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State Breakdown: The Biden-Harris Administration’s Funding Request Would Help Prevent Families Across the Country from Losing Child Care [1]
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Date: 2023-11-02
White House urges Congress to provide an additional year of child care stabilization funding to support child care providers serving 10 million kids across the country
The Biden-Harris Administration is delivering on its promises – lowering costs for families, protecting American lives from the devastating impacts of challenges like the climate crisis and the opioid epidemic, and ensuring America can compete to win in the global marketplace. At the same time, additional resources are needed to meet the needs of the American people, support our communities, and protect our nation and its interests.
Child care is critical for women to participate fully in the economy and for children to get a strong start. Yet child care costs too much and pays workers too little. Without American Rescue Plan (ARP) investments in child care, the child care sector would have weakened much further. As ARP funds dry up, the sector urgently needs more support as parents are at serious risk of paying more or losing access to care altogether. This is why the President recently requested $16 billion in supplemental funding to sustain the child care sector. This funding request would support more than 220,000 child care providers across the country that serve a total of more than 10 million kids.
Here’s what the Administration’s $16 billion funding request to help prevent families from losing child care would mean for all 50 states and the District of Columbia:
State Estimated funding provided by request
$ in millions Estimated breakdown of
more than 220,000 providers served
Estimated breakdown of
more than 10 million kids served by providers Alabama 306 1,770 101,100 Alaska 31 460 17,400 Arizona 382 2,950 250,900 Arkansas 214 2,690 243,800 California 1,574 50,115 723,700 Colorado 183 3,860 313,000 Connecticut 107 2,580 104,900 Delaware 46 850 44,500 District of Columbia 31 440 22,800 Florida 917 9,090 870,300 Georgia 657 4,160 352,500 Hawaii 61 680 31,400 Idaho 92 1,010 51,000 Illinois 489 7,300 332,600 Indiana 351 3,270 157,100 Iowa 153 2,160 73,900 Kansas 138 4,130 127,600 Kentucky 290 1,730 126,000 Louisiana 290 2,360 171,000 Maine 46 1,530 47,200 Maryland 199 5,900 172,800 Massachusetts 214 6,550 203,300 Michigan 443 6,400 286,600 Minnesota 214 8,640 222,000 Mississippi 199 1,110 86,500 Missouri 321 1,550 93,200 Montana 46 1,110 28,000 Nebraska 92 2,270 103,700 Nevada 138 960 102,300 New Hampshire 31 320 27,900 New Jersey 306 4,420 353,700 New Mexico 138 1,100 51,600 New York 749 15,460 676,100 North Carolina 489 4,500 393,500 North Dakota 31 1,130 39,000 Ohio 565 6,260 401,600 Oklahoma 260 2,960 116,300 Oregon 153 3,240 82,400 Pennsylvania 504 7,000 375,900 Rhode Island 31 1,010 51,700 South Carolina 290 1,920 152,500 South Dakota 46 710 42,500 Tennessee 443 3,050 226,200 Texas 1,788 10,760 833,400 Utah 199 1,580 86,500 Vermont 15 970 29,700 Virginia 321 4,980 317,600 Washington 244 6,850 183,700 West Virginia 107 1,630 61,500 Wisconsin 229 7,900 319,600 Wyoming 15 470 17,700 *This data assumes funds go to the same number of child care providers as the American Rescue Plan Stabilization funds.
Investments in High-Quality, Affordable Child Care Will Support Women’s Economic Security, Children, and Equity.
Today Child Care Costs Too Much, Yet Child Care Workers Are Paid Too Little. Without more public support, child care providers charge more than many families can pay. At the same time, child care workers are paid too little for their own security or stability. In 2022, the national average price of child care was more than $10,800, and in 32 states, the annual average child care cost for an infant exceeded the average in-state tuition and fees at a public 4-year university. While there is significant national variation, median child care prices for one child can range as high as 19% of median family income, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. A Treasury study noted that difficulty in finding affordable child care leads some parents to reduce their work hours, turn down promotions, or drop out of the labor force entirely, with lasting negative effects on women’s earnings.
Despite these high prices, child care providers operate on thin margins and child care workers receive very low wages – a median of $13.71 per hour. This leaves workers without the dignity and security they deserve – and leads to instability in the workforce and lower quality of care.
Without Pandemic Funding, the Child Care Sector Would Have Spiraled Downward. Even before the pandemic, the number of licensed center-based child care providers dropped by about 15 percent between 2012 and 2019. During the pandemic, the number would have plummeted further but for the ARP, which provided $24 billion to help more than 220,000 child care providers stay open or re-open so that the parents of nearly 10 million children could get to work. One in three providers reported they would have closed permanently without these funds. Over 97% of rural counties received aid in most states. Child care also strengthened families’ economic recovery: The President’s Council of Economic Advisers found that mothers’ employment recovered more quickly in areas with greater child care capacity supported by ARP child care stabilization grants.
More Funding Is Needed Now So Parents Do Not Lose Child Care. Failure to sustain Congress’ child care investments threatens to drive providers out of business, increase their charges, or both. For families, this would mean higher out-of-pocket costs, fewer options for care, and more women leaving the workforce. This is why the President has called on Congress to provide $16 billion to extend the child care stabilization program, which will help child care providers stay afloat, allow parents to continue working and earning, and keep children in quality care. The White House has assembled an estimated state-by-state breakdown, which highlights the funding each state would stand to receive, the providers funding could reach, and the children who could benefit with the additional year of child care stabilization funding.
The $16 Billion Proposal Builds on the President’s Deep Commitment to Child Care. The President has consistently prioritized lowering child care costs for families and boosting wages for child care workers. In the President’s FY2024 Budget, he called for $400 billion over ten years to increase child care worker pay and to limit child care costs so that most families pay no more than $10 a day for child care. The President also signed a historic Executive Order in April directing nearly every Cabinet-level agency to expand access to affordable, high-quality care and provide increased support for care workers and family caregivers. Agencies have already taken action to implement the President’s directives, including proposing to cap co-payments for 80,000 families benefiting from federal child care assistance. In July the White House hosted a first-of-its-kind convening on child care, gathering nearly 100 state legislators from across the country to discuss ways to improve child care governance, access, affordability, and the workforce. Senior staff have been meeting with parents from across the country on the need for high-quality affordable child care.
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[1] Url:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/briefing-room/2023/11/02/state-breakdown-the-biden-harris-administrations-funding-request-would-help-prevent-families-across-the-country-from-losing-child-care/
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