80% of Missouri business leaders say child care crisis bad for state
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Lawmakers, business leaders and business owners from across Missouri gathered for a discussion on an issue plaguing Missouri's economy: Child care.
Co-hosted by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Columbia Chamber of Commerce, Jefferson City Chamber of Commerce and the University of Missouri, the informal forum Wednesday morning centered around the magnitude of the child care issue in Missouri and possible solutions.
Many business owners attended to learn what they can do to help their employees.
Ross Whelan owns Skyhawk Sports and Super Tots Sports in Columbia and Jefferson City, an early childhood education company focused on sports. He said the discussion shed light on how he can help the community and his employees.
"There is a crisis and we need to have a good conversation about how to solve that," Whelan said. "A coach I have, his mom helps out when she can, but having something steady is what he really needs. And being able to help them afford that is as their employer is something I would really look into trying to do."
The problem
The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry has identified child care access as a legislative priority for 2024. Bills on child care access did not make it to the finish line this year. As the chamber puts it, these bills were a "casualty of end of session filibusters."
The Missouri economy loses $1.35 billion annually from a lack of child care, and the state loses $280 million in tax revenue, according to a recent study conducted by the Missouri Chamber.
The chamber says a new survey shows 80% of business leaders think Missouri's child care crisis is negatively affecting firms' ability to recruit workers and 64% say an incentive package from the state would make it more likely for them to invest in child care.
Most parents say they've had to miss work because of child care problems, according to the numbers the Missouri Chamber presented Tuesday.
Panel members, including Brenda Lohman, a professor with the University of Missouri, shared stories of employees and friends who've been affected by the child care crisis.
"She was using family daycare," Lohman said. "The family member said, 'I can't care for your young children 50 hours a week, I physically can't do it,' and I lost a staff member in 16 days."
Possible solutions
One solution the state is considering is a childcare legislative package that would provide tax incentives for people who donate to child care facilities, among other things. Rep. Brenda Sheilds (R-St. Joseph) introduced the legislation, and said she plans to introduce it again in 2024.
The child care legislation was introduced last year, but didn't make it to the finish line. The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry blamed in-fighting and filibustering in the Missouri Senate for the bill failing.
Something child care advocates are pushing is state-funded scholarship programs to help people become early childhood educators, such as the Teach Missouri Scholarship.
When talking about child care in Missouri, work force development is a two fold issue. Having access to child care leads to better work force development, because people cannot go to work without having somewhere safe for their children to be. In order to do that, there needs to be qualified educators to take care of children.
Owner of Tiger Tots Paul Prevo said it's important to have qualified people watching over and educating children in the early years because that's when most brain development happens.
"When you have somebody who has a strong start in the beginning," Prevo said. "They tend to be able to have a lot more opportunity to be a strong, functioning, well-rounded member of our society. And that, of course, improves the overall community."
