PA legislators trumped on child care

[NOTE: Not knowing how to feel after the first two paragraphs of this newsletter is normal.]

When President Trump released his proposed 2021 budget, he included $1 billion in increased funding for child care. Despite alarming cuts for crucial social programs that help children, including Medicaid, he also maintained funding levels for Head Start and the Child Care and Development Block Grant for low-income families.

Whatever your perceptions of him may be, President Trump is poised to do more this year for the Commonwealth’s youngest learners than their own legislators in Harrisburg.

How’s that for mixed-emotions?

Before we take aim at our elected officials in Harrisburg, we must note that the $1 billion, representing a 4.5% increase in federal funding, really doesn’t add up to much considering the staggering challenges of the nation’s “child care crises”, as the Center for American Progress’ Simon Workman describes it.

“There are so many problems right now, $1 billion is a drop in the bucket,” said CAP’s director of early childhood policy.

It may be a drop in the bucket, but it’s still in the bucket.

Like parents, educators, and our partners in the fight to secure brighter futures for PA kids through quality child care, we were disappointed that Governor Wolf’s budget proposal failed to include any new state dollars for quality child care for the Commonwealth’s infants and toddlers.

To be clear, we’re pleased to see the sixth annual increase proposed for pre-K. It’s still in the bucket, after all. But the disinterest in child care is maddening and more than a little odd.

State legislators don’t appear interested in correcting the oversight that will fail children in those most important years of brain development under three years old, fail parents eager to return to the workforce but unable to do so because of the prohibitive costs of child care, and fail major employers who recently released a series of recommendations to fortify the economy and PA’s struggling job market.

Those employers’ top recommendation to legislators? Invest in quality child care. Ironically, the recommendations from business leaders were part of Governor Wolf’s Keystone Economic Development and Workforce Command Center.

This budget does call for a substantial increase in Medicaid, which will continue to provide vital health services to children. But the main thrust of the funding boost is about investing in care for our senior citizens, which, compared to infants and toddlers, are surely a vote-rich demographic.

The political game is generally a cloistered affair, obsessed with zero-sum objectives and any appearances of losing. But governance is served poorly under those conditions. Child care is a priority for Pennsylvanians because we all have a horse in this race, just as we do regarding the welfare of our seniors.

That infants and toddlers may be shut out of next year’s budget is alarming. We implore our state legislators to work hard this spring to secure the funding we need. Business leaders have already made it clear how underfunded child care hurts their bottom line.

Parents struggling to keep their households above water couldn’t be clearer. Not only do they need quality child care to return to work, the parents of infants and toddlers ought to feel confident that their children are in safe, dedicated hands that will help prepare them for success in school.

The parents of our youngest learners demand government action that addresses the realities of today’s economy and its impact on families. And you better believe they vote.  

So do their grandparents. Harrisburg, they may appreciate the increased concern over their health, but brace yourselves when they learn their grandchildren are being neglected.