There are about 26,000 children under 6 years old in West Virginia who need but don’t have access to child care. (Getty Images)
Gov Jim Justice announced recently that the state’s revenue collections for fiscal year 2024 were about $826 million above estimates.
The governor often brags about state surpluses and more money coming in than estimated — meanwhile, West Virginians are suffering because state agencies are underfunded.
There are many examples of this, but because Justice wants to tackle child care during an yet-to-be-announced special session, I’ll focus on that.
One big issue with child care in West Virginia is there aren’t enough providers. There are about 26,000 children under 6 years old who need but don’t have access to child care. Some counties don’t even have child care providers.
And let’s not forget that many parents struggle to afford child care, which can cost more than in-state college tuition in West Virginia.
There were some promising bills during this year’s legislative session — House Bill 5293 would have established a pilot child care program for low-income employees. Employees would only have to pay one-third of the total cost of child care, while the state and participating employers would pay the other two-thirds. It died in the House Finance committee.
Justice proposed a state tax credit equal to 50% of the allowed federal child tax credit. House Speaker Roger Hanshaw was the lead sponsor on HB 4879 . It died in House Finance.
There was also HB 5051 , which would have provided a tax credit for corporations for costs related to operating existing child care facilities, and HB 5052 , which would have increased the tax credit for employers that provided child care for employees. They both — you guessed it — died in House Finance.
Only 26% of eligible West Virginia children in 2020 received federal child care subsidies under the Child Care and Development Block Grant, according to an analysis from the Center for Law and Social Policy. The analysis found that 73% more children could have been eligible in 2020 if West Virginia had raised its income limit, which is $31,992, to the federal limit of $51,724.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government had a program that helped provide child care subsidies, but it expired in September 2023. The former Department of Health and Human Resources decided to continue the program to offer subsidies to child care providers based on enrollment — this will expire in August.
Delegates tried to address that funding during the May special session. They were unsuccessful .
At least half a dozen states have programs that use federal funds to pay for child care for kids of early education workers. Supporters say it benefits the workers, the child care providers that have employee shortages and also the states’ economies — for many, a lack of affordable child care prevents them from working.
In neighboring Kentucky, all child care employees are eligible for free child care. It’s a perk that aids in recruiting much needed teachers.
A year after the program started, the number of children receiving state subsidies for child care went from around 17,000 to 40,000. About 3,600 of those are children of child care employees.
In West Virginia, 100% of child care providers received the American Rescue Plan funding, and 645 of those most commonly used the money to pay employees to keep programs staffed.
If that money runs out in August, the state can’t afford to lose the child care centers that depend on the funding to keep their doors open. The state’s $800+ million of extra revenue makes it possible to do something.
The Legislature failed to do anything during the 60 day regular session, and again during the May special session. For the sake of parents — and the children — let’s hope the third time’s a charm.
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The post What’s the point of a surplus if West Virginians are suffering from lack of child care providers appeared first on West Virginia Watch .
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