10-02-2025
House committee moves forward bill expanding child care subsidies for industry employees
An Oklahoma lawmaker is making a renewed attempt to provide child care workers in Oklahoma with the opportunity to have care for their own children covered. Child care worker Kayla Champagne watches her son, Jaxson, 3, climb at the Little Learners Academy in Smithfield, R.I. (Photo by Elaine S. Povich/Stateline)
OKLAHOMA CITY — Lawmakers pushed forward with an initiative that would give more child care workers the opportunity to have care for their own children covered in an effort to address the shortage of qualified employees in the profession.
House Bill 1849, authored by Rep. Suzanne Schreiber, D-Tulsa, would allow child care providers at licensed facilities to exempt their household's income from consideration when applying for the Child Care Subsidy Program as an attempt to incentivize new industry workers and retain current employees.
A House budget subcommittee on human services unanimously passed the bill with a bipartisan vote. It can now be heard by the general House Appropriations and Budget Committee.
Schreiber said she authored a similar bill during the 2024 session, but the previous version was 'too blunt' and this year her bill is more 'detailed and advanced.'
She said she plans to add an income cap to the bill to limit the financial impact on the state and ensure the families who need subsidized child care are able to receive it.
'Let's say someone had $150,000 household income or something like that, so we'll have to exempt them, but we're still having all those conversations,' Schreiber said. 'The state of Oklahoma invests a total of $20 million of taxpayer dollars in our child care system. We serve over 65% of our kids in a licensed child care system. So we invest very, very little. This is actually a very small dollar amount for a huge return.'
House fiscal staff estimated the bill's financial impact will be between $10 million and $21 million, although Schreiber expects this number to drop once income caps are included. The $21 million number includes workers who currently qualify for subsidies, so House fiscal staff said the impact will be lower.
The Oklahoma Department of Human Services currently bases eligibility for the program on the federal income eligibility threshold per family size. This threshold cannot exceed 85% of the state median income per family size, which the U.S. Census estimates was $63,603 in 2023.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated in 2023 that the average child care worker in Oklahoma made about $12.51 per hour, or $26,010 annually.
Arkansas made changes to its own child care subsidy program in 2024 to include child care providers whose households meet the same income requirements and work a minimum of 10 hours per week at a licensed child care facility.
Tina Feltman, the director of a Durant child care facility, said this bill is one that providers wanted Schreiber to run again after people pushed back because of its cost last year.
For Feltman, this legislation would help her retain current employees and incentivize others to work in the industry.
With child care workers in Oklahoma being paid low hourly wages, she said she struggles to compete with other businesses for employees, but sees the offer for subsidized child care as a perk to advertise.
'I'm not complaining about wanting more money,' she said. 'But do you know how much Starbucks pays? I mean, yeah, you might have some high maintenance clients come in, but you're not trying to potty train eight two-year-olds. And you're not in a classroom with six toddlers and three of them are going through a biting phase.'
Feltman said she has attempted to provide cheaper child care for her staff at the facility she runs, but in turn she loses out on revenue.
'I was trying not to charge them because I wasn't able to pay them a huge amount,' she said. 'So they would have really been like, 'It's not really worth me working if I've got to turn around and pay the child care bill.' So it was a perk to them.'
Feltman hopes Schreiber's bill can help to offset the difference in wages between her and other employers by providing a way for industry workers to offload the cost of child care for themselves.
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