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A bill for an act relating to child care center staff requirements for providing flex care to children up to five years of age.(Formerly HF 2056.)
Subcommittee members: Evans-CH, Rowley, Trone Garriott
Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024
Time: 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM
Location: Senate Lounge
Comments Submitted:
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Names and comments are public records. Remaining information is considered a confidential record.
03-04-2024
CATHERINE MEYER []
HF2305 will put young children at risk. Almost all insurance underwriters have stated they will not insure unsupervised 16/17 year olds. While always needing new staff, this is not the answer!
03-04-2024
Tabitha Simms-Quigley []
HF 2305 is risky for kids, and their caregivers. Having a 16 or 17 year old in charge of a room of under 5 year olds for any length of time is risky, including brief time periods when an over 18 caregiver isnt available. This will make insurance expensive or unavailable, making the cost of business more expensive, not less. There are better ways to solve the care crisis in Iowa.
03-04-2024
Tiffany Welch []
HF 2305 is a bad bill. It puts 16 and 17 year old minors in a position of liability if something goes wrong while caring for children unsupervised, especially since unsupervised minors are expensive if not impossible to insure. We need to encourage more workers entering and staying in the care workforce, and making a business more expensive to run and less safe is not the way
03-04-2024
Jennifer Cooke []
HF 2305 is a bad idea. As a preschool teacher I understand the need for more staff. However, with over 25 years of experience with young learners I still struggle to help regulate children with strong feelings. Just one incident could drastically harm a young child and forever change that 16 or 17 year olds life. The price is too high on our children! This is a lazy way to solve this problem. Why cant we look at hiring adults for 24 hrs/ day?!
03-04-2024
Kelly Donnelly [Grace Preschool ]
Each moment in a childs life is significant. Having children watch children unsupervised is a very dangerous suggestion and an even dire law.The regulations we have in place are there to protect Iowas youngest and most vulnerable population. Unlike other fields where teenagers can be unsupervised the negative repercussions of using inexperience in child care is greater then the need of a shortfall of labor. Remember who we are making these laws for. Is it the truest need of the young child or the need of the adults that cant find employees due to low wages and a lack of benefit's?
03-04-2024
Kayla Perkins [Save the Children Action Network]
HF2305 is a terrible idea and a liability for any company who would choose to assign teenagers to watching young children and babies. Teenagers dont have the critical problem solving skills or experience to ensure everyones safety.
03-05-2024
Teresa Baustian [Citizen]
Please stop this bill from proceeding. Others have noted that early education of young children is a skill. It also requires maturity and judgment. Actions such as these that suggest that anyone can step into these positions is simply misguided. But I want to warn the legislators away from the risks that you are creating for the 1617 year old youth. Supervising small children is a serious calling. Try to imagine the consequence to the mental health of the young worker if the moment of inattention or being overwhelmed leads to an accident, or worse. Maturity and experience matter. This legislation creates problems. Please vote no.