While my kids are now in the days of after-school sports and band practice, I remember the difficulties of finding quality, affordable child care when they were young. My wife and I wanted to make sure our kids were safe and had opportunities for academic enrichment without breaking the bank.
That’s why I’m proud of the work Gov. Kelly and I have done to help Kansas parents access child care. In total, our administration has invested more than $270 million to support child care providers, including $100 million to ensure those facilities could remain open during the pandemic, and $160 million for child care businesses to use toward payroll expenses, costs of operations and potential losses. This June, Gov. Kelly announced over $50 million in appreciation bonuses for 23,000 of our child care providers across the state to honor their hard work and dedication to our kids.
Since taking office, Gov. Kelly has invested in early childhood initiatives unlike any governor in Kansas’ history. All in for Kansas Kids, a strategic plan and collaboration between state agencies, has provided a blueprint to increase opportunities for children and families to access reliable and affordable child care. Gov. Kelly and I expanded the Child Day Care Assistance Tax Credit that incentivized businesses to cover the costs of child care and early childhood education services to provide some relief for our workforce.
Just recently, our administration knocked down barriers for child care professionals to be hired faster by using digital fingerprinting to accelerate the licensing approval process. This ensures that bureaucratic red tape doesn’t get in the way of filling critical child care positions while also ensuring we are filling these roles with safe and reliable employees.
This new initiative allows providers to get to work as soon as possible and helps child care facilities attract and retain highly skilled employees.
As a parent, I advocate for increasing access to child care because I know the toll this cost can take on our families, and the benefits these programs have on our kids in the long term. As Kansas’ lieutenant governor and secretary of commerce, I advocate for increasing access to child care because I know we can’t have a robust workforce if we don’t have access to affordable, quality child care.
I’m proud of all our administration has been able to accomplish in such a short amount of time. That’s why I find it interesting that Katie Sawyer — Derek Schmidt’s mysterious, partisan political operative-turned running mate — has written an op-ed misleading Kansans about our dedication to and investments in child care.
By making these investments in child care, we are eliminating an unnecessary personal and financial stressor on our workforce to ensure Kansans can go to work, and it shows: under my and Gov. Kelly’s leadership, Kansas has seen the lowest unemployment rate in state history.
Gov. Kelly and I also know the toll high health care costs have on our workforce, particularly on our child care providers. Expanding Medicaid would directly help our child care providers who often fall into the coverage gap and are forced to fend for themselves for health care. Katie Sawyer failed to mention that in her op-ed, or the fact that she and Derek Schmidt oppose expanding Medicaid here in Kansas despite its popularity and necessity.
Increasing access to child care has been a top priority of Gov. Kelly and my administration, and will continue to be in our second term. Gov. Kelly and I know child care is a major economic driver in Kansas, and allows our workforce and employees to thrive. It’s no wonder why our campaign for re-election has been supported by teachers, parents and education advocacy organizations in such great numbers.
Katie Sawyer and Derek Schmidt can make whatever election-year promises they’d like, but in term two, Gov. Kelly and I will continue to make critical investments in child care and early childhood education that will provide enrichment opportunities for our kids, ease the burden on Kansas families and strengthen our workforce.
David Toland is the lieutenant governor and secretary of commerce.
