility,' to give early childhood educators full-time child care for their own children. The pilot program Angellatta proposed would start with a voucher for 1,000 children of child care workers in Ohio.
The program would not only help a sector of the workforce that is 'driven by low wages and high turnover rates,' – with 43% of early childhood educators earning $11.60 per hour or less, according to Angellatta – but provide a strategy to bolster the workforce that faces a 'critical shortage.'
'This is also a recruitment activity, in which, regardless of someone's income, we want them to be able to come to the child care workforce,' Angellatta told the committee.
Kentucky passed a similar categorical eligibility law in 2022, and other states are already supporting child care workers in similar ways, the association leader said.
'Ohio's economic competitiveness really depends on our ability to outperform our neighbors, and child care is an important part of that infrastructure,' Angellatta said.
Outside of budgetary changes, the state has also looked into a cost-sharing model that would split child care into thirds, with the state, employers and employees all paying an equal share. A Republican-led effort to implement the measure is currently being considered in both the House and Senate.
State Rep. Andrea White, R-Kettering, chair of the Children & Human Services Committee, said members will go into next week discussing recommendations for the budget document, as the House prepares to pass its version of the spending bill. The Ohio Senate has also begun budget discussions, on its way to a draft document of its own. The state budget is due to be finalized and ready for the governor's signature by July 1.
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