Affordable Childcare for Working Families

Michael believes that every Colorado family deserves access to high-quality, affordable child care.

Although Colorado has made significant progress towards universal preschool, access to quality, affordable child care remains severely limited across the state. Colorado’s child care is among the most expensive in the nation, ranking fifth overall for infant care. In addition, we face a profound child care shortage: only providing enough licensed child care slots to serve 20 percent of Colorado infants and toddlers. Although two-thirds of Colorado’s 4-year-olds participate in Colorado’s Universal Preschool Program, the program only covers care for a limited number of hours per week, leaving parents to struggle to fill the gap.

The high cost and chronic shortage of child care in our state prevents many parents from working, staying in Colorado, or even having children. Our lack of child care affects not just families, but the broader economy. The best estimate is that our child care shortage costs Colorado $2.7 billion each year in lost earnings, productivity, and revenue.

The current child-care situation is unacceptable, and we can do better. Colorado has the opportunity to lead the nation in making child care truly affordable for families. At a time when costs are rising across the country, affordable child care can become our competitive edge — strengthening families, communities, and our economy. Real progress demands that we all step up — that the state government, the private sector, local governments, and philanthropy work in partnership on the systemic change necessary to deliver affordable, high-quality child care to every kid in the state.

Michael will work to create an affordable, seamless, and high-quality system for every child from birth to age five, by: (1) cutting costs for families; (2) ensuring child care workers are paid a fair compensation and have access to health care; and (3) cutting red tape to make it easier to provide child care without compromising quality or safety.

As Governor, Michael will:

1. Cut Costs for Families. Too many Colorado families simply cannot afford child care. In our state, families pay, on average, almost $20,000 a year for full-time care for a young baby, $16,000 for a toddler, and almost $14,000 for a preschooler. To bring costs down, Michael will:

• Launch a Child Care Infrastructure Revolving Loan Fund to Fund Affordable Care Options: Child care centers often struggle with access to capital to start up new facilities and sustain or expand existing ones. Providers are frequently denied loans due to thin margins, enrollment volatility, and limited collateral. Michael will work with Colorado lenders to launch a revolving loan fund for Colorado child care providers that will offer low-interest, flexible financing designed specifically for the child-care providers providing affordable care to families. The loans will be coupled with technical assistance to support new child care businesses and help with financial plan development and approval. The fund will include new state financing tools to reduce risk and interest costs for new and successful child care facilities.
• Stimulate Private Sector Investment in Affordable, High Quality Care: Colorado’s current Childcare Contribution Tax Credit alone generates an estimated $60 million of private investment every year. Michael will work with the legislature to modernize and expand tax credits that spark increased private sector investment in affordable, high quality, child care in Colorado. He will also work with the legislature to pass a Child Care Operations Credit that, when combined with federal tax incentives, will allow small businesses to deduct up to 60 percent of costs associated with establishing and operating a high-quality child care center.
• Empower More Home-Based Child Care With Community Resources: Home based and licensed exempt child care is often the most affordable option for families. Michael will bolster regional efforts to connect and support home-based and licensed exempt child-care cooperatives with staffing and essential resources. The effort will better connect current and future home-based providers to each other, and to other resources that can help them start and strengthen their small businesses, including information on access to affordable insurance coverage, mortgage and rental assistance, technical and business assistance, and information on state tax credits and financial resources.
• Protect State Investment in Affordable Child Care: Michael will fight to protect funding for the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program. He will push for the state to have flexibility to comply with federal requirements in the way that best serves Colorado families, and he will work with local governments to ensure that the delivery of state funds is as efficient as possible.
• Cut Costs By Repurposing Unused Buildings: A significant portion of child care expenses stems from the cost of constructing and maintaining facilities. Michael will partner with communities and school districts to explore how underused space can become available to communities working to expand child care capacity.

2. Invest in Fair Compensation for the Child Care Workforce: In the United States and in Colorado, child care workers struggle to provide for their own families and stay in the profession as a result of low wages and poor benefits. The annual mean wage among Colorado’s child care workers is $18.39 per hour, half of the living wage in many parts of Colorado. Not surprisingly, one in five child care workers leave the profession. Michael will:

• Scale Proven and Innovative Local Models: Michael will work to scale local models – like the Denver Preschool Program and the collaborative effort in Eagle County – through access to financing and reducing barriers at the state level. He will support solutions that strategically deploy public resources toward local efforts that help families who need tuition support, subsidize wages for child care workers, pay for facility construction and improvements, and drive philanthropic, local government, and private sector investment to solve the challenge.
• Expand Access to Affordable Health Insurance for Every Childcare Worker: Many of Colorado’s child care providers find it difficult to afford health care as a benefit to themselves and their employees. Colorado already has a law that allows for cooperatives to negotiate health insurance, and Michael will use that law to start a statewide cooperative for child-care providers. The cooperative will be empowered to access health care insurance on behalf of all of its members and enable more affordable rates that often come with larger group coverage.
• Make the Care Worker Tax Credit Permanent: Colorado currently offers child care workers a Care Worker Tax Credit. The law provides a $1,200 income tax credit to child care workers – including family, friends, and neighbors who care for kids – who make less than $100,000 a year. The credit is scheduled to sunset in 2029, and Michael will support making the credit permanent.
• Save on the Cost of Education Through Scale of Early-Childhood Educator Apprenticeship Degree and Certificate Programs: Michael will work with educators and child care providers across the state to scale programs that enable child care workers to earn credit towards a certificate and college degree in early childhood education through their experience on the job. Michael will also streamline the state’s credentialing process so qualified candidates in early childhood education can enter the classroom more quickly without unnecessary red tape. This includes reducing the number of bureaucratic hurdles teacher candidates face and increasing scholarships.

3. Smarter Regulation Without Compromising Quality and Safety: Michael has heard from Colorado child care providers who believe strongly that many of our state’s well-intended regulations cause unintended delay and expense for families. Differences between state and local regulations also make it difficult for new providers to satisfy regulatory expectations. Finally, different rules for different ages of kids can create unnecessary obstacles to protecting health and safety. To cut unnecessary bureaucracy in our child care system, Michael will:

• Make Colorado a National Leader in Smart Child Care Licensing and Delivery: Michael will lead a comprehensive overhaul of Colorado’s child care licensing system that protects quality and safety while reducing unnecessary red tape. He will work closely with families, communities, and providers to: (1) cut approval time for new facilities; (2) ensure compliance is easier and adapted for small businesses; (3) increase flexibility in state requirements; (4) align contradicting requirements at the state and local level; and (5) eliminate state requirements that are unnecessary to protect the health and safety of kids. He will also simplify state bureaucracy to better align resources and expand partnerships with schools, employers, and communities to simplify delivery of child care and subsidies to families.
• Remove Barriers to Home-Based Child Care: Michael will work with local governments to design a pre-approved child care-friendly building design and lease that will qualify for fast-track approval through state licensing processes. In addition, he will prioritize collaboration across housing, economic development, and early childhood agencies to remove barriers and include home-based child care in real estate, infrastructure, and small business investment strategies.
• Create a Statewide Parents’ Portal and Common Application System for Child Care: Finding and paying for child care should not be confusing and stressful for Colorado families. Michael will work with childcare providers to create a common application for state preschool and child care resources. He will also work to create a locally-driven, statewide portal that allows parents to identify real-time openings, and filters programs by location, hours, language, and special-needs services would enable families to seamlessly navigate accessing and paying for child care. The portal will provide clear information on costs and available subsidies, quick eligibility estimates through a pre-screening tool, and identify providers with evening or weekend hours.