New group launches campaign for more Nebraska childcare subsidies

A new coalition including business groups, childcare providers and parents is launching a campaign to increase state subsidies for childcare.

Parents have trouble finding affordable childcare. Providers find it hard to keep employees with low pay. And businesses find it hard to attract and keep employees without affordable childcare.

Those are among messages from a new group called Child Care Can, which launched a campaign Monday aimed at increasing state subsidies for childcare.

Jessica Pallas of Stromsburg described the challenge she and her husband, Cale, faced in finding appropriate childcare for their twins, linking it to the challenges Nebraska faces in keeping young people from leaving the state.

“If we want young people to come back to Nebraska, urban or rural, to work here, to raise their children here, and to become a part of our communities, they need childcare options that actually work for their families,” Pallas said.

“Parents need choices, care that fits their schedules, that they can afford, that is consistent, and most importantly… care where they feel good about leaving their children every single day,” she added.

Quentin Brown, executive director of Educare Lincoln, which provides early childhood education, said the economics of childcare pose a problem statewide.

“Across Nebraska, the problem is fundamentally the same: providers cannot afford to earn less, and families cannot afford to pay more. Simply put, there isn't enough room between those two realities to sustain the childcare system that we need,” Brown said.

Mike Cassling, chair of CQuence Health of Omaha, a strategic advisor to healthcare companies and a member of the AkSarBen Foundation board, said Nebraska businesses are paying a cost for the lack of childcare. He said that cost includes lost labor, productivity and economic opportunity.

“Nebraska's business community cannot solve this… childcare problem alone. We absolutely want to be involved. We want to be part of the solution with everybody working together.”

That solution should include “New significant recurring public investment,” according to campaign organizers. Campaign Manager Elizabeth Everett acknowledged the state faces a budget gap, estimated at more than $200 million this fiscal year, and more than $800 million in the next two-year budget period. But Everett said making more affordable childcare available could actually help.

“I do think that childcare is part of the budget solution. So when we're talking about the gap, I think part of it is the fact that we don't have enough workforce here. Our companies are not growing. Our communities are not growing, and childcare can support that,” she said.

Everett said the campaign will be a multi-year effort that could start with an attempt to expand existing childcare tax credits next year. In its last session, the Legislature approved income tax credits of $2,000 for families with incomes up to $75,000, and $1,000 for those with incomes between $75,000 and $150,000.

Everett said nearly 11,000 applications were received for the program, which would have cost almost $23 million. So not all applicants were approved, and the program’s $15 million limit was reached in only four days.

She said the campaign was still determining what would be a realistic additional amount to seek in the upcoming legislative session. For the longer term, she said, advocates want to find a reliable source of ongoing funding, although she could not say what that might be.

Monday’s announcement was held in the Grand Ballroom of Lincoln’s Cornhusker Marriott Hotel, and included a lunch for more than 200 guests, at a cost of about $11,000, organizers said. A giant screen displayed the names of dozens of organizations supporting the campaign, including influential lobbying groups ranging from business groups like the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry to Nebraska Appleseed, whose work includes advocacy for low-income Nebraskans.