Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Childcare topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Child‑care providers urge restoration of $15 million workforce fund and scholarship fixes
Summary
Child‑care center directors and parents told the finance committee that a one‑time workforce grant and the Child Care Scholarship program helped centers stabilize; they asked the committee to restore the $15 million workforce fund, extend the pilot for child‑care worker assistance, and simplify scholarship administration.
Child‑care providers, parents and workforce advocates told the House Finance Committee that state investments are essential to retain teachers, keep centers open and allow parents to work.
Directors and program leaders said the $15 million child‑care workforce grant distributed last year helped them retain credentialed staff and avoid closures. "The workforce grant received in August increased our ability to recruit and retain qualified childcare teachers," said Jay Marquis, director of a Nashua childcare program. Providers said the grant allowed modest wage increases, bonuses and paid days off that reduced turnover.
Speakers urged restoration of the $15 million for the next biennium, extension of the short‑term childcare‑worker pilot so it operates for a full year, and improvements to the Child Care Scholarship program that parents use to pay tuition. Child‑care directors described burdensome scholarship administration: links are paid retroactively, and when a family's eligibility link drops the parent can face unexpected tuition bills of several hundred dollars and the child may be pulled from care.
"Without this grant, childcare becomes more and more inaccessible to families that desperately need it," said Anna Byers, a childcare administrator who described tuition costs for her own family and the center's inability to retain staff without supplemental funds.
Advocates also described childcare as an economic multiplier: each teacher in the field allows parents to enter the workforce. The Child Care Advisory Council reported that New Hampshire childcare workers earn on average less than $16 an hour and that the state’s programs to incentivize entry and retention need sustained funding.
Parents and providers said simpler enrollment and more predictable, prospective payments through the scholarship program would reduce disruptions to families and centers. They asked the committee to restore the workforce fund, continue pilot funding for worker assistance beyond six months, and streamline scholarship administration to prevent sudden drops in coverage.
Committee members acknowledged the child‑care testimony and said they would consider restoring workforce and scholarship language during budget deliberations.
