Childcare doesn't just happen; It needs community support

Suzanne Schreiber
| Guest columnist

Throughout the pandemic and our recovery, the federal government has invested billions of dollars in industries that help keep our economy afloat. The child care industry in Oklahoma was rightly one of the sectors considered critical. But the more than $1 billion allocated over the past three years will run out at the end of this month. The expiration of these dollars brings us as a state to a pivotal moment where we either fully recognize the importance of child care to the growth of our economy or take a major step backwards and stall.

To better understand the problem, it is important to state some facts. Oklahomans who work or go to school and earn less than $3,061 per month are eligible for sliding scale child care assistance from federal and state dollars depending on the number of children. About three-quarters of state child care providers accept clients who use subsidies. If my family earns $3,000 per month and needs care for a child, I pay $170 per month and the state covers the rest. If our income were to decrease, the co-payment would also decrease. Anyone with a child who earns more than $37,000 per year pays the full freight of $10,000 to $12,000 per year. For most Oklahomans, that’s a lot of money.

At these prices you might think you knew some daycare millionaires. But I haven’t met one yet, and I’d be shocked if I did. Child care is a labor of love in communities across the state. It is often a family business that is passed down from one generation to the next. These small business owners don’t care about the money; They get involved because they love Oklahoma’s babies and because they know their communities need businesses like this to thrive. Their industry is heavily regulated, with the most important and costly regulation being the ratio of teachers to infants and toddlers. People cost money.

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The expiring federal funding helped to improve an already difficult business model and at the same time somewhat reduce the cost burden on families. The relief funds were used to relieve families of copays, provide child care providers an additional $5 per child receiving subsidies, incentivize child care workers by offering free child care to parents who work at licensed child care providers , and provide grants to open and modernize new child care businesses across the state. As you can imagine, the end of these funds will not only increase costs for families and often force parents out of the workforce, but will also place a burden on our child care providers to manage and grow their businesses and provide children with quality care to provide care.

Many states have taken steps to mitigate the impact of these expiring funds, and Oklahoma can do the same.

For example, for a small fee, we could continue to offer childcare for educators at a relatively low cost. Child care teachers in Oklahoma earn an average of $12 an hour, so many who work in child care are already eligible for assistance. But we could cover the cost of their copayments and extend the benefit to those who don’t qualify for just $18 million. The return on this investment is enormous. For every educator who leaves kindergarten because they cannot afford to care for their own children, the industry loses between four and 24 places in a daycare center. We need to incentivize these workers, and this is a cost-effective way to do it.

We can also think about new ways to strengthen our childcare model. With support from the State Chamber of Oklahoma, I recently authored a bill to include our employers as partners in funding child care. This rule would allow employers who share child care costs with their employees to claim a tax credit and reduce costs for families. Employers willing to help solve the problem of workforce challenges And The affordability of child care should definitely be recognized by the state.

For a long time, child care was treated as something that “just happened,” as something families would “figure out.” Multiple economic studies have calculated that Oklahoma loses over $1 billion in our state’s economy due to child care issues. This number clearly shows that child care is a crucial part of the economy – that child care is a work infrastructure. Given this, our role as a state in working with parents and childcare providers to benefit our economy appears to be undergoing some reconsideration.

Suzanne Schreiber, D-Tulsa, is a former Tulsa school board member.

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