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A bill for an act relating to early childhood education and care, including by modifying provisions related to the statewide preschool program, the child development coordinating council, programs for at-risk children, the responsibilities of the department of education, the early childhood Iowa initiative, and the state child care assistance program, and establishing the child care continuum partnership grants pilot program within the department of health and human services.(See SF 445.)
Subcommittee members: Evans-CH, Shipley, Zimmer
Date: Wednesday, February 19, 2025
Time: 1:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Location: Room 217 Conference Room
Comments Submitted:
The purpose of comments is to provide information to members of the subcommittee.
Names and comments are public records. Remaining information is considered a confidential record.
02-19-2025
Paige chickering [save the children action network]
I am grateful that the governor and the legislature are prioritizing the important issue of child care in our state. The CCA pilot program that is being codified in this bill that allows all child care workers to qualify for CCA has been a huge success and has helped to retain workers and strengthen the child care workforce. Making this program permanent is an excellent way to address the workforce shortages we are facing. However, I urge the legislature to carefully consider the input of the child care work force and parents as you move forward with this legislation. Some of the proposed changes to ECI and moving funding from other important early childhood education programs instead of appropriating new dollars to the critical child care issues we are facing could have wide reaching consequences on an already fragile child care system. I encourage you to take seriously concerns that are being raised and continue to take action to ensure we have high quality child care that is affordable and accessible in Iowa. Thank you for your consideration.
02-19-2025
Donna Godar
Hello! I am from Grinnell. I am grateful to see Iowa taking action to support childcare, I am very supportive of codifying the CCA pilot program that allows all child care providers to qualify for CCA, and we encourage legislators to carefully consider the concerns that are being raised by the child care workforce about other aspects of this bill. Please be sure to listen to members of our child care workforce and parents as they will be living with the decision you make. I am a retired kindergarten teacher, so I know how quality, reliable child care can impact children and families.
02-19-2025
Tiffany Welch
I'm a mom that struggled to find child care when my kids were young. I'm a community member that wants to help families thrive by being able to work, but we need a quality child care workforce to achieve these goals. I appreciate the bill codifying CCA for child care workers. This is a win for businesses (less staff turn over and those associated costs) and more consistent care for children. I'm very supportive of the CCA portion. However, proposed changes to ECI and the moving funds around instead appropriating new funds will hurt very important programs. Please listen to care givers and business models so we don't make care of infants unintentionally harder to access. Thank you again for looking at child care; but please listen to the stake holders as changes are proposed.