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What should Indiana do to increase access to child care and make it more affordable?
There might be no single issue that took on greater prominence as both an education and workforce impediment in the wake of the pandemic than the pervasive lack of accessible, affordable child care.
The facts are clear: Children without the benefit of a strong early-learning foundation are more likely to start kindergarten behind their peers and struggle throughout their schooling. Parents without adequate child care options are more likely to be underemployed or exit the labor force altogether. And business leaders consistently cite child care access and affordability among their top workforce barriers.
The systemic challenges plaguing the child care industry and its consumers are nothing new, only more widely recognized in recent years. In purely economic terms, the child care business model is broken. It is highly fragmented, chronically underfunded and prohibitively expensive.
Many families find the cost of reliable, high-quality child care beyond their means—if they can find it at all. Most child care providers operate with slim margins and barely break even on a good day. Not to mention that average wages for child care workers are so low that more than half qualify for public assistance, resulting in an industry-wide workforce shortage and attrition crisis that further strains program accessibility and quality.
Thankfully, a growing coalition of Indiana business leaders, child care advocates and policymakers is prompting meaningful action on several fronts. In 2023 alone, state lawmakers significantly raised the family eligibility threshold for Indiana’s “On My Way Pre-K” program and established an employer tax credit to incentivize small and midsize businesses to increase child care capacity in their communities. Lawmakers also passed language championed by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce that will streamline overly burdensome regulations for child care providers, integrate objective measures for kindergarten readiness in the state’s “Paths to Quality” system, and create incentives for child care providers to better compensate and upskill their workers.
Building on this momentum, Gov. Holcomb and the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration will soon launch a $25 million matching grant program for employers who make investments that improve local child care availability.
As welcome as these actions are, more must be done and with an even greater sense of urgency. More states are making the move to universal pre-K, and Indiana would be well served by joining their ranks as lawmakers consider our state’s next biennial budget, perhaps buoyed by a “tri-share” approach to child care that leverages public and private investment, with the cost split among government, employers and parents.
Just over a decade ago, after years of debate, Indiana finally made full-day kindergarten available to any Hoosier family that wanted it at no cost. The argument for that change then is relevant to conversations surrounding the value of pre-kindergarten today, both in terms of the benefits for student learning and the return on investment for taxpayers (estimated to be at least $4 for every dollar spent). Now is the time for an equally transformative moment for early learning in Indiana.•
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Bearce is vice president of education and workforce development for the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.
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