Here’s this story from CBS4Local.com:
El Paso families seeking help paying for childcare are facing one of the sharpest reductions in the state, as the Texas Workforce Commission looks to cut nearly 2,000 seats in the childcare subsidy program.
Borderplex Workforce said there are not enough funds for the number of families seeking assistance. With the rising cost of living, families may have to find other ways to cover childcare expenses.
Odette Flores-Rivera, Childcare Parent Services Director at Borderplex, said the reduction is tied to a drop in enrollment and local childcare costs. She tells us,
“The drop in enrollment that was the info we were given that it is based on the number of children in the are[a] and the cost of childcare per area one of the reasons it has dropped is because there is going to be an increase in the cost of childcare based on that market rate survey”
Well, that’s great. Childcare is going to cost more so we have to cut back on public funding. That’s what I could untangle out of what I think she said. Maybe CBS4Local.com doesn’t have punctuation on their keyboards, or they typed it on their phones.
But it’s only childcare. Who uses childcare? Working couples. Single mothers. Single fathers. Not only does it tug at your heartstrings, a productive workforce makes for a successful economy. Some of those parents will be squeezed out of the workforce because they’re going to have to stay home and tend the kids.
What if the City of El Paso used the money it spends subsidizing the ballpark and the water parks on childcare services? Which would be more effective for long term economic development? Subsidies for billionaires, or an able educated workforce?
I know. That’s just crazy talk.
Read: Read More