Equality State Policy Center

Testimony on Quality Child Care legislation

Jan. 22, 2007

The Legislature wants people and companies to make good choices. In order for Wyoming families to make good choices about work and child care, they need good options to choose from.

This measure will provide options so a single mother or father can go to work and know their children are appropriately cared for. It means a person with a good work ethic but with deep-seated concerns about family can enter the work force and aid a Wyoming company striving to improve its productivity and bottom line. It means that caring for children will be recognized as a valuable career offering opportunities for advancement.

Diversifying and expanding Wyoming’s economy depends on its workforce. This means not only young men to be roughnecks, but also families who will be working for businesses and organizations meeting various economic needs. The availability and quality of child care will play an integral role in whether Wyoming will be able to field the workforce necessary for the economy of the future.

Wyoming has consistently ranked among the top states in gender wage gap. This is not an honor, since it means that we have one of the biggest differences in wages earned by men and women. A 2003 legislative study identified one of the causes as women working in part-time, unbenefitted jobs. They may do this because they choose to do so; they also may do this because they have no other options, because they need to be home when the kids get home from school.

The study also suggested raising wages in occupations traditionally dominated by women. Child care is one of those. One of the most important parts of this bill is rewarding educational attainment and steady work by child care workers, who will then be able to provide their own families with greater economic security.

We’d like to briefly address a few of the points that have caused concern in earlier hearings of this bill. One of these is a fear in philosophy. This measure does not represent a Big Brother state. Rather it is an effort to present options to families, traditional and non-traditional, to help them meet the everyday challenge of putting together a decent life. Each facility and each family voluntarily makes the decision to participate or not to participate.

Another concern has been the eligibility levels for the early childhood scholarships at 200, 250 or 280%, with the concern being that these families are making a lot of money. It is now nationally recognized that the poverty level does not reflect anyone’s idea of a decent standard of living. Wyoming’s Self-Sufficiency Standard shows that it takes an income of at least 200% of poverty to supply a Wyoming family with just the basics – food, shelter, utilities, transportation, child care, and health care. This already will be out-of-date in parts of the state experiencing upward pressure on prices due to energy development.

Finally, we have seen the fear of committing money to a new program. We’d argue that this program has been subjected to scrutiny far beyond that of many existing programs. It is a good program that will evolve as we gain experience operating it.

In these surplus times, the constant debate is savings versus investment. This program is an investment. It’s an investment in our economy. It’s an investment in producing a more committed and productive workforce, it’s an investment in bettering the economic status of women, it’s an investment in the future of our children who will be less prone to drug addiction, criminal activity, and other anti-social behavior if they are part of a quality child care program.