A new study shows a lack of affordable, quality childcare in Ohio is keeping a lot of parents out of the workforce, or limiting their ability to participate. Some state lawmakers are once again proposing a bill they think provides a solution.
Workers say lack of affordable child care holds them back
Many parents of young children are struggling right now and could use extra income, but a survey shows the inability to find affordable child care is hurting their efforts to deal with that. Jarrett Lewis with Public Opinion Strategies conducted a poll for Groundwork Ohio, an organization that advocates for early childhood education. Lewis said that poll shows many parents of young children are struggling right now and could use extra income.
“One-third of parents in Ohio with young children say that they've had serious problems paying their mortgage or rent," said Jarrett Lewis with Public Opinion Strategies, which conducted a poll for the early childhood education advocacy group Groundwork Ohio. "Nearly half of them say that they've had serious problems paying credit card bills and other debt, that actually it's at a higher proportion for parents than it is for the broader Ohio population."
“Half of working parents say that over the last couple of months, they've had to cut back in their work hours to care for their children,” Lewis said. “This has an undeniable impact on the state's economy.”
Lewis said more than 80% of those surveyed said they recognize the need for more reliable and affordable childcare and that support crosses party lines. As far as the moms, 61% of them said they’d like to work full-time.
“That's more than 4 in 10 Ohio moms who are who are sitting there saying, I'm ready to go back to work. If they're strongly agreeing, that intensity is telling us that they want to go back to work,” Lewis said.
And the survey showed that Ohio parents want the state to help, and that crosses party lines. Lewis said more than 90% of those surveyed support the idea of giving tax credits to working families who have children under 16.
Child care cost-sharing bills are among first introduced this session
House Bill 2 and Senate Bill 32 are reintroductions of bills from the last session to help working parents get affordable quality childcare. Rep. Mark Johnson (R-Chillicothe) is the sponsor of HB2, a plan he said treats childcare like the state currently handles career training.
“This is modeled exactly like the tech cred program. So, we're not reinventing the wheel. And it will be administered the same as tech cred,” Johnson said.
Johnson said the Child Care Cred Program would have the state put up one-third of the cost of childcare, with the remaining two-thirds split between the employer and the employee. It would involve a $10 million investment from the state over the biennium.
“If you talk to the Chamber of Commerce, you talk to many private employers, you talk to people in the hospitality industry or the nursing industry: staffing is a big, big deal,” Johnson said. “We've got more jobs, and we have people that we have some of the lowest workforce participation rates ever in the history of our state. So to the people that say we can't, I ask them, ‘How much does it cost if you don't do something?’”
Johnson said his bill is a solution to help the situation but it's not a panacea.
“I'll be the first to tell you. This is not a silver bullet to fix our problem totally. This is just a piece of the puzzle,” Johnson said.
Johnson said something like this may encourage more people and organizations to become childcare providers as well. He hopes employers who don’t have enough employees and are paying overtime costs because of the shortage will find participation in a program like this will save them money in the long run.
Gov. Mike DeWine may include some childcare proposals in his executive budget, due on Monday. He announced two new childcare initiatives as part of his State of the State speech in 2024. One was a voucher program for families that make up to 200% of the federal poverty level, or about $60,000 a year for a family of four. And he announced plans to allocate $85 million to upgrade and expand childcare facilities.
