ASHLAND — A small group of women gathered in Freer Field’s community room on April 16, engaging in a conversation about a topic of great importance to them: child care.
Ohio Kids First hosted the meeting. The group exists to advocate for children aged 0-5. At Freer Field, the women present discussed a slew of child-care issues: a lack of access, cost barriers and the challenge of finding qualified caregivers.
“If you’re following politics at all, last week, (the budget) just finished, its House version came out and basically gutted everything,” said Rachel Selby, executive director of Ohio Kids First.
The group’s priorities for funding child care were reflected in Gov. DeWine’s budget proposal, first released on Feb. 3. The House passed its version of the budget April 9, with a 60-39 vote in favor. All yes votes came from Republicans.
Selby shared the group’s three funding priorities when it comes to child care during this year’s legislative session:
- Raising eligibility for state assistance for Publicly Funded Child Care and the Child Care Choice Program to 200% of the federal poverty level. Ohio only provides assistance to families up to 145% of the federal poverty level — the third lowest in the country.
- Providing a state child tax credit of $1,000 per child under age seven. Sixteen other states provide child tax credits, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
- Funding infant mortality and vitality efforts, as the infant mortality rate in Ohio is higher than the national average, at 7.1 per 1,000 live births. Gov. Mike DeWine’s budget proposed extended support for Help Me Grow, a program that “encourages early prenatal and well-baby care and provides parenting education to promote the comprehensive health and development of children.”
While those measures are no longer reflected in the state budget, they’re investments Selby says the state needs.
The state of child care
Ali Smith, an operations specialist with Policy Matters Ohio, researches child care for the nonprofit. It’s a job she’s done for three years.
She said she often thinks of child care as a three-legged stool: It has to work for parents, providers and children.
If any of the stool’s legs aren’t sturdy, the stool can’t stand.
Smith said in Ohio, two of that stool’s legs aren’t particularly functional. The cost of child care for parents is “sky high.” Providers are operating on razor-thin budgets, and often can’t offer livable wages to their employees.
“Through my research, the main thing I have seen is a real chronic lack of state investment in the sector,” Smith said.
The result? In Smith’s words, it’s a crisis that keeps deepening.
The research Policy Matters Ohio has conducted on the topic backs Smith’s assessment.
What are the struggles?
Policy Matters Ohio put out a report about Ohio’s childcare crisis for 2025. It outlined challenges with child care affordability and accessibility for parents.
On the provider side, the number of workers in the field dropped between 2017-2023. The average pay for those workers is low — $13.44 an hour — and places them below the poverty line.
Selby framed child care as an issue predominantly impacting women when she spoke at Freer Field.
The lack of quality, affordable child care negatively impacts the state’s workforce as women step out of it to take care of their children. The struggles of child care workers who aren’t paid livable wages negatively impact the majority-women workforce holding up that sector, too.
More specific child care challenges differ from community to community, according to Amy Hiner and Amy Goyal, the chair and vice chair of the Richland County Foundation Women’s Fund, respectively.
“I think when you talk about solutions, it’s interesting because local communities will respond based on the local needs, right?” Goyal said. “So no one else is doing it exactly the same way, and I think that’s the beauty of it, because you can learn from one another…”
For example, in Richland County, the pair said issues with access and affordability still exist. But, they also identified child care employee recruitment and retention as one gap locally that they hope to work on.
The bottom line for Smith, Hiner, Goyal and Selby: The state needs to make greater investments in child care.
From a legislative perspective
State Rep. Melanie Miller represents Ashland County and part of Medina at the state House. She is in her second term as a legislator, and women’s issues are a focus for her.
She sees the lack of quality, affordable child care as a workforce issue, too.
Miller said there can be a lot of pressure on women to return to the workforce after having a child, but she thinks it’s important to acknowledge that some women may not want to go back to work.
They might want to stay home, but the state budget doesn’t currently provide funding for that option.
She also said she appreciates the idea that, for those who don’t want to stay home, there’s affordable and quality child care options.
“There’s no question that we need good child care, absolutely,” Miller said.
But negotiating the state budget is a process of give-and-take. The governor’s proposal is a “pie in the sky” version of funding.
Miller said the legislature’s job is to maintain fiscal responsibility, while also trying to strike the right balance of funding priorities.
Those funding priorities include a myriad of issues. Child care is among them — but it doesn’t necessarily top all legislators’ lists.
As the budget went through the House, the House Finance committee formed subcommittees to hear testimony on several budget provisions. Miller said she sat on the Children and Human Services subcommittee, which does highlight child care.
The state House agrees that high-quality, affordable child care is a need, Miller said. It’s the solutions they’re prioritizing that differ.
What was left out of the House’s budget, and what’s in it?
The House’s version of the budget leaves Publicly Funded Child Care eligibility at the current 145% of the federal poverty level, according to analysis from the Legislative Services Commission. It also took out DeWine’s proposal of a $1,000 child tax credit in Ohio.
It proposes funding other child care solutions. For one, it establishes the Child Care Choice Voucher Program under the state’s Department of Children and Youth. That program provides vouchers to those who don’t qualify for Publicly Funded Child Care, up to 200% of the federal poverty level.
The House’s budget also included a Child Care Cred Program, which would split the cost of child care between a participating employer, an employee and the state. The employer and employee would each pay 40%, while the state contributes 20% of the cost of child care.
Other states have passed similar legislation. Michigan first passed a Tri-Share pilot program in 2021. It expanded in 2024. North Carolina legislators also approved a bill establishing a Tri-Share pilot program in 2023.
Smith, with Policy Matters Ohio, said those programs haven’t had the strongest results.
Miller explained the state’s budget must go through several steps to get to its final version. Since it passed the House on April 9, the budget currently sits with the state Senate.
The bill’s first hearings in Senate committees begin this week. After the Senate approves a version of the bill, a conference committee of state senators and representatives forms. That committee comes up with a final version of the budget, including feedback from both legislative chambers.
Then, the governor signs.
The governor must sign the budget before July 1, the start of the new fiscal year. Once signed, a new budget remains in effect for a two-year period.
Other bills aim to help
The budget isn’t the only proposed legislation aiming to address the state’s child care crisis.
One bill several advocates have pointed to as promising is a bill that would provide free child care for child care workers.
Ohio’s Senate Bill 177 is being sponsored by Sen. Louis W. Blessing, III (R-Colerain Township) and Sen. Jane M. Timken (R-Jackson Township). The bill has been introduced in the Senate.
Kentucky also implemented a similar measure in 2022. Kentucky’s Child Care Assistance Program gives employees of licensed child care centers or family child care homes automatic eligibility for child care subsidies. They must work 20 hours or more per week to be eligible, but there are no income requirements.
According to Smith, Kentucky’s program has proven a promising solution to the problem of child care availability. The bill addresses the shortage of child care employees. By keeping child care workers in the field, more spots open for other peoples’ children, Smith said.
Her organization estimates the implementation of Senate Bill 177 — if it passes — could open between 6,000 and 18,000 new child care slots in Ohio.
