Tennessee bill could make daycare more affordable for families

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Finding child care in Tennessee can feel impossible for parents. Not only are there limited options, but it’s expensive.

To watch kids every day may not be a dream to some, but it is for Summer Shack and Lawanda Crawford at Miss Wanda’s Daycare in East Nashville.

“Who doesn’t want to work with babies?” Shack said. “It’s like a little fairy world.”

In the last 30 years, they’ve seen kids come and go from their East Nashville corner, especially kids of parents who relied on state money for childcare.

“The people who could qualify for the program have been moved out of East Nashville,” Crawford said.

What is the Smart Steps program?

Today, two students at Miss Wanda’s have parents who get help from Tennessee’s Smart Steps program. To qualify, families must make 85% or less than the state median income to have most of their childcare covered.

“We used to have – it used to be the entire daycare at one point,” said Crawford. “Even with the Smart Steps, the program is good if you qualify, but it’s so hard for the mothers to qualify. And even if they make a dollar or two more, they get knocked off the program.”

That’s what lawmakers at the State Capitol are trying to change. One proposed bill (SB 2064/HB 2233) would allow families making 100% of the state’s median income or less to get money.

According to data from the Department of Human Services, a two-person household has to make under about $52,000 a year to qualify currently. If this bill passes, it will allow that same family to make up to around $61,000 to get assistance.

Will it help daycares?

Crawford said the Smart Steps program can be a double-edged sword. Daycares can accept what the state requires families to pay if they qualify for the program, but sometimes the difference is still too much. So, they must pass on to the family or ask them to pay the difference to meet the daycare costs.

“I hate the fact that the mothers mostly have to make a choice,” said Crawford. “Either to work and lose benefits or keep the benefits and stay home.”

She and Shack believe this new bill could help close that gap.

“Hopefully if the word gets out, that it’s going, mothers will reapply and go back out to work,” added Crawford.

The bill has been introduced in both the House and Senate. It still must go through committees on both sides.

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