Children in child care. (Photo by Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent)
Research by a Republican polling firm shows child care expenses “continue to be a major financial burden” and a majority of Republicans nationwide join other political parties in seeking action from the White House and Congress.
The new national polling from UpONE Insights, commissioned by the child advocacy group First Five Years Fund and First Five Action, oversampled GOP voters in its 1,000 participants. The results showed 9 in 10 Republicans “think it’s a problem or crisis that Americans can’t afford child care,” along with 91% of independent voters and 97% of Democrats.
The research goes along with Ohio-level studies that have shown access to child care, or lack thereof, has an “undeniable” impact on the state economy and support for child care assistance has the backing of members of all political parties locally as well.
A Public Opinion Strategies poll released in January also found that 61% of non-full-time-working mothers would go back to work if they didn’t have to stay home to avoid unaffordable child care costs.
Of those polled in the January study, 86% said access to affordable child care “will help strengthen Ohio’s economy and help its workers.”
A vast majority (79%) of GOP voters in the FFYF poll wanted President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans “to do more to help working parents afford quality child care.”
Increasing funding for and access to quality child care is as important for families as securing the border and stopping the increase of crime according to 55% of Republican voters, the study stated.
Federal investments were generally supported in the new national poll, including “especially strong” support for the Child Care Development Block Grant.
The grant provides funding that is then distributed by states as subsidies for child care to benefit low-income families with children younger than 13.
“The majority of these funds support children under age 6, with the remainder dedicated to the care of older children during out-of-school time,” according to a separate analysis of the grants by the First Five Years Fund.
States have discretion in the use of the grant funding, but the subsidies are aimed at helping access quality child care, and very few of the families who qualify for the funding receive it nationwide, the study found.
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Office of Child Care reported more than $70.1 million in federal mandatory funds went to the state of Ohio as part of Child Care and Development Fund allocations in 2024.
Allocations to the fund for each state are based on the state population of children younger than 5 and younger than 13 from U.S. Census Bureau figures. The allocations are also based on the state’s amount of free and reduced-price school lunch program participation per the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the per-capita income reported by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Federal share matching funds were reported at $76.6 million, and the state share matching funds were estimated at $41.6 million.
The state share includes a 9% “quality spending requirement” and a 3% infant and toddler quality spending requirement, according to the federal department.
The state share was up from $34.4 million in the same report for 2023 funds.
Federal discretionary funds from the fund were $296.7 million, up from $272.7 million in 2023.
The First Five Years Fund said the block grant funding can be used to pay child care providers directly to reserve slots in facilities, or for a voucher “to use with their choice of approved local child care providers.”
“Additionally, states must invest a portion of the grant on improving the overall quality of child care for all families,” the First Five Years Fund explained.
Gov. Mike DeWine’s executive budget proposal, a list of recommendations and priorities he wants to see from the final legislative budget draft, includes the expansion of a Childcare Choice Voucher Program. DeWine’s proposal would bring household eligibility up to 200% of the federal poverty level from the current level of 146%.
DeWine has also proposed a refundable child tax credit that can be used for all sorts of costs related to caring for a child. The tax credit would be up to $1,000 per child through age 6.
The First Five Years Fund polling showed a federal child tax credit, the expansion of which is currently awaiting U.S. Senate approval, is “the only federal tax credit that specifically allows working parents to keep more of what they earn to pay for child care,” garnering 86% support for an increase.
Child care has been a topic of debate on both sides of the aisle in Ohio, with bills coming in and out of the Ohio legislature over the last two years, and a new crop of bills popping up early in the new General Assembly.
Two of the bills – companion legislation that promotes a cost-sharing model where the state, employers and employees would all contribute to child care costs – have seen action in Ohio House and Senate committees.
Another bill that was passed last year, House Bill 7, had an overarching goal to improve outcomes and access in many aspects of child wellbeing, including better engagement with Early Head Start programs and support for child care providers.
The bill passed without any financial appropriation, so the bipartisan sponsors of the bill are hoping the ongoing budget process will bring about the funds they need to implement further change originally intended in the bill.
In 2023, Democrats attempted to introduce a tax credit similar to DeWine’s proposal in his executive budget, a “thriving families tax credit” that would have been up to $1,000 per child per year up to age five, and $500 per child annually up to age 17. The bill failed to garner enough support in the Republican supermajority to make it past the committee stages, and died at the end of last year’s General Assembly.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who’s vying to take over for DeWine as governor in 2026, recently brought up “day care subsidies” as one of the potential uses for some of the $840 million allocated as part of state workforce agency JobsOhio’s 15-year extension.
Yost proposed the subsidies as part of a plan to “promote job creation in high-growth industries while simultaneously supporting Ohioans who need assistance re-entering the workforce or upgrading their skills.”
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