Child-care providers press Senate to restore peer-review appeals and adopt workforce supports including SB177

Several child-care owners and advocates told the Senate Finance Committee that Ohio's child-care system is underfunded, that the peer-review appeal mechanism for licensing decisions should be restored to the budget, and that the Legislature should adopt workforce-focused proposals to stabilize the sector.

Nafree Cook of the CEO Project described the licensing appeal issue and the risk to small providers: "No one should lose their business due to the vagueness of rules, the ambiguity of rules, the difference in interpretation of rules," she said, asking senators to "add the peer review process back into the budget." Cook said the peer-review appeal would not cost the state additional funds but would provide due process and reduce the risk of abrupt closures.

Sandra Phillips, owner of Pitter Patter Learning Center and an advocate with the CEO Project, urged inclusion of Senate Bill 177, which she described as a "business friendly bill" that would provide free child care for child-care workers in exchange for their services. "This bill supports the childcare workforce and opens up classroom slots for families," Phillips said.

Tashiana Quachie (transcribed in the record as Tashianna Quachie) said her centers employ staff who themselves cannot afford childcare and that in her Columbus program "80 percent of our child care employees are in need of child care." She told senators that offering free care to staff would help recruit and retain workers, allow centers to open more rooms and increase capacity for other families.

Witnesses also asked lawmakers to increase eligibility rates for publicly funded child care and to protect the peer-review appeal language. Earlier testimony in the hearing (from St. Vincent Family Services) asked for $150,000 per year from the Infant and Early Childhood Fund for early childhood mental-health consultation, which proponents said helps kindergarten readiness and complements workforce and access reforms.

Committee members asked practical questions about costs and administration; witnesses said some proposals (peer review and SB177) are structured to shift administration rather than increase net state general-revenue spending. The hearing produced no committee motion on the proposals; witnesses asked the committee to restore peer-review appeal language and consider SB177 in the final omnibus package.