COLUMBUS, Ohio—More than 250 childcare centers around Ohio were closed Monday to mark the third annual Day Without Childcare, meant to draw attention to efforts to make childcare more affordable and raise wages for providers, according to organizers of the effort.

Many of those childcare teachers and parents of kids in childcare spent part of the day in Columbus demonstrating in front of the Ohio Statehouse. The protesters called on lawmakers to pass a variety of reforms and policy changes, though most of them had a common theme.

“What did Jerry McGuire say?” said Nefree Cook, a Cincinnati childcare provider, on the Statehouse steps.

“Show me the money!” the crowd of a couple hundred people shouted back.

“That’s what we need – show us the money!” Cook replied.

Monday’s Statehouse rally comes as Ohio and other states are in the midst of a childcare crisis. Ohio parents, on average, pay more for childcare than what they pay in rent while – seemingly paradoxically – many providers can’t offer wages high enough to maintain staff.

While Ohio lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have started to pay more attention to the problem, under pressure from business groups that say it threatens the state’s growing job market, speaker after speaker at Monday’s rally said the problem will continue until there’s a large influx of government funding.

The CEO (Caring Economy Organizing) Project, a division of the left-leaning Ohio Organizing Collaborative, said in a release that it organized Monday’s Statehouse rally to call for, among other things:

• Raising income eligibility for publicly funded childcare in Ohio from up to 142% of the federal poverty line ($39,405 per year for a family of four) to those making up to 300% of the poverty line, or $83,250 annually for a four-person family
• Raising Ohio’s childcare subsidies so that families qualifying for aid have access to the cheapest 75% of child-care centers in their area. Right now, Ohio’s base reimbursement rates cover only the cheapest 35% of childcare options.
• Offering a refundable state tax credit of up to $1,000 per year to lower- and middle-income families with children
• Making the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit refundable, meaning lower-income Ohioans who qualify would receive a refund even if they don’t owe any state income tax.
• Providing more money in general for state childcare programs.

It remains to be seen what all these initiatives, if passed, would cost, though, at bare minimum, it would require hundreds of millions of dollars.

“We want to see the state invest in our families in an equitable way,” said Tami Lunan, director of the CEO Project, in an interview. “That’s the main thing we want to lift up.”

Monday’s rally specifically focused on helping childcare providers who are women and/or racial minorities; the majority of attendees were women of color.

Lunan said the rally’s organizers are planning to hold similar rallies on a “much larger scale” in the future.

Closing childcare centers for a day, Lunan said, shows people the importance of childcare and why it’s worth fighting to improve the childcare system. Providers, she said, make sure to tell parents why they’re closing for the day – in part to convince them to come out themselves to demonstrate.

“The idea’s to show the economic impact,” she said. “We believe that that’s the only way that these women, who are business owners, are going to be seen.”

Lunan said childcare advocates are pushing lawmakers to include their policy goals in next year’s two-year state budget plan.

Until a few months ago, Ohio’s child care subsidy rates for poorer families were tied for the lowest of any state in the nation. That led the federal government to demand that Ohio raise their rates or face penalties.

As a result, Gov. Mike DeWine’s administration is now seeking to raise base reimbursement rates to the 50th percentile — not by increasing spending, but by reducing financial incentives to child care facilities with high ratings in the Step Up To Quality program. Another proposed change would reduce Step Up To Quality’s current five-tier ratings system with a three-tiered one.

Lunan said she’s opposed to the proposed changes, saying instead lawmakers should have responded to federal demands by including more money for childcare in last year’s state budget bill. A three-tier ratings system, she said is “still not equitable.”

Jeremy Pelzer covers state politics and policy for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.