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Different paths to tackling child care charted by Iowa Democrats, Republicans
Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds wants preschools and child care centers to work together; House Democrats want to expand assistance and tax credits
Feb. 26, 2025 3:51 pm, Updated: Feb. 27, 2025 7:41 am
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DES MOINES — With nearly a quarter of Iowans living in child care deserts — where the demand for child care far outweighs available options — state lawmakers in both major political parties are trying to develop policies that would increase child care access.
But their approaches, thus far, vary greatly.
Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds has proposed what she calls a continuum of care. Her proposal would help preschool providers partner with child care centers to provide full-day care.
Democratic lawmakers in the Iowa House this week unveiled their own plan, which would expand tax credits and child care assistance eligibility, and create a grant program to raise child care workers’ wages.
Reynolds’ proposal was advanced this week in the Iowa Legislature. Her bill was approved by majority-party Republicans in a House subcommittee and committee and in a Senate committee. It is now eligible to be debated in the full House and Senate.
“Iowa parents have more preschool options than ever before, but for many, availability is not the issue. Working parents need a solution that meets the demands of their busy lives — one that allows their children to benefit from our successful preschool programs and have access to child care,” Reynolds said this week in a statement after the bill advanced. “Incentivizing successful partnerships between preschools and child care providers is the best way to ensure children are receiving a full day of high-quality care.”
As their party is in the minority in both chambers of the Legislature, the Democratic proposal has little chance of becoming law. House Democrats introduced their proposal during a news conference this week.
“We know a lot of Iowa families are paying a lot more for child care than housing and college tuition. This problem is out of control,” said Rep. Jennifer Konfrst, a Democrat from Windsor Heights and leader of House Democrats. “The Legislature has tried to do a few things over the years. The days for small, incremental change are over. We need to actually take bold steps to truly impact child care affordability.”
Iowa’s child care statistics
Twenty-three percent of Iowans live in a child care desert, according to the liberal-leaning think tank Center for American Progress. That is the second-lowest rate in the nation, higher only than the 22 percent in Maine, according to the center.
The highest child care desert rates are in Utah (77 percent), Nevada (72 percent) and Hawaii (68 percent), according to the report. The median U.S. rate is 48 percent.
The report defines a child care desert as any area with more than 50 children under the age of 5 that contains either no child care providers or where there are more than three times as many children as licensed child care slots.
Of the Iowa families living in child care deserts, 35 percent of them live in rural areas, according to the report.
The average annual cost of child care in Iowa is roughly $8,300 in a registered home and $11,100 in a licensed center, according to Iowa Child Care Resource and Referral, a program that supports quality child care throughout the state and helps providers comply with regulations.
An Iowa family earning the state’s median income with an infant in child care would devote 10 percent of their income before taxes on child care in a registered home or 15 percent of their income for child care in a licensed center, according to the program. Seven percent is considered affordable by a 2019 study from Child Care Aware of America.
What Reynolds’ proposal does
Reynolds raised the topic of child care access in January during her Condition of the State address to the Legislature and introduced a bill earlier this month. Her proposal appears in matching bills in both chambers: House Study Bill 145 and Senate File 445.
Reynolds’ proposal would launch a $16 million 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.
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 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 serving at-risk children ages 3 to 5 to focus specifically on preschool grants.
“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,” Molly Severn, legislative liaison for the governor’s office, said during a legislative hearing earlier this month on the governor’s proposal. “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.”
Democratic lawmakers have expressed concern with the governor’s proposal, particularly that it relies on existing funding for other programs that would be shifted.
What House Democrats’ proposal does
House Democrats’ proposal — which has been drafted but as of Wednesday had not yet assigned a bill number — has four main pieces. It would:
- Increase eligibility for the state’s child care financial assistance program from 160 percent of the federal poverty level to 250 percent — $66,625 for a family of three or $80,375 for a family of four — and reduce the number of work hours required to be eligible for assistance from 32 to 28.
- Increase the state child and dependent tax credit to match the federal tax credit and remove the $90,000 income limit on the credit. The move would cost the state $45 to $50 million annually, according to state revenue department projections provided by House Democrats.
- Provide a small business child care tax credit of up to $3,000 per employee for employers that provide child care employee benefits. The tax credit would be targeted to small businesses with fewer than 20 employees and be capped at $2 million annually and issued on a first-come, first-served basis.
- Create a state-funded matching grant program to boost child care workers’ wages and benefits. The grants would be funded by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services.
The House Democrats’ bill was introduced by Rep. Tracy Ehlert, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids who has worked in early childhood education for nearly 20 years.
“In that time, the issues have remained the same. Child care became more unaffordable for families. It’s been harder for them to find, especially, high quality (child care),” Ehlert said during the news conference. “And during that time, I’ve also seen many early childhood educators leave the profession due to the high-demand jobs with inadequate compensation. So the Iowa House Democrats have a plan to address these issues.”
Tom Barton of The Gazette Des Moines Bureau contributed to this report.
Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com
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