Childcare is not optional. It is part of our infrastructure, just like housing, roads and hospitals. When childcare fails, everything else does too. Yet Gov. Bob Ferguson’s proposed budget treats childcare as expendable.
Families across Washington are already stretched to the breaking point. The cost of childcare, not just for infants but for toddlers and school-age children, is unaffordable for many working families. Despite this reality, the governor’s budget proposes $322 million in new cuts to childcare, on top of more than $1 billion in cuts already made in the current budget. Families and providers are still dealing with the fallout from those decisions, and lawmakers are now being asked to deepen the damage.
If these cuts move forward, 16,000 families will lose access to Working Connections Child Care. We do not have to guess what happens next. The data is clear. When families cannot afford childcare, parents leave the workforce. Businesses lose workers and productivity. The broader economy takes a hit.
We have been down this road before. During the Great Recession, lawmakers used childcare caps and waiting lists as a budget solution. The result was parents forced out of jobs, businesses struggling to fill positions, and an economic recovery that took more than a decade. Cutting childcare does not save money. It shifts the cost onto families, employers, and communities.
Balancing the budget on the backs of children and working families is short-sighted and irresponsible. I urge House and Senate budget writers to reject these cuts and protect childcare as the essential infrastructure it is.
Voters will remember who stood up for working families and who did not.
Ida Keeley
Children’s Campaign Fund Action
Lake Stevens
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