Photo by Rebecca Rivas | Missouri Independent)
Child care workers often end up stuck because of their low wages — earning too much to qualify for a program that aims to help them, but not earning enough to afford child care on their own.
Monday on a bipartisan vote, the House, Business and Labor committee passed House Bill 456, designed to make child care workers automatically eligible for the Best Beginnings Child Care Scholarship for their own children.
Best Beginnings leverages federal money to help lower income, working families or those in school full time to afford child care, mostly by funding providers. A couple of bills this session aim to expand its reach.
Amanda Frickle, with the AFL-CIO, said the reason Montana has an affordability and accessibility problem is because child care workers don’t get paid enough — even though they are among the most highly credentialed employees in the workforce.
“What this bill does is it resolves the tension between allowing us to pay those childcare workers more and not shifting the burden for that increase on the parents, who are already being priced out,” Frickle said in support of HB 456. “This is a win-win-win for workers, families and businesses.”
Rep. Jonathan Karlen, D-Missoula, is sponsoring both of the bills related to Best Beginnings.
In 2024, an estimated 4,500 children used Best Beginnings each month, according to the Department of Public Health and Human Services. During the course of a year, 6,500 children were enrolled altogether, according to the Montana Budget and Policy Center.
Karlen said 66,000 Montanans don’t fully participate in the workforce because of insufficient child care. He said Best Beginnings is one of the most effective tools to make child care more accessible and affordable based on a review by the economic affairs interim committee.
Every year, roughly one-in-three child care workers leaves the field, but when they received a scholarship for their child through a pilot program, turnover dropped to less than one in 10, according to data from Montana Advocates for Children.
On Monday, the committee passed HB 456 on a 13-7 vote with bipartisan support after a short hearing Friday, but with overwhelming testimony in favor of the idea.
Last week, a separate committee, House Human Services, passed House Bill 457, which would tie eligibility to 85% of state median income instead of 185% of the federal poverty level, and in doing so, reach more working parents.
Montana’s eligibility is currently the 36th lowest out of 50 states and Washington, D.C., according to Montana Advocates for Children, a coalition of organizations supporting early child care and education.
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Montana has slowly increased child care capacity in recent years. However, a report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation said Montana still serves just 52.5% of the capacity of children 6 years and younger.
A Department of Labor and Industry report from 2024 said the problem is costing businesses. In Montana, 30% of businesses report that inadequate child care has prevented them from expanding.
Additionally, a study from the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana estimated the cost of inadequate child care to businesses in Montana at $54.6 million and the cost to taxpayers at $32 million.
Karlen said the proposal to categorically include child care workers doesn’t mean services will be free for those employees, but it means child care will be offered at a reduced price for those workers, earning roughly $23,000 a year.
In exchange, he said, the child care provider doesn’t have to provide uncompensated care. He said HB 456 is estimated to cost $5.5 million based on the number of children expected to be eligible.
“They can use that slot to offer that to families who are trying to either be participating in the workforce, or participating in the workforce at a higher rate,” Karlen said.
For safety reasons, child care providers work under set child-employee ratios. Montana Advocates for Children estimates the tuition waivers or reductions that facility directors offer their employees can cost as much as $80,000 to $100,000 a year.
Gabrielle Cattrell, who is a child care worker and parent of a 3-year-old, said she was laid off from a nonprofit organization, she has struggled to find a comparable job, and the financial burden had become overwhelming.
“Despite working hard in a position at my son’s school, the pay is significantly lower than what I was previously earning,” Cattrell said. “As a result, I often find myself choosing between paying my son’s tuition and covering basic bills like groceries.”
Cattrell asked legislators to support the bill that extends the scholarship to the child care workforce, as did other parents, employees, the Montana Women’s Foundation, and the Montana Nonprofit Association.
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Last session, also with bipartisan support, the Montana Legislature passed a bill to expand Best Beginnings to families living up to 185% of the federal poverty level, or $30,000 a year for a family of four, estimated at the time to reach another 700 working parents.
HB 457 aims to bring the program to even more families, and an estimated 2,500 children, by tying the threshold to 85% of state median income rather than the federal poverty rate, similar to Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Utah and some other states.
Montana invests billions of dollars in K-12 education, but families with younger children need support, and the bill encourages parents to work more, take promotions, and add work hours, Karlen said.
“If we want to be pro business, we have to be pro child,” Karlen said.
Dan Brooks, with the Billings Chamber of Commerce, agreed, and said inadequate child care is a “persistent problem,” identified in 2024 by 71% of its members. Brooks, who also expressed support on behalf of the Montana Chamber of Commerce, said the bill would “right size” the program to Montana.
“We are particularly keen on this program because it does apply to folks that are working, and that’s important to our businesses,” Brooks said.
The bill would cost $17 million a year, and Rep. Ed Buttrey, R-Great Falls, said the state already has offered a lot of support to working families, and he would like to see more metrics that show whether child care has improved.
Currently, a family with two children at 185% the federal poverty level can earn $37,814 to qualify for the scholarship, but if the state used median income, that same family could earn $55,199, according to data from Montana Advocates for Children.
The Best Beginnings bills had no opponents.
Karlen said HB 457 brings together the interests of businesses and educators, and he would like to see it advance at least to House Appropriations so it can be considered along with broader budget decisions legislators will make.