Says DFL Actions During This Year’s Legislative Session Ensure Parents, Businesses, and Providers Can Count on Reliable, Affordable Child Care
SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic (DFL-MN) said today that due to actions taken by DFL lawmakers during this year’s legislative session, Minnesota won’t fall off the “child care cliff,” and families will continue to have access to reliable child care across the state. While most other states are bracing for a potential loss of thousands of child care programs and millions of child care spots when years of federal COVID child care funding comes to an end on September 30, Minnesota families can be assured of access to stable child care.
Sen. Dziedzic said that state approval of more than $316 million this year to bolster the state’s child care system will ensure Minnesota parents can enter the workforce and stay there, businesses will be more productive and maintain a stable workforce, and communities across the state can continue to thrive economically.
“Experts tell us that – just like roads and bridges – our child care system is a piece of infrastructure that gets parents to work. Because of it, families are better off, parents can move into the workforce and stay there, and businesses are more productive,” Said Majority Leader Dziedzic. “This year, DFL state legislators heard Minnesotans’ concerns about the harm that the end of federal child care funding would do to parents and businesses, and we acted to safeguard Minnesota’s child care infrastructure and the families who rely on it. Now, while most states across the country are scrambling to address the steep drop in child care funding – Minnesota’s child care industry remains stable.”
Majority Leader Dziedzic said DFL lawmakers enacted several measures that will keep Minnesota’s child care industry stable, when the nation is preparing for potentially losing millions of child care spots. They include:
- $316 million for the Great Start Compensation Program, a first-in-the-nation state-led program uplifting the child care workforce to ensure that Minnesota families maintain access to the child care they need.
- Increaseing investment in the Basic Sliding Fee Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) by $30 million per biennium to increase access to an estimated 500 additional families, including 1,000 more children.
- $10 million in funding directed to the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) for local community child care grants. Increased funding will help expand the number of quality child care providers to support economic development.
- $5 million toward the Minnesota Initiative Foundation to help keep child care affordable, which exclusively serves Greater Minnesota. This funding will sustain and increase the supply of quality child care by providing technical assistance, planning, and professional development.
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