Kaitlin Persinger, who commuted between Barboursville and Charleston for work, couldn’t find child care for her son when she needed it and had to rely on her grandmother’s aid.
“Finding childcare in this area and getting there in time to pick him up was a real challenge for me,” she said.
Persinger, 24, and her family moved to Putnam County, and she needed care for her now 1-year-old child. A nearby child care provider with a waiting list would have cost $900 a month.
“I posted it on Facebook at the time: ‘Does anyone know anyone who does this?’ The woman who now looks after my son makes $30 a day,” she said, adding that she appreciates the attentive care he receives. “Once the child care payment is due, money for the next seven days is tight.”
Gov. Jim Justice wants to aid some West Virginia families pay for child care with his idea of a child care and dependent care tax credit. Families pay $600 to $700 a month for those costs, he said.
The Republican governor, who running for a seat in the US Senate expected to call There is scheduled to be a special session this month for lawmakers to consider the idea.
“Affordability is a national problem. We all know that,” Justice said during a press conference on Wednesday. He added that the state is working with its Childcare Desert to enhance labor force participation.
Justice is also expected to ask lawmakers to consider his proposal to cut the state income tax.
The proposed child tax credit, of which lawmakers say they have not yet provided details, is unlikely to easily pass the Republican two-thirds majority in the House and Senate.
There is now a widespread shortage of childcare, and dozens of providers have had to close this year due to financial problems caused by the Problems with financing childcare.
“This tax credit plan does not help the access issues. The crisis is here,” said Melissa Colagrasso, who runs A Place to Grow, a child care center in Oak Hill, West Virginia.
“Two more daycare centers announced their closure today. By 2024, 65 providers will have closed, and that will continue.”
She continued: “For [Justice] to stand up proudly and say, “I solved the problem,” no, he didn’t. I’m not against tax credits, but that doesn’t solve the child care problem.”
This is what the tax allowance for childcare and nursing care could look like
Justice’s previously published plan for a tax allowance for children and those in need of care a state tax credit equal to 50% of the allowable federal tax credit for children and dependents.
A Justice spokesperson did not respond when asked if the plan would be introduced during the special session in September. His administration had previously said it would benefit 16,000 West Virginia families by making child care more affordable for families.
For a family with an annual income of over $43,000, the tax credit is likely to be $300 for one child and $600 for two or more children.
Families with the lowest incomes – less than $15,000 – would receive the largest tax credit of about $1,000 if they have two children.
“The money would be helpful, but I don’t know to what extent,” said Persinger.
Del. Kayla Young said these low-income families likely would not qualify for a child tax credit because they rely instead on the federally subsidized child care program or cannot afford the upfront costs of child care.
“I find it hard to imagine that these folks would pay for child care because they would be eligible for the child care subsidy,” said Young, a Kanawha Democrat who has supported many of the House efforts to improve access to child care in West Virginia. “I’m not opposed to the child care tax credit, but I’m not sure it accomplishes what we need for families, providers or the workforce.”
According to a survey published on Thursday by MetroNews43% of respondents said access to child care is a major problem in West Virginia.
Del. Kathie Hess Crouse, R-Putnam, led A bipartisan group in the House of Representatives looked into the availability of child care. They said lawmakers are still waiting for a response from the governor’s office regarding specific plans for a tax credit.
” … But we also know it can only be a small part of a larger solution,” Hess Crouse wrote in an email. “I’m not opposed to reconsidering a child care tax credit, but that doesn’t help parents in rural areas who don’t have access to child care, nor does it help providers.”
“We all want to be sure we understand the real issues facing child care so that we can best understand how the legislature can aid within its capabilities… We have staff continuing to work together on this puzzle, which is much more convoluted than a day or two of special sessions.”
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Eric Tarr (Putnam Republican) told West Virginia Watch on Wednesday that passage of Justice’s child care tax credit plan would likely depend on the governor cutting spending elsewhere. Like Hess Crouse, he had not yet seen a plan from the governor.
Could lawmakers consider other child care bills?
West Virginia Needs A shortage of more than 20,000 childcare places and uncertainty about funding for the government’s childcare subsidy program have led to further closures this year.
Due to a change in federal rules, the state must now reimburse child care centers based on enrollment rather than attendance. The unfunded obligation left the state with a deficit of at least $34 million.
The Department of Human Services is currently using federal emergency funds to fill the gap, but the money could run out before the end of the year, possibly Thousands of children are taken away from the program.
The Colagrasso Child Care Center serves 150 families, many of whom receive child care subsidies provided the families are employed or enrolled in an educational program.
“If you run a business that is going to close in December, who can run a business like that?” Colagrasso asked. “We’re on the closing list. I’m counting the months. I personally am working very hard with a local task force, regardless of what the state is doing.”
Young hopes that the governor’s call for a special session will include a broad focus on child care so lawmakers can fund the subsidies entirely from surplus funds.
“We did not do it during the session, so we have to do it now,” she said, adding that the subsidy amount also needs to be increased to keep pace with the cost of running the centres.
It would also give legislators the opportunity to introduce other Bills focusing on childcareincluding the Governor’s Tax Credit The invoicethat the house not taken into account during the regular session.
“Then the Legislature will be free to set policy, because that’s our job – not really the governor’s. I would like to see all the bills our task force has been working on during the session completed,” Young said.
One The invoice would have provided for-profit and nonprofit companies with a tax credit for expenses related to operating existing company-owned or sponsored child care facilities. Multiple employers could jointly operate a facility and still be eligible for the tax credit.
The Justice Department is expected to announce further details of the special session next week.
Colagrasso hopes the call will bring more than just a tax credit. “His idea is not the only idea,” she said. “We are the workforce behind the workforce. If you want to improve the economy, you have to invest here. Invest in children and families.”
