New governor, same priority of expanding access to affordable child care

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The State of Missouri continues to experience a child care crisis, but the governor-elect said he will make finding a solution a priority.

According to Missouri's business community, the state is losing out on more than a billion dollars due to a lack of child care. Of Missouri's 114 counties, 94 of them are in a child care desert, causing employees to leave voluntarily to take care of their kids.

Over the summer, Gov. Mike Parson said it's a problem the next governor will have to deal with.

"I won't be here next year, but these legislators will, and it has to be a priority of the state of Missouri to be able to take care of our kids," Parson said in July.

Over the course of two years, the state has lost 1,100 child care providers, leaving some counties without a facility.

"We know as a state we lose out on over $1.35 billion annually because of child care shortages," Missouri Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Kara Corches said. "If a parent cannot go to work, whether it's just for the day that their child care provider doesn't have enough teachers to be able to keep the rooms open, they can't go to work; they don't earn wages. You pay taxes on wages, so that is a direct loss to the state."

For the second year in a row, the General Assembly failed to pass tax credits to help businesses, families, and child care providers. Many blame it on the infighting in the Senate, but Governor-Elect Mike Kehoe said it's important to him to expand access to affordable child care.

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"I tell people it's a personal issue to me," Kehoe said. "My mother is a single mother and I can tell you first hand what it means when a mom has to decide whether to stay home and not make enough money to buy groceries or go to the store and leave her child at home."

Corches said child care tax credits will be the organization's top priority in the upcoming legislative session which starts in January.

"Other states are trying to tackle this and it's important, if we want to keep families in Missouri, we want to keep businesses in Missouri, we have to comprehensively address our child care crisis," Corches said.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) said its also putting the issue top of mind.

"We've got to find affordable, high-quality opportunities for that population of kids," DESE Commissioner Karla Eslinger said. "Not only for the benefit of the kids, because we know what happens in a high quality program, but for families, for the communities."

Back in August, voters rejected a constitutional amendment, known as Amendment 1, to exempt child care facilities from paying property taxes.

As for providers, within the budget this year, there is money to $54.8 million for child care subsidy rates and $26 million for private child care providers to offer prekindergarten programs to students qualifying for free and reduced lunch.