Ellie O’keefe is on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in the West Virginia Capitol in Charleston, W.VA., stands to work for changes in childcare. (Amelia Ferrell Knisely | West Virginia clock)
When Ellie O’keefe moved to Oak Hill in Fayette County, West Virginia, she was surprised how hard it was to find childcare.
“I was very surprised that I came from a much suburban area to have confronted myself with this lack of childcare,” she said.
More than 25,000 children in West Virginia They have no access to childcare, and more than 150 childcare supervisors closed their classrooms last year. There are also concerns about the long -term plan of the state to finance its subsidy program with which working parents can pay for childcare.
Parents, childcare workers, the managing directors of the state as well as some republican and democratic legislators have asked about invoices and funds in order to address widespread questions.
Another legislative session should end without movement on this topic.
“Well, none of our bills made it, so I think that it says a lot about priorities” Pamela Shope, Site Director for Playmates Schools and Child Development Centers that operate six centers in the counties Cabell and Wayne.
O’keefe, pregnant with her second child, was on Tuesday in the lower rotunda of the state of Capitol for childcare day. A sticker on your T-shirt said: “I am a childcare voter.”
“Families really fight in a way that they have not have in the past,” she said. “It is another year in which we were told that this would be a priority and nothing really shifted.”
It feels like déjà vu for those who hope for changes after the legislators led by Republicans last year do not send A stack of childcare calculations to the governor’s desk for examination. The legislators in the urge of the former governor Jim Justice have approved A Tax credit for childcare In 2024, families who already claim the tax credit for childcare are available.
“I’m disappointed,” said Del. Kathie Hess Crouse, R-Putnam, which has sponsored several childcare measures. She said that the delegates’ focus on budget restrictions had partially stopped. “It is only over on Saturday until midnight, so there is always hope, but I won’t be surprised if nothing happens.”
West Virginia has the nation Lowest rate of women who serve In a legislator that Crouse believes that she has had a long time on the act of childcare.
“Unfortunately, the majority of the body are men and they don’t have to deal with these problems,” said Crouse, a mother who leaves the workforce to stay at home with their children. “I’m not saying that you don’t take care of you. I just don’t think you have the same train and recognize what it takes and what is necessary.”
Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, is a mother of two two and once the only mother of diminutive children who serve in the house. She has Advocate childcare laws in recent years.
“I don’t think we have women who are chairwoman of the big committees in the house, and it is obviously not a priority of this super majority,” said Young.
“Feels like another year with the same excuses,” she continued. “We still didn’t do anything for childcare.”
Childcare measures in the last week of the session stalled
The Chamber of Commerce of West Virginia has supported and explained the childcare measures that it is necessary to improve the state’s abysmal staff. Others who push according to childcare expansion Babies affected by the drug abuse crisis.
This year, a number of childcare measures were introduced this year, especially in the house.
House bill 2731sponsored by crouse, dignity Foundation of the employee’s internet, in which the state would work with employers of childcare in order to compensate for the childcare costs of its employees. The program is intended to facilitate centers to keep workers and keep classrooms open.
Shope said the measure had “a major impact on the binding of employees”.
The average year cost Care in a licensed childcare center in West Virginia is more than $ 6,000 per child.
“Childcare is very expensive, and we give our teachers and employees of employees discounts … but it is still very difficult,” said Shope, adding that the employees can do too much in their centers to qualify for the subsidy program for childcare.
“We want to have the highest quality support that we can offer for our families, and sometimes it is difficult to find a good, qualified teacher who wants to work in childcare. We need all the advantages we can so that you can stay,” she said.
The legislative template remains parked in the House Health Committee with the legislative period, which is scheduled to postpone on Saturday.
Crouse also introduced laws House bill 2730To set up a pilot program in which the state, an employer and an employee pay a third of the total childcare costs. It is known as a “tri-share model” for childcare. The program is currently being piloted in eight counties. It is unlikely that the invoice that would have cost around 10 million US dollars would not have made it into the full house of the delegates.
Del. Bob Fehrenbacher, R-Wood, who is a member of the House Finance Committee, said that it has not a single thing that derives childcare in this meeting.
“I think there are some tax considerations, you know with the structural deficit, but there are some of the options that I think are okay. Let us start with it,” he said. “Yes, there can be some tax effects, but there should also be some advantages, such as more people in the workforce.”
Fehrenbacher sponsored Several bills The aim of tackling the problems of childcare of the state, including a measure that would enhance the tax credit for employers who offer child supply for employees. His childcare calculations were not taken into account by the house committees.
“To be honest, I’m disappointed,” he said.
Long -term financing for childcare
While the house budget Increases the financing of childcare In the 2026 financial year, Young is concerned that the subsidy program of the state is exposed to a financing cliff on July 1, which said that thousands are removed from the program. During the house budget Negotiations last weekShe tried to change the budget calculation to record it Around 32 million US dollars for the subsidy program for childcare. The house voted on its amendment.
“[It] means that we have more parents outside the workforce. This means that we will close more centers, ”said Young.
Fehrenbacher said that the secretary of the Ministry of Human Services, Alex Mayer, said to the assumption that the program will be financed all year round, but there is still a question mark for long -term financing with regard to the state’s childcare problems.
“We need other options. Things like tax incentives for an employer or the tri-share model are things that I think that I think you can give us options,” he said.
O’keefe hopes that the state will work to counter the affordability of childcare.
“We are looking for the best opportunities for our children. We are looking for freedom to go to work,” she said.
“Just because they don’t see that these parents come to the capital does not mean that they don’t want to speak … they often cannot get into this phase because they work and because they have childcare,” continued O’keefe. “Your voices deserve to be heard.”
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