Business leaders, advocates for the poor warn of child care cliff without help from legislature
Hundreds of child care centers across North Carolina used federal pandemic-era aid to cover rising costs, rather than hike rates on families. But now Congress has shut down that funding. Hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid for child care centers across North Carolina is set to end on July 1, raising concerns that thousands of people may be forced to quit their jobs or reduce hours if they lose child care. The state government is urged to replace some or all of the federal money approved as part of a pandemic-era relief package. The North Carolina Chamber of Commerce plans to make a public push for the legislature to help replace this funding. Democratic state lawmakers believe the state has the money to fund this gap, but fear the Republican-led legislature isn't taking it seriously enough. Republican leaders have proposed spending hundreds of millions more this year, but they want to use it for the private school tuition voucher program. Despite a state budget already in place, it does not reflect the $1 billion surplus lawmakers could now spend, due to higher tax revenues in April.
Publié : il y a 10 mois par WRAL dans Business Politics
Hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid for child care centers across North Carolina will end come July 1 — raising concerns among business leaders, state lawmakers and advocates for the poor that thousands of people will be forced to quit their jobs, or scale back on hours, if they lose child care.
Hundreds of child care businesses are at risk of closing down, industry insiders and advocates say, unless the state government steps in to replace some or all of the federal money that was approved as part of a pandemic-era relief package. Congress didn’t renew the funding, which will now run out at the end of June.
On Wednesday, the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce, a powerful conservative business lobbying group, planned to make a public push calling for the legislature to help pick up the tab on at least some of the federal funding that's now running out.
Of the dozens of items listed on the chamber’s legislative agenda for this session, child care funding is the top issue.
Democratic state lawmakers say the state has the money to fund the gap and could do so as part of a new state budget, which begins on July 1. But they fear the Republican-led legislature isn’t taking the problem seriously enough.
Republican leaders have talked of spending hundreds of millions more this year — but they want to send it to the private school tuition voucher program. Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore have each identified that voucher funding as their top priority for this year’s legislative session. Democrats have denounced the expanded voucher program as a handout to wealthy families.
Some GOP leaders have also acknowledged the childcare funding issues, and have said it might be included in budget negotiations. But details are lacking.
There is a state budget already in place for the coming fiscal year. But it doesn’t reflect the $1 billion surplus lawmakers could now spend, since tax revenues in April were higher than expected.
Budget talks on how to spend that surplus now appear stalled, however, as the two chambers’ leaders engage in a rare public spat over their disagreements.
Berger has criticized Moore for wanting to dip into the state’s savings to spend more on “pork” projects — the baseball fields, new police cars and other types of projects that are supposed to be funded by local governments. Such spending is criticized by fiscal conservatives but can be a useful political tactic to garner support for GOP incumbents in an election year. Moore, meanwhile, has criticized Berger for not wanting to discuss the child care shortfalls, or extra raises for state employees.
A spokesperson for Berger, Randy Brechbiel, said in May that Berger remains skeptical of requests for the state to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on child care aid. "Childcare is an important issue, but legislative Democrats’ insistence that the state pick up the tab for the federal government is short-sighted," he said at the time.
Last year an early draft of the budget by Republicans in the state House proposed an extra $10 million on child care — a fraction of the $300 million industry advocates say will be needed starting this year. The funding was cut from the budget at some point during the secret negotiations between House and Senate leaders.
As for the new budget, Berger has indicated he’d be fine with not updating the budget at all, despite the $1 billion surplus. With inflation continuing to rise, and uncertainty lingering over future recessions, Berger told reporters in May, he wants to be cautious. “Our primary responsibility is to make sure that we can fund the things that we have already promised would be funded,” he said at the time.
Operators of child care centers say federal funding helps them compete on wages for employees. Without the funding. they'd many face the choice of cutting staff, slashing salaries, significantly increasing rates or shutting down.
In the Triangle, the typical family already pays about $16,000 a year for childcare, WRAL reported last year.
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, as new job growth has boomed and workers now have more options, wages in all industries have gone up. In 2019, federal data shows, the average child care worker in North Carolina was making $23,550 a year — the equivalent of $11.32 per hour in a 40-hour work week.
But even previously low wage jobs, such as those in fast food, now tend to offer better hourly rates. So child care wages grew by 25% between 2019 and last year. In 2023, the average child care worker made just under $30,000.
That 25% average raise from 2019 to 2023 is slightly higher than the 23% wage growth for North Carolina workers overall in that same period. The average North Carolina worker made $59,730 last year, up from $48,550 in 2019.