Legislators have overwhelmingly voted to permanently make most child care workers in Iowa, regardless of their income, eligible for state assistance to cover childcare costs for their own kids. Childcare workers who provide direct services to kids for at least 32 hours a week have been eligible under a pilot program and the bill that’s cleared the House and Senate would make the benefit permanent. Representative Ryan Weldon, a Republican from Ankeny, says Iowa has a balance of over $100-MILLION in its Child Care Development Fund to pay for the benefit.
Representative Tracy Ehlert, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, is an early childhood education consultant.
The bill passed the House over a month ago and it cleared the Senate unanimously on Monday. Senator Sarah Trone Garriot, a Democrat from West Des Moines, says there’s been robust participation in the pilot program.
The program is estimated to cost nearly $12-MILLION in the next state budgeting year, with the federal government supplying about a fourth of that money.
