Latest news with #GroundworkOhio
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Support for child care is popular as Ohio advocates still fighting for funding
(File photo by Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent). Polling continues to show government support for child care is a popular issue among all political sides. But advocates in Ohio are still preparing their arguments to boost state support as the budget process rolls on. The Ohio Senate is working toward a draft budget after the House approved its version earlier this month. As the process continues toward its July 1 deadline, child care advocates hope to get some things into the Senate budget that didn't appear in the House version. They say they're important not only for families in need of child care, but also for the state economy and the workforce that supports it. The House proposal included $200 million for the Child Care Choice Voucher Program over the next two years. The funding comes from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant. Also included in the House proposal is the establishment of the Child Care Cred Program. It's a provision originally introduced as Republican-led legislation to split the costs of child care three ways — between the state, the business and the employee — when an eligible individual is employed by a business willing to apply for the program. Parents and workers involved with child care space met with advocacy group Groundwork Ohio on Tuesday to discuss the current level of child care support. They also discussed how additional state spending would increase child care affordability and access, and boost the wages of child care workers. Cheryl Rose said when she was a young parent working in food service, child care assistance based on her income helped her remain in the workforce and grow professionally. Now a partner at Constellation Wealth Advisors, Rose said workforce growth is the one thing that will drive prosperity, and workforce growth is possible through support for child care. That support creates longterm ripple effects that may not appear instantly, but will impact the state's financial future for years to come, she said. 'What happens is, 18 years from now, there are companies (growing because of an increase in workers), there are more opportunities,' Rose said. 'It creates multitudes.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Improving the lives of child care workers has its own ripple effects, said Christian Davis, founder of the Cincinnati Parent Empowerment Network. With historically low pay, child care workers are often on public assistance and can't afford food, let alone care for their own children. Bringing wages up and giving workers the ability to thrive boosts the care they can give, she said. 'The quality of your center is really a determinant of the quality of the staff to fill those needs,' Davis said. Groundwork Ohio wants to see the Child Care Voucher Program receive more funding to address affordability, and the group, among others, will to push for an increase to the eligibility level for the state's Publicly Funded Child Care. Gov. Mike DeWine's executive proposal raised eligibility for care to 160% of the federal poverty line. For a family of four in Ohio, that's $51,440. But the House left eligibility at 145% in its version of the budget, a level that the head of the Ohio Department of Children and Youth say is the lowest level of support in the country. The budget also comes at a time when 4 in 10 Ohioans don't have access because of a lack of child care facilities in their area, according to new analysis by Groundwork Ohio. The survey also found that, on average, a mom working full-time spends 27% of her median earnings on child care for an infant. It's worse for moms who are primary earners. Just 32% of Ohio households are headed by women, but they make up 59% of those in poverty, the study found. The average cost for an infant to be in child care in Ohio is more than $12,000 per year, according to Child Care Aware of America. Government support of child care enjoys significant public approval. New polling released by the First Five Years Fund, found 'strong support' among Republican voters for child care-related tax credits at the federal level. The recent polling found that 75% of Republicans think the inability to access or afford child care as a 'crisis' or a 'major problem' for American working families. A majority said expanding child care tax credits would 'strengthen the overall economy.' Of those Republican voters, 83% support increasing the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit. It might be on the chopping block as congressional Republicans decide what to include in a funding blueprint approved earlier this month. The Trump administration is also considering a proposal to eliminate funding for Head Start, a child care program for low-income households. Head Start is among the programs child care advocates have said should be supported further to improve education outcomes and child care opportunities, rather than be cut. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Analysis: Proposed Ohio child tax credit has $740M benefit
Mar. 3—Gov. Mike DeWine's newly proposed Ohio child tax credit program could create $740 million in net economic benefits to the state each year, according to a new economic projection from the group Scioto Analysis. As proposed, the program would grant Ohio families up to $1,000 in refundable tax credits per child under seven years old. The actual value of the credit is tied to a tax filer's income. According to the legislature's nonpartisan Legislative Service Commission, the credit would only be available to individual filers making below $69,000 and joint filers making below $94,000 each year. State documents show an expected cost of $910 million to fund the credits over the next two fiscal years, if it were to be approved by the legislature as written. "Using previous literature on the relationship between tax credits and outcomes for households," Scioto Analysis projects this would lead to a net benefit of $740 million per year for the Ohio economy. The group also estimates the program could lead to $500 million in higher future earnings and $190 million in reduced costs associated with future crime for children receiving the credit. "There is a robust body of research that shows how investments made in early childhood are beneficial both to the families who receive them and the broader community" said Scioto Analysis Principal Rob Moore. "Children who grow up with access to more resources have an easier time in the short term, which often translates to better wage, health, and criminal justice system involvement outcomes later in life." On an individual basis, Scioto Analysis said the credit applied to a single parent making just over $58,000 a year could get about $560 worth of tax credits per qualifying child. DeWine pitched the plan as a way to help families with their rent, mortgage or child care expenses, which have grown significantly more burdensome across the board in recent years. About half of Ohioans and parents with young children rate their financial situation as only fair or poor, according to polling done by Groundwork Ohio, an advocacy group focused on young children. "More than one third of parents with children under five report serious problems with paying their rent or their mortgage," said Lynanne Gutierrez, president and CEO of Groundwork Ohio. Groundwork Ohio also found 82% of parents with young children have had to cut back on groceries due to inflation. "One in five young children live in poverty, and one in 10 live in extreme poverty," Gutierrez said. Families have many different expenses, so the child tax credit could help alleviate some of the financial burdens on families, she said, such as food, housing and/or child care. This is also an initiative that has support from both Republicans and Democrats, she said. "Our polling really showed that there's a lot of bipartisan support for action on the child tax credit," Gutierrez said. About 84% of Ohio voters support a child tax credit, according to Groundwork Ohio's polling. Voters who approve of a child tax credit include 83% of Republicans, 78% of Independents and 94% of Democrats. "That support only grows in the poll to 87% when voters learn that both President (Donald) Trump and (former President Joe) Biden have backed expanding the child tax credit," Gutierrez said. ------ For more stories like this, sign up for our Ohio Politics newsletter. It's free, curated, and delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday evening. Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ohio voters support state and federal backing for child care, new poll shows
Child care worker Marci Then helps her daughter, Mila, 4, put away toys. (File photo by Elaine S. Povich/Stateline.) New polling of Ohio voters shows vast support and demand for action to improve child care access and affordability on the federal and state level. The research firm Public Opinion Strategies has released poll results taken in 2024 asking questions about child care and its impact on family dynamics, the ability for parents to work and the implications for the overall economy if child care solutions aren't found. 'This has an undeniable impact on the state economy,' said Jarrett Lewis, a partner at Public Opinion Strategies, in a joint meeting with child advocacy group Groundwork Ohio on Tuesday. Parents who participated in the study said they are buying fewer groceries, deferring or delaying medical care, and struggling to pay housing costs because of the high costs of quality child care. But that's just for those who can afford it. Many parents polled, including 61% of non-full-time working mothers said they would gladly go back to work if not for the need to stay home with their kids because child care is out of reach. According to the polling, nearly 5 in 10 parents surveyed said they've had to cut back on work hours because they needed to care for their children. Lewis said using U.S. Census data numbers, that accounts for more than 1 million parents in the state. 'Ohio voters agree that labor shortages in the state are in part due to a lack of access to quality, affordable child care,' Lewis said. In fact, 86% of those polled agreed that increasing access to good quality child care that's affordable 'will help strengthen Ohio's economy and help its workers.' Lewis said Ohio parents saw work performance decline, have refused a job opportunity or promotion, had to call off or miss a shift, or have had to leave the workforce all together, all due to the lack of necessary child care. The study found that 68% of Ohio parents with children under five noted at least one of those impacts on their working life. For all voters in the study, controlling inflation and the cost of living rose above other issues like reducing the tax burden or reducing illegal drugs flowing into the state. Looking at parents of young children specifically, inflation and the cost of living topped a list of concerns, but early childhood education programs and child care ranked higher than they did for overall Ohioans in terms of priorities for the state to address. Reports of issues accessing high quality child care have gone up since the survey was conducted last year. In December 2024, 66% of parents with children under five or who were pregnant said they were having access issues, compared to 56% in February 2023. The lack of access is also leading Ohioans to express concern about the readiness of children to enter school, with 86% of voters polled saying 'we can do a better job of preparing young children for learning when they enter kindergarten.' The survey showed overwhelming and bipartisan support for child care tax credits and increased funding for childhood education programs. 'Voters who support increased state funding focus on building the next generation of Ohioans who will form the backbone for the state's workforce and leadership,' according to Lewis. 'Further, they argue that increased access to affordable, quality child care allows more parents, particularly women, to remain employed, providing economic benefits to their families and to businesses in the state.' The desire for a child tax credit above the federal child and dependent tax credit spans political ideologies, with 84% of all voters supporting a state-level tax credit. Of those, 83% of Republicans supported it, along with 78% of independents and 94% of Democrats. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Having state support through a tax credit might become even more important since the federal tax credit is 'up for debate,' as Brittany Boulton, Groundwork's managing director of advocacy and engagement, put it. A list of options being considered during federal budget reconciliation and obtained by Politico shows the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee could be considering eliminating the child and dependent care tax credit, under which taxpayers can claim up to $2,100 in credit for child and dependent care expenses. Troy Hunter, managing director of policy for Groundwork, said the study's findings came as no surprise to the group, which has been advocating for improvements to child care access and the system of child care workers as well for years. Goals to improve child care in Ohio were included in Groundwork's newest policy agenda for the Ohio General Assembly. Hunter said one of the biggest priorities Groundwork has, and the group thinks the state should have, is increasing the publicly funded child care eligibility window from 145% of the federal poverty level to 200%. Increasing access to full-time public preschool slots and creating a better payment practice for child care programs are also on the list of goals for Groundwork, Hunter said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
6 in 10 Ohio moms would return to work if they had quality child care, new poll finds
Six in 10 Ohio mothers of young children would return to work if they had reliable, affordable child care. But most families struggle to find a quality option in the Buckeye State, according to a new poll released by Groundwork Ohio. And parents say the problem is getting worse. Two-thirds of families had trouble accessing high-quality child care in December, up from 56% in February 2023, according to the poll of 800 registered voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.95 percentage points. Part of the problem is the price: The average annual cost for an infant is $11,438 at a child care center or $8,919 for a home-based provider, according to a review by Policy Matters Ohio, a left-leaning think tank. The numbers are slightly lower for preschoolers, between $8,580 at a center and $7,977 at a home-based provider. That's in part because the ratio of teachers to children is larger. Inflation has increased the cost of food, diapers and rent, which hit child care providers. And Ohio has the lowest eligibility level for publicly funded child care in the nation. The other problem is access: Childcare workers make near minimum wage, which means turnover is often high. And some parents have limited options, especially if they work second- or third-shift. "We know for a fact that costs have gone up and we hear from our folks in the provider space that their staffing challenges have increased," said Brittany Boulton, managing director of advocacy and engagement at Groundwork Ohio, which advocates for child care access solutions. More and more, businesses view Ohio's lack of child care as a workforce crisis. Half of those polled said child care access issues played a role in Ohio's labor shortages and 86% said increasing access to high-quality, affordable child care would strengthen Ohio's economy. That's because parents without child care options, don't return to work or they face challenges when they do. About 87% of parents reported missing at least one day of work because of a lack of child care; 41% had missed at least five days of work, according to the poll. The poll found nearly seven in 10 Ohioans support state funding for child care. About 84% support a child care or child tax credit, a concept that both President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger former Vice President Kamala Harris endorsed during the 2024 election. That support was across partisan lines with 83% of Republicans, 78% of independents and 94% of Democrats backing an Ohio child tax credit, according to the poll. "In this day and age to see more than three-quarters of independents, Republicans and Democrats agreeing on anything It's pretty unprecedented," said Jarrett Lewis, the pollster with Public Opinion Strategies. Gov. Mike DeWine proposed a $2,500 annual tax deduction for people with kids in 2023, but lawmakers removed it from the final budget. Later, Ohio lawmakers considered an income tax credit for some child care expenses, but that didn't pass before the end of the year. Vice President JD Vance, a former Ohio senator, has called for a $5,000 per child tax credit nationwide. The federal credit is currently between $2,000 to $3,600 for qualifying children under age 6 and $3,000 for other qualifying children under age 18. At the federal level, there is the child and dependent care tax credit, which reduces how much parents owe in taxes by an average of $500 to $600. However, the credit hasn't been updated since the early 2000s even though child care costs have increased 223% over that time, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington, D.C. think tank. Groundwork Ohio highlighted other ways to improve child care in Ohio. They include: Increasing eligibility for publicly funded childcare to 200% of the federal poverty level, which is about $64,300 for a family of four. Ohio's eligibility is currently the lowest in the nation at 145% with some vouchers available at 200%. Limiting copays to no more than 7% of a family's income. Improving teacher pay, which is often near minimum wage. Jessie Balmert covers state government and politics for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Poll: Republicans, Dems say Ohio needs to spend more on child care
USA Today
28-01-2025
- Business
- USA Today
6 in 10 Ohio moms would return to work if they had quality child care, new poll finds
6 in 10 Ohio moms would return to work if they had quality child care, new poll finds Two-thirds of Ohio families had trouble accessing high-quality child care and they say it's getting worse Six in 10 Ohio mothers of young children would return to work if they had reliable, affordable child care. But most families struggle to find a quality option in the Buckeye State, according to a new poll released by Groundwork Ohio. And parents say the problem is getting worse. Two-thirds of families had trouble accessing high-quality child care in December, up from 56% in February 2023, according to the poll of 800 registered voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.95 percentage points. Part of the problem is the price: The average annual cost for an infant is $11,438 at a child care center or $8,919 for a home-based provider, according to a review by Policy Matters Ohio, a left-leaning think tank. The numbers are slightly lower for preschoolers, between $8,580 at a center and $7,977 at a home-based provider. That's in part because the ratio of teachers to children is larger. Inflation has increased the cost of food, diapers and rent, which hit child care providers. And Ohio has the lowest eligibility level for publicly funded child care in the nation. The other problem is access: Childcare workers make near minimum wage, which means turnover is often high. And some parents have limited options, especially if they work second- or third-shift. "We know for a fact that costs have gone up and we hear from our folks in the provider space that their staffing challenges have increased," said Brittany Boulton, managing director of advocacy and engagement at Groundwork Ohio, which advocates for child care access solutions. Child care crisis is a workforce crisis, poll says More and more, businesses view Ohio's lack of child care as a workforce crisis. Half of those polled said child care access issues played a role in Ohio's labor shortages and 86% said increasing access to high-quality, affordable child care would strengthen Ohio's economy. That's because parents without child care options, don't return to work or they face challenges when they do. About 87% of parents reported missing at least one day of work because of a lack of child care; 41% had missed at least five days of work, according to the poll. Republicans, Democrats support spending more on child care The poll found nearly seven in 10 Ohioans support state funding for child care. About 84% support a child care or child tax credit, a concept that both President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger former Vice President Kamala Harris endorsed during the 2024 election. That support was across partisan lines with 83% of Republicans, 78% of independents and 94% of Democrats backing an Ohio child tax credit, according to the poll. "In this day and age to see more than three-quarters of independents, Republicans and Democrats agreeing on anything It's pretty unprecedented," said Jarrett Lewis, the pollster with Public Opinion Strategies. Gov. Mike DeWine proposed a $2,500 annual tax deduction for people with kids in 2023, but lawmakers removed it from the final budget. Later, Ohio lawmakers considered an income tax credit for some child care expenses, but that didn't pass before the end of the year. Vice President JD Vance, a former Ohio senator, has called for a $5,000 per child tax credit nationwide. The federal credit is currently between $2,000 to $3,600 for qualifying children under age 6 and $3,000 for other qualifying children under age 18. At the federal level, there is the child and dependent care tax credit, which reduces how much parents owe in taxes by an average of $500 to $600. However, the credit hasn't been updated since the early 2000s even though child care costs have increased 223% over that time, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington, D.C. think tank. What are some solutions? Groundwork Ohio highlighted other ways to improve child care in Ohio. They include: Increasing eligibility for publicly funded childcare to 200% of the federal poverty level, which is about $64,300 for a family of four. Ohio's eligibility is currently the lowest in the nation at 145% with some vouchers available at 200%. Limiting copays to no more than 7% of a family's income. Improving teacher pay, which is often near minimum wage. Jessie Balmert covers state government and politics for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
