N.E. Ohio families say more state childcare assistance is needed in new state budget

CLEVELAND — Calah Dean is a Cleveland mother demanding that the State of Ohio passes a new state budget that will include significant improvements in state childcare support for low-income families.

Ohio lawmakers are currently working on a new two-year state budget, which must be approved by June 30 at midnight, with state childcare support being one of the biggest issues up for debate.

Dean told News 5 that because she and her husband were just above the $32,703 qualifying family income level for state daycare assistance, it was better for her to quit her job and stay home to watch their two young children.

“It’s very difficult. You can’t make too much, otherwise, you’re beyond that line to even afford to have my child in daycare, but you have to make ends meet at the same time,” Dean said. “The make-or-break factor was paying for childcare; it just wasn’t doable for us and so I had to stay home and live off my savings for a while.”

Dave Deger

Both Dean and Children First of Cleveland Daycare Executive Director Joan Hamm believe the State of Ohio needs to significantly increase the state childcare assistance qualifying wage so that more parents can get the help they need and get back into the workforce.

“This is a broken system. None of it makes any sense,” Hamm said. “If we’re not ready to invest in young children, then we’ve really missed the mark. They’re the ones who suffer. We need our legislators to get on board. We need our legislators to understand.”

Dave Deger

Will Petrik, Project Director with Policy Matters Ohio, told News state data indicates Ohio has one of the worst qualifying wage levels for childcare assistance in the nation, pointing to his agencieslatest childcare report.

“Currently, if you’re making $16 an hour and you’re a single mom with two kids, you make too much to be eligible for publicly funded childcare,” Petrik said. “Currently, initial eligibility is set at 142% of the national poverty level. The DeWine budget proposal expands that up to 160%, but the senate budget rolls that back to 145%.”

Petrik said Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s state budget proposal, approved by the House and now being revised by the Senate, is a start, opening up childcare assistance to approximately 15,000 additional children statewide, but he said Ohio would still have a long way to go.

“Alaska has eligibility of over 300% of the federal poverty level, South Carolina is at 297%, somebody at the median income making a little over $60,000 for a family of three could actually get a little bit of support,” Petrik said. “We ought to be at 300% of the federal poverty level. That means that a family of three could make a little over $69,000 annually and still qualify for some daycare support.”

Nickie Antonio, Ohio Senate Democratic Leader for Ohio’s 23 Senate District, told News 5 it’s essential to increase state childcare support to help Ohio continue to recover from post-pandemic worker shortage issues.

“It’s crucial that we expanded services, support for low-income families,” Antonio said. “We’re still in the recovery mode when it comes to building back, and one of the ways is trying to provide more childcare for folks to go back to work. If we’re serious about want to solve our workforce needs, then we need to invest.”

News 5 is committed to following through on the Ohio state budget debate as the state works toward an approved two-year budget by June 30.