South Dayton News

COLUMBUS – State Representative Andrea White (R-Kettering) has introduced legislation to address the workforce, child care, and foster placement crises in Ohio. Joined by several colleagues, Rep. White emphasized the need for a multifaceted approach to solve these issues.

“Ohio’s workforce, child care and foster care crises continue to loom large. Today parents seeking to enter or remain in the workforce are struggling to access affordable, safe, quality child care and early learning for their children, while at the same time employers are wrestling with finding qualified workers to meet their business and customer needs,” said Rep. White.

Rep. White highlighted that removing child care barriers for foster families would open more doors for children needing temporary homes. The average cost of center-based child care in Ohio ranges from $8,580 to $11,438 per year depending on the child's age. A recent survey found that 70 percent of working moms would return to work or work more if they had access to more affordable child care.

House Bill 580 aims to provide publicly funded child care for foster children placed with working foster families and long-term kinship caregivers. Ohio currently has approximately 16,700 children in foster care but only about 7,000 licensed family homes available.

“State leaders tell us the number one reason many families turn down a foster child placement is lack of access to affordable child care,” Rep. White said. “By removing this barrier, we will help more of our most vulnerable children find a stable, safe and nurturing foster home.”

“We have a responsibility to support those who are caring for our most vulnerable children,” added Rep. Sharon Ray (R-Wadsworth), co-sponsor of HB 580.

Another proposed bill is HB 484, sponsored by Reps. White and Bill Roemer (R-Richfield), which seeks to stimulate public-private partnerships to increase access to on-site and near-site child care for Ohio families and employers. This bill proposes over $10 million for Public-Private Partnership Child Care Grants and other resources aimed at increasing affordable quality child care capacity near businesses.

“Our goal is to support our workforce by helping employers and community partners develop innovative, affordable, locally-tailored child care solutions in communities across Ohio,” said Rep. White.

Rep. Roemer stressed the importance of balancing wages with childcare costs: “If the imbalance of wages to childcare costs remains, our workforce will continue to see shortages.”

HB 576 aims at encouraging businesses through tax incentives up to $500,000 per year for employee childcare benefits or expenditures beyond existing federal tax credits.

“It’s time we come alongside our businesses in this arena as they seek to strengthen our local communities,” said Rep. White.

Rep. Cindy Abrams (R-Harrison), co-sponsor of HB 576 stated: “This legislation will support our workforce and provide parents peace of mind that their kids are taken care of while they are working.”

To mitigate inflation's impact on working parents paying for childcare, HB 577 offers tax credits up to $3,000 per child or $6,000 per family on a sliding scale based on income levels relative to federal poverty guidelines.

Additionally, HB 578 proposes nonrefundable tax credits for contributions by individuals and LLCs toward qualified childcare providers aimed at spurring investment in childcare facilities.

Several new bills stemmed from issues raised by stakeholders during sessions led by the Child Care Study Committee co-chaired by Rep. White last General Assembly session.

“We’re talking about a delicate ecosystem that supports our children... Strong families create strong communities,” concluded Rep. White.