The Children’s Budget will help middle class families while creating jobs and supporting employment

State of Iowa Seal

(DES MOINES) A key state senator today proposed a Children’s Budget to help Iowa’s middle class families. State Senator Jack Hatch of Des Moines, chair of the Iowa Senate’s Human Services Budget Subcommittee, outlined the proposal at a Statehouse news conference.

“Iowans all agree that our children are our future. This Children’s Budget improves the lives of Iowa children while helping struggling working families and creating jobs,” said Hatch. “The Children’s Budget targets additional dollars to low cost, high impact services that make a difference for children.”

Amanda Young of Des Moines, who works for a large Des Moines insurance company, said that state childcare assistance made it possible for her to continue working.

“I was being forced to choose between caring for my child or continuing to work,” Young said. “The childcare assistance from the state made it possible for me to continue working.”

Rene Houck of Radcliff, a childcare provider with more than 20 years of experience, said Iowa’s working parents struggle to find quality childcare, especially if they are using state childcare assistance to make it possible to be employed.

“The state pays far less than the market rate, meaning working parents have a hard time affording quality child care, and quality care providers have a hard time making ends meet,” said Houck. “By increasing childcare reimbursement rates, the Children’s Budget would improve the quality of care all Iowa children receive.”

The Children’s Budget focuses on helping struggling middle class families by improving childcare services for working parents; improving health care for uninsured Iowans; and increasing help for children at risk of abuse and children in the foster care system.

Here’s how the Children’s Budget helps Iowa’s children and middle class families:

· Helping working parents find quality child care for their children
· Higher pay to attract and keep the best child care workers
· More services to help parents become employed and self-sufficient
· Improved child protection services
· More help for children in foster care
· Expanded tobacco prevention efforts
· More home visits for at risk children
· Medical care to uninsured Iowans
· More support for the statewide poison control center

“Funding the Children’s Budget requires a modest 1.2 percent increase over the current recommendations of Governor Branstad’s Directors of Public Health and Human Services,” Hatch said.

The claim by Governor Branstad that our budget is in a crisis is bogus. The Democratic budget he inherited left the state with a health ending balance. In fact, the ending balance for fiscal year 2012 is expected to be $338 million. At the end of fiscal year 2013 all of our savings accounts will be full and we will still anticipate having a surplus at the end of the year. Surely we can afford to invest just under $19 million in doing more for Iowa’s children and working families. “