Carey Hamilton: Child care help would free women to be entrepreneurs

This May, as we celebrate Small Business Month, we have a critical issue to face: Not enough Hoosier women are getting the chance to start their own businesses. This is a major problem for our economy—a problem we cannot afford to ignore.

Indiana is among the bottom five states for women-owned businesses. This isn’t just disappointing, it’s completely predictable because our state badly lags in support for parents who work. Indiana also ranks in the bottom five states for state-funded pre-kindergarten.

Our child care system can serve only about 41% of the 502,000 children who need it. That leaves hundreds of thousands of children without care, which means their parents, especially moms, can’t work, much less start a business.

Think about it. Without reliable child care, holding down a job is hard enough. Starting a business? Nearly impossible. Parents end up cutting hours or quitting the workforce altogether. Indiana’s economy loses $1.1 billion a year because of our lack of child care, according to a 2018 study. For a mom without child care, running a business isn’t just tough—it’s often out of the question.

For those who can find child care, the high cost is another massive hurdle. Indiana has the third-highest child care cost in the country, averaging $14,200 per year. It costs more to send a kid to day care than it does to pay tuition at Indiana University or Purdue University. That’s a barrier too high for many would-be mom-preneurs. Even if they could start a business, startup costs combined with expensive child care squash many dreams before they can even begin.

Despite years of effort by House Democrats to fix this, including bills I’ve authored for child care tax credits and expanded pre-K programs, the Republican supermajority refuses to provide these critical investments to unleash parents’ freedom to work and children’s opportunity to learn as well as for our state to unlock that $1.1 billion in economic power.

They have other priorities. Indeed, last year’s budget made it easier for wealthy families making up to $220,000 per year to send kids to private schools, but a family making a little more than $45,000 a year is viewed as too rich to qualify for state-funded pre-K.

We made some headway this year with laws that streamline child care regulations and aim to boost the workforce, but without serious investment, these are just baby steps. The truth is, without solid child care and pre-K support, we’re holding back not just women but our whole economy.

Republicans often say Indiana is pro-small-business, but their actions tell a different story. They’ve consistently blocked the path for women to become entrepreneurs by failing to support accessible child care.

Moms could be leading our small-business sector, driving growth and innovating, but without the right support, they’re stuck. We need to change this, and we need to do it now. Let’s not just celebrate small businesses; let’s build a state where more women can create and lead them.•

__________

Hamilton, an Indianapolis Democrat, represents District 87 in the Indiana House of Representatives.