Republicans in the House and Senate have acknowledged a “crisis” in Ohio over child care costs and access, pledging in a up-to-date bill to employer partners and the state to work to contain the problem.
State Sen. Michele Reynolds, R-Canal Winchester, and state Rep. Mark Johnson, R-Chillicothe, announced companion bills in their respective legislative chambers that would launch a up-to-date volunteer program that they hope will bring workers back into the state’s workforce and provide needed care employees’ children.
Reynolds said the impact of lack of access to child care for many Ohioans is “serious” and has “far-reaching economic and social consequences, impacting child development, workforce retention and overall economic growth.”
“It has become clear that urgent legislative action is needed to address the affordability and availability of child care in Ohio,” Reynolds said at a news conference Wednesday.
The bills – Senate Bill 273 and a yet-to-be-tagged House bill – were passed after a rally at the Ohio Statehouse calling for changes to the system as supporters recognized National No Child Care Day by asking for increased eligibility levels for publicly funded children and improving the pay and benefits of child care workers.
Child care advocates were raising the alarm about child care problems, prohibitive costs and provider shortages even before the Covid-19 pandemic, and even more so as the pandemic caused closures and losses across the industry.
The demand for childcare continues to grow, but availability is not universal. A report from earlier this year found that 47% of U.S. parents spend up to $18,000 a year on child care. Even if families are able to pay, there are other problems: According to Policy Matters Ohio, the state’s number of child care facilities will decline by 36% between 2017 and 2022, and 40% of Ohioans live in areas where the number of child care facilities is not met. able to compete with the needs of the population.
The up-to-date bills in the Senate and House would create a cost-sharing model, sponsors say, that would divide costs evenly between eligible families, employers and the Ohio Department of Children and Youth. The bill would allocate $10 million, but the program’s future “depends on future legislatures” when the money runs out, Johnson said.
“I will be the first to admit that this is not a silver bullet to fixing all child care as we stand here, but it will also stabilize child care providers, particularly those in the private community, who are currently struggling. , since the money ran out due to Covid-19 up,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
The program would be “completely voluntary” on the part of companies, and it would be up to the employer which employees would be included in the program.
According to Reynolds, in addition to being elected by an employee, the bill requires employees to be Ohio residents and not be eligible for publicly funded child care.
According to bill sponsors and the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, represented at the press conference by senior vice president of government affairs and former legislator Rick Carfagna.
“At the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, we have recognized that for Ohio businesses to have a skilled, reliable and thriving employee base, any workforce discussion must include affordable housing, transportation and… child care,” Carfagna said.
He called the state’s child care shortage “perhaps the greatest factor impeding entry or re-entry into the workforce right now.”
Lynne Gutierrez, chief operating and policy officer of the children’s advocacy group Groundwork Ohio, said similar models have been adopted in neighboring states and represent a “thoughtful and balanced approach” to the crucial workforce issue.
“We know that 800,000 workers reduced their hours or left work altogether last year as a result of child care barriers,” Gutierrez said.
In October 2023, Ohio Democrats launched their own attempt to aid families cover child care costs through the Family Tax Credit. The bill was referred to the Ohio House Ways and Means Committee the same month it was introduced, but has yet to see further action.
