(The Center Square) – State Sen. Brian Strickland said he hopes the Legislature will make “substantial policy moves in the coming years” to address child care issues for Georgia families.
Stickland, a Republican, is chairman of the Senate Study Committee on Access to Affordable Childcare that met Monday to hear from various child care leaders, nonprofit associations, and education partners on the different ways that child care can be made more affordable and accessible throughout the state.
“Hopefully, what we are doing and what we have done, has started a very serious conversation about this with our friends up here at the state capital,” Strickland said. “We all know how important this is for our state, along with the families in our state and for our workers in our state.”
Legislation to fund the committee was first passed in February by the Senate to study the “conditions, needs, issues, and problems” related to “the struggle to find affordable child care options, both for preschool and school-aged children.” It was passed overwhelmingly, with only three nay votes.
According to the legislation, the “COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this problem,” causing both child care centers to close and costs to go up for families.
The Georgia Lottery, begun in 1992 and helping fund education and child care programs, presented at the meeting. It reported that in the last fiscal year it allocated $1.49 billion toward those programs.
“Every day, we go to work, for the bottom line reason of our beneficiaries,” said Gretchen Corbin, CEO and president of the lottery. “We sell lottery tickets, to send profits to the state of Georgia, for the governor and you to allocate to education.”
In the last decade, Corbin said that the lottery has raised $28.7 billion for educational programs.
This was “our ninth consecutive year for $1 billion in returns,” Corbin said. “Our lottery is one of the strongest lotteries, not just in the nation, but throughout the world.”
Strickland said the lottery helps address child care issues in the state by providing funding to pre-K programs.
“A big part of affordable child care is our pre-K system,” Strickland said. “It’s also a big part of child care for young families, young working families.”
Many speakers presented on the need for more state-funding to help families, especially those that are low income.
“If the Legislature can get it done, it would mean a generational investment in child care and really the type of investment that the state requires to meet the need,” said Ife Finch Floyd, of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.
The institute, a nonprofit, recommended a “substantial investment” from the state.
“This could be a one-time investment that could have a lasting impact on Georgia’s children, families, and economy,” Floyd said.
Buzz Brockway, vice president of policy for Georgia’s Center for Opportunity, warned that additional funding should come with an overhaul to the current child care subsidies. Without an overhaul, both work and marriage could be disincentivized by an additional investment into Childcare and Parent Services, Brockway said.
“The very purpose of the program is to encourage work,” Brockway said. “Ironically, CAPS represents the largest challenge to solve the safety-net programs in terms of limiting their upward mobility and discouraging marriage.”
Going forward, the seven-member committee will meet again to discuss recommendations to pass along to the rest of the Legislature, likely prior to Christmas. The committee will be officially disbanded on Dec. 15.
