The Blade: Lucas County exploring putting universal Pre-K on the ballot
Voters in Lucas County may, at some point, be asked to vote on a proposal to fund universal early childhood education.
Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said after a news conference calling attention to Ohio’s infant and child-care crisis that the Lucas County commissioners were working on a proposal to put funding for Pre-K education and child care on the ballot.
“Everyone else, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton, Akron, they all have universal pre-K,” Mr. Kapszukiewicz said. “They are using public dollars to do it. We are behind and should be doing this as well.”
Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken, who was not at the news conference, said afterward the commissioners had been approached.
“We have been asked to consider it,” Mr. Gerken said. “Right now, it is not clear if legally we can do it at this time. We are exploring if there is a legal path to do it, but it will not be on the November ballot. The mayor has promised universal Pre-K for a while now. I can definitely say that there will not be county money without money from the city as well.”
Ohio’s infant and toddler child-care crisis costs families, businesses, and taxpayers an estimated $3.85 billion each year, according to a new report from ReadyNation.
Wednesday’s news conference was held by business and community leaders to discuss the findings of the ReadyNation report.
The report outlines the impacts of the child-care crisis and the dire need for expanded state investment, encouraging policymakers to work to lessen the burden.
ReadyNation Ohio commissioned a survey of working parents of infants and toddlers in Ohio. The survey sampled 408 parents, both mothers and fathers of children ages birth to 3.
Eighty percent of working parents surveyed reported that access to child care presents a challenge and more than half said it is a significant challenge to find child care that is either affordable or high-quality.
“The costs of insufficient child care in Ohio are immense,” said Cyndy Rees, state director of ReadyNation Ohio. “Each year a child is under age 3 without sufficient child care, families lose earnings and incur job-search costs totaling $2.41 billion per year.”
Ms. Rees said businesses lose an average of $1,900 per working parent in extra hiring costs and reduced revenue, with the annual burden on Ohio’s businesses at $862 million.
“In addition, taxpayers lose an average of $1,270 per working parent in lower federal and state tax revenue, which amounts to $576 million each year,” Ms. Rees said. “The key to fixing this is getting the state, local, and federal governments coming together to get the money together to address this issue.”
Amanda Goldsmith, vice president of client and community relations at PNC Bank, said it was critically important to be able to offer high-quality, early childhood education.
“I was 27 when I had my first child,” Ms. Goldsmith said. “I had a bachelor’s and a master’s degree and a fantastic job. I still struggled and lived paycheck to paycheck in order to pay for child care.”
Ms. Goldsmith, who also sits on the board of the Toledo Day Nursery, said PNC Bank has supported early childhood education for 20 years.
“Without early childhood education centers, many parents can’t come to work,” she said. “Early childhood education is a critically important foundation for children. Many who do not get it fall behind in school and stay behind.”
The news conference was held at All 4 Kids in Spencer Township. Owner Camille Harris, who operates the 5-Star Step Up to Quality program, echoed the pressing crisis faced by child-care programs in Ohio.
“Without question, programs have long wait lists and a huge need for an increased work force,” Ms. Harris said. “We need resources to offer our staff competitive salaries and benefits to ensure we have the staffing levels needed to support families in our community with the highest-quality programs.”
“Child care is the workforce behind the work force,” Ms. Rees said. “Ohio has made historic investments in early education, but we must fully commit to supporting our parent, businesses, and taxpayers by elevating child care as a critical tool for strengthening Ohio.”
Matt Geha, superintendent of Springfield Schools, said access to early childhood education can be difficult for some families.
“Education can be a challenge every day for some of us,” Mr. Geha said. “Why not put everyone on the same starting line? Otherwise, students who did not get early education will take two times longer in the race compared to everyone else who had early education.”
Mr. Kapszukiewicz said not being able to offer universal child care in Toledo puts the city at a disadvantage.
“Every day we are competing with Cleveland, Akron, Dayton, and Columbus for population, investments, and business location,” Mayor Kapszukiewicz said. “We fall behind every day that we do not offer universal access to child care and early childhood education.
“We are the only large location in Ohio that does not have it,” he said. “It makes it hard to compete. Those cities found a way to make it work. There is no reason we cannot make it work as well.”
Rev. John C. Jones, president and CEO of HOPE Toledo, used the report release to share good news about the work coming from the programs working with HOPE Toledo.
“Through partnerships with government and businesses, we now have 27 post-secondary schools working with us,” Mr. Jones said. “Our programs are working to affect generational economic change.”
Mr. Jones introduced Wakeso Peterson, Jr., a HOPE Toledo Promise Scholar.
HOPE Toledo Promise began as a pilot program with the graduating class of 2020 from Scott High School. The program offers graduates funds to cover tuition, room, board, fees, and books after the application of eligible financial aid.
Pete Kadens and the Kadens Family Foundation were the initial funders of that class and helped to start the HOPE Toledo Promise.
Mr. Peterson is set to graduate from Bowling Green State University with a degree in architecture. He is the first person in the HOPE Toledo Promise program to graduate with a bachelor’s degree, Mr. Jones said.
“My freshman year, my parents told me they could not pay for my college,” Mr. Peterson said. “Being able to get free college surprised me. In the next few weeks I will be graduating and I already have a job with the SSOE Group. I have the HOPE Toledo Promise to thank for allowing me to go to college.”
First Published April 10, 2024, 4:44pm