Posted: February 1, 2022 / 05:56 PM EST
/ Updated: February 1, 2022 / 10:52 PM EST
INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana lawmakers have stepped forward in an effort to try to reduce childcare deserts in Hoosier State.
The 404 Senate Bill passed the state Senate unanimously Tuesday and now goes to the House for consideration. According to the author of the bill, State Senator Fady Qaddoura (D-Indianapolis), 55% of Indiana counties have child care deserts, areas that offer few options for families.
Finding affordable and affordable child care has been a long struggle for many Hoosier parents.
“Early childhood education is much more than learning letters and numbers,” said Trish Mastin, director of Lil ‘Tigers Academy in rural Rush County.
According to Mastin, its facility is the only state-accredited child care center in Rush County.
The pre-school can accommodate 20 children but has a few openings at the moment.
“Some parents have commute issues, but I also think parents are having to choose between affordability, accessibility, and there’s not much of that,” Mastin said.
Mastin said her team works to reunite families in need with state aid.
Anyway, you want to see officials look for long-term solutions to make childcare more accessible.
“Mothers have left our workforce under the pandemic specifically because of a lack of access to affordable childcare,” Qaddoura said.
Indiana Early Learning Maureen Weber said she believes this is a critical time to look at potential solutions.
“One of the challenges we have and are really seeing across the state is just a lack of early care and education workforce,” Weber said.
Indiana has received more than $ 1 billion in federal COVID aid funding specifically for early childhood education, Weber said.
“Grants are currently being sent by the state to early care and education providers,” she said. “So we as suppliers really want to take the opportunity to take those dollars to make some long-term changes.”
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