Advocates for working families say the child-care crisis is undermining the stability of many households in Ohio.

At this week's meeting of the Ohio Children's Legislative Caucus this week, Chelsea Kiene, director of communications and stakeholder engagement for the group Groundwork Ohio, shared polling that confirmed that child-care challenges have disrupted the jobs of one in three working parents, affecting their workplace attendance and performance. Among those with kids age 5 and younger, Kiene said one in four parents had to cut back on work hours to care for them.

"If the pandemic of the last two years has been a tipping point, then the omicron variant of the past month has really been a breaking point," she said, "especially for parents of children under the age of 5 who aren't in school and aren't able to get vaccinated."

In the poll, 80% of Ohio voters said child care is expensive in their community. Currently, center-based infant care is roughly $10,000 a year, 43% of a single parent's income.

Availability is another challenge. Last year, one in eight child-care jobs was lost in the pandemic.

Lois Rosenberry, president of Children's Discovery Center, with six locations in northwest Ohio, said they've had to turn families away because of severe staffing shortages. Rosenberry said some end up not returning to work, while others juggle telecommuting and caregiving.

"When parents can't find child care and work from home," she said, "many times these young children are losing years by not being stimulated with age-appropriate activities that provide the foundation for learning and later success in life."

Ohio lawmakers appropriated more than $700 million from the American Rescue Plan, specifically to stabilize the child-care system, which Kiene contended is just a start. Beyond today's workforce, she said, longer-term investments are needed in the future.

"Children, when they are in quality early-learning settings, they are more prepared for kindergarten, which is the biggest predictors in how they perform," she said, "not just throughout their academic careers and their post-secondary attainment, but also how they do in their careers and in life."

It's estimated that child-care challenges cost Ohio's economy $1.7 billion a year.

Some 45 day care centers in Minnesota temporary closed their doors early this week to highlight the ongoing child care crisis. Advocates said the patchwork of support is not doing much to help families struggling with cost and access.

Dozens of centers took part in the "Day Without Child Care" events, with some halting services Monday and others today.

Justine Olson, a health care worker in the Duluth area, said securing care for her 7-month-old son has been a struggle. Her site is one that briefly closed and she hopes people realize how much of a problem it is for working households.

"I can only dole out so many thousands (of dollars) each month, and child care is obviously one of those thousands," Olson pointed out. "It's kind of a Catch 22 right now. You want to go to work, but also, you can't bring your kid to work."

Responding to the crisis is seen as a bipartisan issue and states like Minnesota have invested funding to help close gaps. But advocates said concerns like low wages for child care workers continue to keep the service out of reach. Federal funding freezes under the Trump administration have further complicated the issue, as parents and centers monitor the fate of subsidies.

The coalition behind the Minnesota events acknowledged the state Legislature is looking to hold the line on spending this session.

Lydia Boerboom, lead organizer for the Kids Count on Us coalition, said it cannot be just about avoiding budget cuts but rather, finding some room to boost aid, so a vital resource does not collapse.

"Child care is not just something that is nice to have," Boerboom asserted. "It's actually a really critical service and need for all of our families, our economy."

She added at least six child care centers in Minnesota were forced to close in the past year.

Even with the challenge getting more attention in recent years, Olson feels the strain the child care sector is under still is not "top-of-mind" among policymakers or the public.

"I think it should be viewed more as like a service to our country," Olson suggested. "Kind of like the Postal Service or the police force. They're not really expected to make money, they're expected to make our society functional."

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has signed House Bill 267 into law, a controversial measure that takes away the collective bargaining rights of public employee unions.

Many union workers voiced their concerns and urged Cox to veto the bill, which they contend would damage unions.

But the bill's sponsor, state Rep. Jordan Teuscher - R-South Jordan, said he heard from many teachers and other public sector workers in the right-to-work state, who weren't part of a union and felt they didn't have a voice.

He said now, the bill will allow them to negotiate their own employment terms.

"Teachers talked about where they had an idea, a change that they wanted - in insurance is an example," said Teuscher, "and they went to the administration to ask them about that and the administration said, 'Well, you're going to have to go talk to the union about it.' And so they'd go to the union to talk about it and the union says 'well, you're not a member, we don't really care what you think.'"

Teuscher contended the law will make public employers' wages and benefits more competitive.

He added that employers will continue to "value and listen to the priorities" of union leaders, as they'll still represent a significant portion of workers.

In a statement, the Utah Education Association - a union which represents 18,000 public school teachers - said they're not letting the "setback" stop them, and said this moment reinforces the importance of unions.

While lawmakers considered a compromise, they couldn't reach an alternative.

In a statement Cox said, "Utah has long been known as a state that can work together to solve difficult issues. I'm disappointed that in this case, the process did not ultimately deliver the compromise that at one point was on the table and that some stakeholders had accepted."

Teuscher argued that no one worked harder than he did to reach that compromise.

"I met daily, multiple times a day with different union leaders," said Teuscher, "to try to get to the end of the road, something that the Senate could be comfortable with and the House could be comfortable with that was short of the ban."

Teuscher contended public employees that like their unions are going to continue being members and have unions advocate on their behalf.

But labor groups fear if public entities were resistant to listening to concerns before, now they likely won't listen to a single employee.




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Connecticut union organizers are working to get pension plans for paraeducators.

In recent years, they have won a flurry of benefits from organizing but getting a pension plan has not been easy, since a General Assembly bill to create one has not made it through the Appropriations Committee in three years.

Michael Barry, campaign coordinator for the Connecticut Coalition for Retirement Security, pointed out most paraeducators have to work second jobs to afford everyday life, so their salaries make it hard to save for retirement.

"You can't put money into a 401(k) when you're barely making ends meet and paying your rent and keeping the car going," Barry emphasized. "Connecticut is like most places in New York, you really need a car. So, that's a whole other expense."

A 2021 Connecticut Paraeducator Advisory Council study found most paraeducators make less than $19 an hour and one in five makes $13 to $16 an hour. The state is already grappling with a shortage of teachers and aides.

A Connecticut Education Association survey last year found 69% of school districts reporting job openings for paraeducators.

Another way to help paraeducators would be to raise the minimum wage, more than it was already increased this year. The latest ALICE update shows the number of "asset-limited, income-constrained, employed" families grew 13% in 2022, the largest jump in a decade.

Barry argued creating a living wage would be beneficial.

"Rents are outrageous now. You know, rent, utilities are bad," Barry outlined. "Eversource keeps raising rates and it's just terrible. You know, just being able to survive, you need to be making a decent amount of money."

Connecticut's minimum wage is a little over $16 an hour, or an annual income of around $34,000. ALICE data found 38% of teachers' aides were living below the ALICE threshold.