Latest news with #PubliclyFundedChildCare
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Child care tax credit for businesses introduced in Ohio House
(File photo by Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent). A new bill introduced in the Ohio House would create a business tax credit for child care benefits similar to a federal credit the bill's sponsor says is underutilized. State Rep. Andrea White, R-Kettering, told the House Ways and Means Committee said the tax credit in House Bill 167 would offer a stronger incentive for employers than the federal tax credit does, by bridging a gap in the federal funds available for businesses. The tax credit would also be another attempt to stem a problem that covers all of Ohio, from urban centers to rural regions. 'Let's try something, let's get something going to see how we can get our employers engaged,' White told the committee. H.B. 167 would authorize a nonrefundable tax credit for an employer providing 'certain child care benefits' to employees, allows the credit to be claimed against other taxes like income or the commercial activity tax, and creates eligibility for costs 'associated with establishing or operating an employer-owned child care facility, contracting with a child care facility, or paying employees for the provision of their own child care. Under the current language of the bill, the credit is limited to $500,000 per year, but any unused funds can be carried over for five years, White said. She said she's open to changes to that cap or the carryover language if the committee feels the amounts are too high. The federal credit that's already in place covers 25% of total expenses related to child care services or benefits, and up to 10% of the resource and referral expenses, for a total credit capped at $150,000 per year. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX It's a heavy lift for businesses, White argued, since they must spend at least $600,000 to be able to get the full benefit, if they're aware of it at all. 'People don't know about this credit, they don't quite understand how to utilize it,' White said. '…But the other thing is it doesn't help if you, as a business, want to give a stipend for your employee, it doesn't cover that as a tax credit, so this gives employers more options so that they can actually take advantage of it.' H.B. 167 also allows non-profits to utilize the tax credit, unlike the federal credit, White said. The measure comes amid ongoing discussions about the state of child care, and how the economy is affected by a lack of access and affordability for the services in Ohio. Child care 'deserts' exist in Ohio where no services are available for children, and data from the Ohio Department of Children and Youth estimate 40,000 children in the state aren't eligible for Publicly Funded Child Care, meaning they don't receive state assistance to pay for the services. On top of those problems, low pay and high turnover in the child care sector means even if child care exists, the workforce shortages reduce capacity at facilities. White cited recent research by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that found Ohio is losing $5.48 billion every year in economic activity because of 'insufficient child care,' including $1.52 billion in tax revenue and $3.97 billion in losses related to child care employee turnover and absenteeism. 'The business community, our families, are looking for solutions, and this is a solution,' White said. The bill sponsor also echoed comments by ODCY director Kara Wente in supporting the Child Care Choice Voucher Program, which subsidizes child care for those who fall outside the Publicly Funded Child Care eligibility of 145% of the federal poverty line. This is certainly not the first time White has pushed for more child care supports. A bill she co-sponsored establishing child care grant programs for employers was passed last month by the House committee she chairs, the Children and Human Services Committee. State support for child care is uncertain as it is, with the state operating budget draft being drawn up by the Ohio Senate, after the Ohio House finalized its own draft last month. The House's version added $50 million to the Child Care Choice Voucher Program for each of the next two fiscal years, taking from federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant funding. Despite a proposal by Gov. Mike DeWine to increase the Publicly Funded Child Care eligibility to 160% of the federal poverty line, the House budget draft maintained the 145% level, which Wente said is the lowest eligibility level in the country. Also included in House budget proposal is language originally included in separate legislation, which would create a cost-sharing model for child care, in which the state, employers and employees would all pay a percentage of costs. In a hearing earlier this month, the House Children and Human Services Committee passed the original bill with language they said harmonizes the bill with the budget proposal details. In House Bill 2, the state would pay 20% of the costs, and employers and employees would each pay 40%. During the hearing, however, two Republicans on the committee put concerns on the record about H.B. 2 and White's child care grant program bill, House Bill 41. State Rep. Sarah Fowler Arthur, R-Ashtabula, voted against both bills, saying she had 'concerns about the state subsidizing child care going forward.' State Rep. Tracy Richardson, R-Marysville, voted in favor of both bills but said the House Finance Committee may have to work on at least House Bill 2, 'maybe look at perhaps some potential reduction in overall funding.' On H.B. 41, Richardson said the finance committee 'should take a closer look at the overall appropriation.' The Senate is currently working on their own draft, on line for an end-of-June deadline for both chambers to reconcile each of their budget drafts and get a final budget to the governor for signature. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Child care funding changes in final Ohio House budget draft
Children in child care. (Photo by Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent) The final draft of the Ohio House version of the state operating budget included some changes to their initial plans for child care, but no change to the eligibility for its Publicly Funded Child Care program. The omnibus budget amendment, released Tuesday and passed by the House on Wednesday, added $50 million in funding for each fiscal year to support the Child Care Choice Voucher Program, using federal funding from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant. The voucher program provides a subsidy for children whose income falls outside of the eligibility for the state's Publicly Funded Child Care. In Gov. Mike DeWine's executive budget, he wanted the PFCC eligibility raised to a maximum of 160% of the federal poverty line. The House, however, maintained the current level of 145% in both their initial draft and the omnibus draft passed on Wednesday. The Ohio Department of Children and Youth's director, Kara Wente, told the Senate Finance Committee the same day that the department estimates about 40,000 children live outside of the PFCC eligibility, making them eligible for the Child Care Choice Voucher Program, which has a current maximum eligibility of 200% of the federal poverty line. With the Senate beginning work to create a budget draft of its own, Wente went on to say the child care voucher program, which was established in April of last year, has already served 5,300 families and 8,000 children. The director said it's important for the state to support the program as child care continues to be an issue not only for parents who lack access, but also those who lack the ability to afford child care, especially at higher poverty levels. 'We know that families up to 200% (of the federal poverty line) are making less than $62,000 a year, and we know the average cost of child care in Ohio is about $11 an hour,' Wente told the committee. Ohio's eligibility level is 'the lowest in the country,' according to Wente, who continued to support the proposed expansion of publicly funded child care to 160% in the Senate committee. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Child care advocates have been pushing for improvements to Ohio's child care sector for years, with the Ohio Chamber of Commerce most recently holding a summit about the impacts of child care on the state's workforce. The state chamber, along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and Ohio-based advocacy group Groundwork Ohio, released a full report at the summit, laying out detailed impacts on the state's economy, employment and education. 'Ohio's child care gaps drive parents out of the workforce, reduce tax revenue for the state and put undue strain on households,' the report stated. The February 2025 research found that 'insufficient child care availability' costs Ohio $5.48 billion every year in lost economic activity. That includes $1.52 billion lost in tax revenue due to 'child care issues' and $3.97 billion in 'child care-related employee turnover and absenteeism' costs. The root of the issue, the report found, is low reimbursement rates for child care providers, along with low pay for those workers, and disproportionate distribution of providers, especially in rural areas. 'Ohio generally lags behind the rest of the Midwest when it comes to implementing policies to improve child care accessibility,' researchers stated in the report. Maintaining the support for child care, particularly for children in families up to 200% of the federal poverty line is one of the top goals for Wente and the state's Department of Children and Youth. She also told the Senate the department wants to see the application process streamlined, and payments for providers streamlined as well. Federal compliance through the use of market rates for providers and capping co-pays for parents at 7% of their income are also top priorities for the department, according to the director. Along with the Child Care Choice Voucher Program, the House's version of the budget keeps the Early Childhood Education Grant Program proposed by the governor, 'to support and invest in Ohio's early learning and development programs,' according to budget documents. Those programs include licensed child care centers and preschools. The budget draft also included $3.2 million for a 'child care recruitment and mentorship program,' and Publicly Funded Child Care payments would be based on a child's enrollment rather than attendance, if the provisions stay in the final draft of the budget. Also still present in the House's budget proposal is a child care cost-sharing model that would split the costs of care three ways, between the state, employers and employees. The omnibus budget amendments capped eligibility for that program at 400% of the federal poverty level. Wente said the department, which absorbed several other departments when it was established, is focused on meeting goals like child care access, along with lowering infant mortality rates and improving kindergarten readiness, even as the 600-person department commits to cutting 36 positions. She wants to see the infant mortality rate in the state improve from the current ranking of 43rd in the country. Modeling the state's programs on local measures like Cradle Cincinnati, Wente said a strategy that focuses on moms, connecting moms to resources and holding the state accountable for the outcomes would go a long way to continued improvement. 'What we're seeing be common across all states (with lower infant mortality rates), no matter their makeup, is that they're actually engaging with the families that are most at risk,' Wente said. Ohio has great 'foundational programs,' she said, but families need more assurances that they will be able to overcome burdens like poverty or a lack of transportation to get to those resources. With changes in the department and proper budget support, Wente said they have plans to bring a rise in all outcomes for children, including in kindergarten readiness through accessible, affordable child care. 'We, today, know that based on Ohio data, that economically disadvantaged children are 2.4 times more likely to demonstrate on the kindergarten readiness assessment if they've had any involvement in preschool,' Wente said. The House's draft of the budget removes the kindergarten readiness assessment, along with its use on the state report card, and 'related data collection and reported requirements.' Wente was also asked about pediatric cancer funding in the state, which would see a $5 million reduction in funding as part of the House's budget draft. The executive budget called for $10 million, which the director said would be used 'to really work with our research institutions and our children's hospital to figure out the best way to add to children's cancer research.' 'Pediatric cancer research is one of the lowest-funded research components in the cancer space,' Wente said. 'It's predominantly focus on adults, so we wanted to take a targeted approach to make sure that there was focus on kids. That has been reduced to $5 million.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ohio Chamber hosts child care leaders to press for state budget changes to help workers and families
The Ohio Chamber of Commerce building in downtown Columbus. (Photo by David DeWitt, Ohio Capital Journal.) As Ohio legislators were working to finish the House's draft of the state operating budget for the next two years, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce held its Childcare Policy Summit across the street with advocates and business leaders stressing the importance of child care to workers and business. 'We can't just warehouse kids, we can't just provide custodial child care to kids,' said David Smith, executive director of Horizon Education Centers. The chamber held the summit for the second time in two years as it leans in to the issue. Its senior vice president of government affairs, Rick Carfagna, said it is 'the largest workforce throttle that we have at the moment.' 'We have an entire demographic of Ohioans that are skilled, they are college educated, they are creative, they are hard-working people, men and women alike, and they are simply not looking for work at all,' Carfagna told the Capital Journal. Before the summit even began, he spoke to lawmakers in the House Children and Human Services Committee, supporting bills to address the cost of child care and the building up of the child care workforce. Language from the bills the committee was considering when Carfagna met with them now appear in the House's version of the state budget. House Bill 2 aimed to establish the 'Child Care Cred Program,' to split the cost of child care three ways: funding from the state, a share from employers, and the rest from employees who are eligible for the child care. Another part of the new draft budget is a Child Care Recruitment and Mentorship Grant Program to help 'increase the number of licensed child care providers in Ohio and assist recruited entities and individuals,' according to the budget language released this week. It contains a $3.2 million appropriation in fiscal year 2026 for 'child care provider recruitment.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Smith was part of a panel discussion about the 'workforce behind the workforce,' child care workers who take care of children so their parents can go to school or maintain their place in the workforce. Meanwhile, Ohioans have been having trouble staying in the workforce because of the lack of affordable child care and lack of access to any child care at all in some regions of the state. Advocates in and out of Tuesday's summit have said raising the eligibility level for Publicly Funded Child Care and reimbursement rates for child care workers should be top of mind for lawmakers if they want to help the situation. In the Ohio House's version of the budget, the Publicly Funded Child Care eligibility remained at the current level of 145% of the federal poverty line, rather than the governor's proposal — and the one child care advocates hoped for — of 200%. In Ohio, the federal poverty level for a family of four is $32,150 a year. Carfagna said the chamber hoped the federal poverty level would be increased, but 'that alone isn't good enough.' As a former a lawmaker who's gone through the budget process, Carfagna said he understands there are numerous priorities being dealt with in the budget, and that legislators have to weigh them. 'There are a lot of big price-tag issues that all just kind of hit you from different corners, so legislators, probably rightfully so, need to be careful to not overpromise,' he said. One big item that has been widely supported by child advocates all over the state was a proposal by Gov. Mike DeWine in his executive budget to create a refundable income tax credit of up to $1,000 for Ohio children up to age 6. That provision did not make it to the House draft. The Child Care Voucher Program, a previously existing program that subsidizes some children's admission into qualified child care centers, did have its eligibility brought to 200% of the federal poverty line in the House budget draft. According to the budget document, however, the voucher program would have a budget of $50 million for each year of the biennium, rather than the previous proposal of $75 million in fiscal year 2026, and $150 million in 2027. In addition to a lack of affordability and access is a problem in which the staffing needed to take care of young children is just not there, advocates said. Tami Lunan, organizing director for the Ohio-based CEO Project who was not part of the summit but has been testifying in favor of child care measures at the Statehouse as part of the the budget process. She said new money for the child care sector should go directly to providers. 'We want to see something transformational, and I think looking to our workforce is a big part of that,' Lunan said. Lunan said the industry already has low wages and high turnover, and continuing to underfund the staff maintains the narrative that the workforce is not as important as in other professions. 'I think that's by design that we're not investing in it,' Lunan said. 'Because we don't see those businesses as viable, we don't see those workers as professionals. They look to them more as babysitters.' According to a 2024 analysis by Policy Matters Ohio, Black Ohioans are more likely to be child care workers, making up 18.8% of the industry's workforce, despite only making up 12.5% of the state population that year. The Ohio legislature has heard testimony from several child care workers, advocates, and the Ohio Chamber of Commerce about the need to incentivize work in the child care sector, and improve pay and benefits for those workers. Traditional business solutions won't work for child care providers, said Chris Angellatta, CEO of the Ohio Child Care Resource & Referral Association. 'We have challenges that are very different,' Angellatta said. 'We can't just compete in the labor market and continue to pay people more and just expect families to continue to pay more. It's already expensive.' To help care providers, the House budget draft has a provision to calculate Publicly Funded Child Care based on a child's enrollment with a provider, rather than basing it on the child's attendance. That's something Angellatta said would be 'critical' for both families and providers. 'We all know that just because someone is not in attendance doesn't mean that spot isn't saved for them,' he said. An Early Childhood Education Grant Program to 'invest in Ohio's early learning and development programs' including licensed child care centers, licensed family child care homes, and licensed preschools is included in the House budget draft as well. Eligibility goes up to 200% of the federal poverty line. Discussions about child care in Ohio come down to one primary theme: It can't be fixed by one bill or one source of funding. Instead, the state and everyone involved in decision making have to implement multi-step strategies to improve the start of children's education and the building of a new workforce. 'If you really want to do this, you have to do it in a three-dimensional manner,' Carfagna said. 'You have to attack it from the eligibility standpoint, the capacity side of it, and we need people to staff our child care centers.' For Lunan, the problem can be looked at very simply by those who hold the state's funding decisions in their hands. 'We literally can not have a thriving economy without child care,' she said. The House budget will now move to the Ohio Senate, which will draft its own budget. The two drafts will need to be reconciled before the end of June, when a budget must be sent to DeWine for his signature. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ohio budget must include support for child care access and workers, advocates say
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.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 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. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
