Letter to the Editor: Let's start the conversation about how to fund child care

(The following Letter to the Editor has been submitted by Matt Tapscott, who operates a state Registered Child Development Home in Decorah and serves as the President of the non-profit Iowa Family Child Care Association. He is also a candidate for State Senate from NE Iowa):

"Iowa has one of the greatest needs for childcare services of any of our fifty states. More parents of young children are in the workforce here than in nearly any other state. That is even more the case in Northeast Iowa: 85 percent of working parents require quality childcare services.
 
Listening to the stories from Sunflower Child Care and from many quality area childcare programs, both Center and In-Home programs, tells us we have yet to achieve the support this critically-needed service requires. Working parents know this for a hard fact.
 
There is hope. The Federal Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) which funds the majority of states' childcare spending was increased recently by five billion dollars. When the state budget is authorized, Iowa can expect an increase in childcare and early childhood program funding to the tune of nearly $50 million. That is huge.  The question is will we (Iowa) invest it in a different approach? Will we assist working parents who struggle with the high cost of childcare fees and support the childcare workforce who often work for near poverty wages? Or, will we spend it the same old way on a broken childcare system and expect different results?
 
The money scheduled to come to Iowa's childcare and early learning system provides an opportunity.  We must engage those delivering this critically needed service and the working Iowa families needing this service. These groups are most impacted; including them will significantly move the needle of childcare quality.
 
Childcare is a societal issue because it impacts all of society.  Childcare is also an economic issue. For every dollar invested in high-quality childcare, we save more than seven dollars down the road.  Children in high-quality childcare enter the school system more ready to participate and in less need of remedial instruction or behavioral adjustments."