South Dayton News

COLUMBUS – State Representative Andrea White (R-Kettering) recently announced new legislation aimed at addressing workforce, child care, and foster placement challenges in Ohio.

“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.

“Removing child care barriers for foster families also means we will open more doors for our children who need safe, caring temporary homes. We need a multifaceted approach to solving these crises and we need all hands on deck.”

The average cost of center-based child care for Ohio families ranges from $8,580 to $11,438 per year depending on the age of the child. A recent survey found 70 percent of working moms would return to work or work more if they had access to child care at a more reasonable cost.

House Bill 580, jointly sponsored by White and Rep. Sharon Ray (R-Wadsworth), 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 just over 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,” said Ray.

HB 484, jointly sponsored by Rep. White and Rep. Bill Roemer (R-Richfield), seeks to stimulate public-private partnerships to increase access to on-site and near-site child care for Ohio families and employers. The bill proposes creating a state grant fund and training initiatives aimed at helping employers partner with various organizations to expand affordable quality options.

The proposed legislation would allocate just over $10 million for Public-Private Partnership Child Care Grants and other resources administered by the Department of Children and Youth in conjunction with JobsOhio and the Department of Development.

“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,” White said.

“We are diligently working to create a space where families can afford child care without leaving the workforce altogether,” said Roemer.

Another bill focused on encouraging businesses to support employees through child care benefits is HB 576, jointly sponsored by Rep. White and Rep. Cindy Abrams (R-Harrison). This bill proposes a new state tax credit of up to $500,000 per year for qualified employee child care expenditures.

“Across the country, employers are investing in new strategies to attract and retain workers,” White said.

“We’ve been working hard to spur economic development throughout our state,” said Abrams.

To help working parents manage rising costs due to inflation, Rep. White introduced HB 577 which offers tax credits for families paying for childcare—up to $3,000 per child or a maximum of $6,000 per family on a sliding scale based on income levels relative to federal poverty guidelines.

Additionally, HB 578 aims at spurring investment in childcare providers through nonrefundable tax credits for contributions made by individuals or LLCs.

White indicated that several bills stemmed from issues raised by stakeholders during her co-chairmanship of the Child Care Study Committee last General Assembly alongside Senator Jerry Cirino.

“The parents, childcare providers, advocates and business leaders are closest to the problems," she said.