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As lawmakers prepare to return to Charleston later this summer, they must ensure child care is a topic of discussion -- and action. Failure to do less will only hurt state residents and children.
"When people and businesses are looking to move to West Virginia, they first ask about the roads and schools," Gov. Jim Justice said recently. "We must continue providing additional funds for highway maintenance and school choice through the successful Hope Scholarship."
He neglected to mention they also ask about child care, though surely he and lawmakers know the state does not do well on that front when compared with other states.
"In the last three weeks, we have lost 265 child care slots because centers have closed," said House Minority Leader Pro Tempore Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, said in May. "And if we don't do something to address the immediate funding needs by Sept. 1, 2,000 more families will lose their child care spots."
Thankfully at the local level, Newbridge Church is nearing completion of its child care center downtown. That will help many local families.
But statewide, the picture is grim. West Virginia Women's Alliance reports an estimated 604 child care centers are projected to close unless the state provides enrollment-based reimbursements. Without the reimbursements, there will be an estimated $23 million funding gap in the next fiscal year.
This is a real issue -- and lawmakers must treat it as such. Failure to act -- or simply waiting on the feds -- will only hurt West Virginia families.