Proposed program could help S.C. workers afford child care
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - To strengthen South Carolina’s workforce, state lawmakers are looking into ways to improve child-care access and affordability.
One idea before them could help businesses recruit and retain employees while helping those workers keep more money in their pockets.
“If we families by providing affordable, high-quality child care, we give parents the tools they need to care for their children in safe, nurturing environments,” Children’s Trust of South Carolina CEO Sue Williams said.
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The Department of Social Services is asking state lawmakers for $1 million in the next state budget to launch what is called a “tri-share program.”
Through it, child care costs would be split three ways.
“Essentially, you have a piece of a pie — one piece of the child care is paid for by the parent, one piece of the child care is paid for by the employer, and the other piece of the pie is paid for by the government. In this case, it would be state government, likely,” DSS Chief External Affairs Officer Connelly-Anne Ragley said.
Ragley explained the proposal Tuesday during a meeting of South Carolina’s Special t Committee to Study Childcare, which will develop recommendations on the topic for the full General Assembly’s consideration.
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This program would be based on one already in place in Michigan, which they say has been successful.
“The key in this is, if we have the parents participating and we have the state participating, we’ve got to have that employer because this doesn’t work with just two pieces of the pie. To get that whole round circle, you’ve got to have three,” Ragley said.
The South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce said child-care challenges are a key contributor to smaller companies’ struggles to find workers, and it expressed interest in a proposal like this one.
“Government, at some level, needs to step in to address our child-care crisis,” South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Frank Knapp said.
Lawmakers will take up budget requests from DSS and other state agencies soon after their new legislative session begins at the State House on Tuesday of next week.
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