Justice’s child care tax credit faces uphill battle, doesn’t address providers’ urgent needs

King's Daughters Child Care Center in Wheeling has a waitlist of 170 kids ages two and under. (Submitted photo)

Kaitlin Persinger, who commuted from Barboursville to Charleston for work, couldn’t find child care for her son when she needed it, depending on her grandmother to help out.

“Finding child care in that area and being able to get there in time to pick him up was something that I really struggled with,” she said.

Persinger, 24, and her family relocated to Putnam County, and she needed care for her now one-year-old. A nearby child care provider, which had a wait list, would have been $900 a month.

“That’s when I put it out on Facebook, ‘Does anyone know of someone who does this?’ The woman who watches my son now, it’s $30 a day,” she said, adding that she loves the attentive care he receives. “Once a payment for child care comes out, money becomes tight for the next seven days.”

Gov. Jim Justice is set on helping some West Virginia families afford child care with his idea for a Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit. Families are paying $600 to $700 dollars a month on the expense, he said.

The Republican governor, who is running for a U.S. Senate seat is expected to call a special session this month for lawmakers to take up the idea.

“The affordability is a national problem. We all know that,” Justice said on Wednesday during a press briefing. He added that the state needed to address its child care desert to help boost workforce participation.

Justice is also expected to ask lawmakers to consider his idea to reduce the state income tax.

The proposed child tax credit, which lawmakers said they haven’t yet seen in detail, isn’t likely to sail through the Republican supermajorities in the House of Delegates and Senate.

Meanwhile, there’s a widespread child care shortage, and dozens of providers have shut down this year due to financial woes spurred by the state’s child care funding issues .

“This plan for the tax credit does not help with the access issues. The crisis is now,” said Melissa Colagrasso, who runs A Place to Grow, a child care center in Oak Hill, W.Va.

“Two more child care centers announced they’re closing today. We’ve had 65 providers close down in 2024 and that is going to continue.”

She continued, “ For [Justice]  to gloriously stand up and say, ‘I solved the problem,’ no, he hasn’t. I’m not against tax credits but that doesn’t solve child care. ”

What the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit could look like

Justice’s previously released plan for a Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit would create a state tax credit equal to 50% of the allowable federal child and dependent care credit.

A spokesperson for Justice didn’t respond to a question about if this same plan would be introduced during the September special session. His administration has previously said that this would benefit 16,000 West Virginia families in an effort to make childcare more affordable for families.

For a family that makes more than $43,000 annually, the tax credit would likely equal $300 for one child or $600 for two or more children.

Families making the least amount of money – less than $15,000 – would see the greatest tax credit return of around $1,000 if they have two kids.

“The money would be helpful, but I don’t know to what extent,” Persinger said.

Del. Kayla Young said those low-earning families were unlikely to access a child tax credit because they’d instead rely on the state’s subsidized child care program or couldn’t afford the upfront cost of child care.

“I find it hard to believe that those people would be paying for child care because they’d qualify for the child care subsidy,” said Young, D-Kanawha, who has championed many of the House’s efforts to address child care access in West Virginia. “I’m not opposed to the child tax care credit, but I’m not sure it accomplishes what we need for families, providers or the workforce.”

According to a poll released Thursday by MetroNews , 43% of respondents said access to child care was a major problem in West Virginia.

Del. Kathie Hess Crouse, R-Putnam, led a bipartisan group in the House of Delegates focused on addressing child care availability. She said House members were still waiting to hear from the governor’s office regarding specific plans for a tax credit.

“ … But we also know that it can only be a small part of a bigger solution,” Hess Crouse wrote in an email. “I’m not opposed to looking again at a child care tax credit but that doesn’t help parents in rural areas who can’t access child care and it doesn’t help providers.

“ We all want to be sure we understand the true problems with child care so we can best understand how the Legislature can work within its capacity to help … We have staff members who have continued to work together on this puzzle, which is much more complex than a day or two of extraordinary sessions.”

Senate Finance Chairman Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, told West Virginia Watch on Wednesday that passing Justice’s child care tax credit plan would likely hinge on the governor cutting expenditures elsewhere. Like Hess Crouse, he hadn’t yet seen a plan from the governor.

Could lawmakers consider other child care bills?

West Virginia needs more than 20,000 child care spots, and the uncertainty surrounding the state’s funding for its child care subsidy program has led to more closures this year.

Due to a federal rule change, the state must now reimburse child care centers based on enrollment rather than attendance. The mandate, which was unfunded, left the state with at least a $34 million shortfall.

The Department of Human Services is using federal emergency dollars to cover the gap for now, but the money could run out before the end of the year, potentially removing thousands of children from the program.

Colagrasso’s child care center serves 150 families, many of whom receive the child care subsidy. It requires families to be employed or in an education program.

“When you’re running a business with the threat of closing in December, then who can run a business like that?” Colagrasso asked. “We’re on the closure list. I’m counting down the months. I am personally working very hard with a community task force despite what the state is doing.”

Young hopes that the governor’s call for a special session will include a broad focus on child care so that lawmakers can fully fund the subsidy through surplus dollars.

“ We didn’t do it during the session, so we have to do it now,” she said, adding that the subsidy amount needed to be increased as well to keep up with the cost of operating centers.

It would also give lawmakers the possibility to discuss other child care-focused bills , including the governor’s tax credit bill , that the House didn’t consider during the regular session.

“ Then the Legislature is given the levity to make the policy because that’s our job – not the governor’s job really. I’d love to see all the bills that our task force worked on during the session done,” Young said.

One bill would have provided a tax credit to for-profit and nonprofit corporations for expenditures related to operating existing on-site or sponsored child care facilities. Multiple employers could operate a facility jointly and still be eligible for the tax credit.

Justice is expected to next week announce more details about the special session.

Colagrasso hopes to see more than a tax credit on the call. “His idea isn’t the only idea,” she said. “We are the workforce behind the workforce. If you want to make the economy better, this is where you need to invest. Invest in children and families.”

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