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Idaho Childcare Funding Cuts- Childcare needs your help!

Your lawmakers need to hear from you about the need to continue to support Idaho’s Early Childhood Professionals. Early childhood professionals are the backbone of our workforce and economy. If Idahoans don’t have access to reliable, affordable care they can’t work. Programs that were created to support Idaho’s child care industry such as Idaho Phase 4 and Wage Enhancement Grants are a lifeline for child care businesses and their dedicated employees. These programs were set to expire at the end of June, however on 2/27/23, legislators voted to remove funding effective immediately. Child care workers will not be receiving the funds they have had to rely on and were told that they would have through June.

Each Idaho resident has one State Senator and two State Representatives. You can find their contact information by visiting THIS LINK.https://legislature.idaho.gov/ legislators/whosmylegislator/
We are urging you to please email or call your local lawmakers TODAY and let them know how the removal of these funds is going to directly impact you and your children! Without these funds it is expected that the cost of childcare in the Treasure Valley will have to go up in order to sustain businesses and retain staff.

Some examples to include in your letter or statement are:

· The Idaho Child Care Wage Enhancement Grant has enabled centers to retain and hire staff. Without these funds, we will not be able to keep staff without raising tuition costs for families who are already struggling to afford it.

· Families depend on reliable, quality, affordable child care so they can work and provide for their families. Without the support of these programs, many child care centers will either have to reduce enrollment, raise tuition rates or close their doors altogether.

· We don’t have enough child care options to meet the needs of our community’s families. If the grants are no longer available, we will see further reduction in child care availability.

· Without access to affordable and reliable child care, parents can’t work and provide for their families and employers won’t have the workforce they need.

· Rising costs for food, rent, and supplies, and the inability to staff our business to a level where we would be able to operate in the black are all issues that put us in danger of closing our doors once this funding runs out.