Legislators have overwhelmingly voted to permanently make most child care workers in Iowa — regardless of their income — eligible for state assistance to cover child care costs for their own kids. Child care workers who provide direct services to kids for at least 32 hours a week have been eligible under a pilot program and the bill that’s cleared the House and Senate would make the benefit permanent. Representative Tracy Ehlert, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, is an early childhood education consultant.
“As I have talked to different programs, this is the number one thing that they said needed to stay in place to help them,” Ehlert said. “It’s helping communities, it’s helping children, it’s helping our early childhood workforce.”
The bill passed the House over a month ago and it cleared the Senate unanimously on Monday.
