How Gov. Kim Reynolds plans to tackle child care access in Iowa

DES MOINES — Child care providers and education groups this week applauded but also shared some reservation over Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposal to help preschool providers partner with child care centers to provide full-day care.

The governor’s legislative proposal aimed at increasing child care access in the state advanced through subcommittees in both the House and Senate on Wednesday.

Senate Study Bill 1135 and House File 145 would launch a new $16 million grant program to provide three-year grants of up to $100,000 to preschool providers — typically school districts — and child care providers to provide wraparound services for working families.

In 2022-23, Iowa served 67 percent of its 4-year-olds in state-funded preschool, ranking near the top of the nation for access. While preschool is widely available, some working parents cannot participate if it covers only a portion of the day and requires them to leave work.

“While preschool is widely available, some working families cannot participate if the program only covers a portion of the day or would require midday transportation to child care,” said Molly Severn, legislative liaison for the governor’s office. “Parents need a solution that meets the demands of their busy lives, one that allows their children to benefit from our successful preschool program and have access to child care in order to preserve our state's child care infrastructure and leverage existing capacity.”

Funds could be used to defray the cost of transportation to bring children from school to child care, or vice versa. They also could pay for a preschool teacher at a local child care center, or for child care staff at a preschool.

The grants would use a combination of existing Early Childhood Iowa (ECI) funding and federal wraparound child care funds. The bill also would shift roughly $3.6 million in existing state grant funds used to assist child development programs and school districts serve at-risk children ages 3 to 5, to focus specifically on preschool grants.

Elizabeth Stanek, president of the Association for Early Childhood Iowa Area Boards and Advocates, said while the grants would benefit Iowa communities, they would do so my diverting a large share — roughly 42 percent — of existing ECI funds currently supporting many other initiatives supporting children birth to age 5.

“Taking those out for the broader population will definitely have an impact locally on what is provided, such things as infant and early childhood mental health services, 3-year-old preschool,” and more, Stanek told lawmakers. “Early childhood doesn’t begin at 4, it begins at birth.”

Kelly Garcia, director of the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, said the existing state dollars that would be directed to the new grant program already are directed to child care today.

Bill would consolidate early childhood boards from 38 to seven

Stanek and representatives from United Way of Iowa and Iowa Head Start Association also expressed concerns with a provision in the bill that would consolidate the state’s 38 ECI area boards into seven aligned to Iowa’s new behavioral health regions.

“Early childhood Iowa was really designed to maintain a local voice to create community-based solutions to address early care and education for young children,” said Kelli Soyer, president and CEO of United Ways of Iowa. “So really the shrinking number of ECI area boards could diminish this opportunity to create a system that truly knows what is best for folks in their local communities.”

The measure also proposes allowing community-based providers to receive funds directly through the statewide preschool program instead of contracting with public school districts.

Representatives for the Iowa Association of School Boards, School Administrators of Iowa and other education advocates also raised concerns that child care providers receiving grant funds through the statewide preschool program are held to the same educational and licensing standards as public school providers.

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Iowa Department of Education Director McKenzie Snow said allowing providers to directly work with the Department of Education for funding would not change the program’s professional and licensing requirements.

“Regardless of which pathway is chosen, there will be consistent standards, including licensing requirements, across all statewide voluntary school program providers,” Snow said.

Proposal praised for helping more Iowans ‘enter the labor force’

Reynolds’ bill would also make permanent a child care assistance pilot program that provides free child care to child care workers. The provision was unanimously praised by business and advocacy groups to attract and retain child care workers.

“More access to child care that there is, particularly in rural parts of Iowa, the more opportunity individuals will be able to have to enter the labor force, enter the workforce,” said Joe Murphy, with the Iowa Business Council. “And so we view this as a positive first step.”

Child care and education advocates also urged raising the income threshold to make more Iowa families eligible for child care assistance, and funding full-day preschool through public schools.

“In addition to these options, it just gives these working parents more options. As most of us in this room know, transportation is a huge barrier to access for preschool, so this continuum of care does address that,” Michelle Johnson, a lobbyist representing the Iowa Association of School Boards, told lawmakers. “We also think a full day program through a public school would accomplish the same thing.”

Sen. Tom Shipley, a Republican from Nodaway, said the bill was still a “work in progress” and changes will be made as the bill progresses through the legislative process.

“I’ve seen these things come and go before,” Shipley said. “Anything this size and this important needs to keep being worked on, to address what these people, the everyday people, understand needs to happen. But I think we’re on an awfully good path.”

Rep. Tracy Ehlert, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids and an early childhood educator, emphasized the need for new funding rather than reallocating from current programs.

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“If we're going to expand preschool and child care, we can't take away their supports,” Ehlert told The Gazette. “Some of it supports families. And I just, I'd feel more comfortable having a list to see who are we taking (money) away from to fund this. It really just should be new dollars invested into us. But overall, I like the idea, and especially expanding the (child care assistance) pilot to be permanent.”

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