Photo: Scott Olson / Getty Images News / Getty Images
(Des Moines, IA) -- Iowa will take a three-pronged approach when it comes to addressing child care shortages in the state, according to a release from Governor Kim Reynolds' office. The proposal expands a solutions fund for business and individual contributions, provides 16 child care grants of $100,000 each to incentivize all-day care for four year-olds, and extends a pilot which helps child care workers afford care for their own children.
“When individuals, businesses, and government all work together to solve a problem, Iowans benefit. Nowhere is this more evident than in child care,” Reynolds said in a statement. “Programs like the Child Care Assistance pilot and the Statewide Solutions Fund will continue to increase our childcare workforce and capacity. And, the Early Childhood Continuum of Care grant will help give working parents what they need—a full day continuum of care for their children.”
The solutions fund is an expansion of a pilot program that ran in 10 counties, primarily during the 2023-24 school year. The fund is aimed at aiding in the workforce. A joint report from the Common Sense Institute of Iowa and the Iowa Women's Foundation found that the fund led to the retention or hiring of nearly 1,200 child care workers. It said that statewide expansion could help create 8,00 jobs across Iowa. Deann Cook is the CEO of the foundation.
"It's a public good," Cook said. "Like the library or the ambulance or the fire department. When child care is strong in a community, there's more employees available, people are able to get more education and the community itself is stronger."
Continuum of Care is something that Governor Reynolds named as a legislative priority in her annual Condition of the State Address in January. A bill similar to what she's announcing now was filed and passed in the Iowa Senate, but stalled in the state House. That was partially because of concerns over existing funds shifting around. State Rep. Tracy Ehlert (D-Cedar Rapids) told our newsroom some of that is still unclear with the new plan.
"I'm still very worried about our Head Start programs with the shared vision funding. Grants that had been shut off in anticipation of that legislation going through," Ehlert said. "I don't know if their funding is still at stake."
Part of the legislative version would have also shifted funds from Early Childhood Iowa programs, but Ehlert said that's not the case with the new plan. The Department of Health and Human Services hosted a webinar to answer questions today, but Ehlert said it added to her confusions.
"Some of the programs were asking 'well, can we still pass on the costs to families?' or 'can we still charge them the difference?' and this and that. And the answer was yes," Ehlert said. "I kind of had an 'aha' moment. Wait, this legislation is proposed to be helping families so that their kids can go to preschool...wait, what is this funding going to go towards?"
Information on all three components can be found here.