麻豆精品

On Nov. 5, voters didn鈥檛 just head to the polls to select their choice for president. Many also cast their votes on various , including whether and how to better fund their local child care systems. A number of the won. 

What these successes prove, coming after other significant wins for the issue on the ballot in recent years, is that going straight to voters is a viable avenue for advocates seeking to secure more funding for child care, particularly with no action likely to come from the federal level anytime soon. 

鈥淥ne of the takeaways from this election is that voters want action on care,鈥� said Melissa Boteach, vice president for child care/early learning at the National Women鈥檚 Law Center. 鈥淰oters want investments in child care and early education, and they are willing to raise the revenues to support those investments,鈥� she said, pointing to evidence from a conducted by her organization in April 2024 that found that more than three-quarters of respondents support spending on those priorities and funding it through taxes on the wealthy and corporations.

The issue has become even more urgent as the that the child care sector received to keep providers鈥� doors open during the pandemic is . 鈥淭hat money is not there anymore,鈥� Boteach noted. So local governments 鈥渉ave to figure out what they can do until we win federal dollars.鈥�

Boteach pointed out that measures won in states with very different political climates, such as in California and Texas. 鈥淭his is a really bipartisan issue,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t can win in red states and blue states.鈥�

What It Took To Win

In Travis County, Texas, voters passed Proposition A, a measure to increase property taxes by on every $100 of property value to raise more than $75 million. The money will create about 2,000 new child care slots and nearly 4,000 slots for older children in after school and summer camp, with the child care slots reserved for families earning 85 percent or less of the local median family income. After state lawmakers a $2.3 billion proposal in 2023 to help child care providers stay afloat as federal aid was drying up, the Travis County Commissioners Court voted unanimously to put Proposition A on county voters鈥� ballots. It of local businesses and civic organizations, led by the United Way for Greater Austin and ultimately, voters approved it by .

Voters in Sonoma County, California to raise taxes to fund child care. They passed a 25 cent sales tax on every dollar spent, which is expected to generate $30 million a year. Sixty percent of that money will be spent on increasing access to child care and preschool for low-income families, raising wages for providers, and child care facilities. The measure was a response to the of the area鈥檚 local child care slots during the pandemic and outcomes for young children declining over the last six years. It , numerous local endorsements and more than $1 million in campaign funding. In the end it passed with of the vote. 

Meanwhile, voters in Washington State beat back an attempt to repeal a tax increase designated for supporting the child care system. Three years ago, the state鈥檚 lawmakers passed a bill that a new 7 percent tax on capital gains income, or money made from things like stocks and bonds, of $262,000 or more. The first $500 million raised was for child care subsidies for families and bonuses for child care providers that offer care during nonstandard hours. What鈥檚 left over was meant for school construction. In 2023 the tax raised . , a measure that was bankrolled by and was on this November鈥檚 ballot, would have repealed that tax, but in the end 63 percent of voters shot it down. 

That 鈥渟hows that people don鈥檛 mind raising revenues and particularly asking the wealthy and large corporations to pay their fair share so that we can have investments in caregiving,鈥� Boteach said.

There were also that passed in Colorado counties that either raised or redirected revenues toward issues including child care.

Lessons Learned From a Failed Measure

Not every child care-related measure was successful this year. But there are important lessons to be learned from those that failed as well as those that passed. One interesting one to look at is a that would have increased property taxes by 0.006% each year for ten years to raise an estimated $2 million in the first year and $20 million by the tenth. That money would have made the cost of child care free for low-income families and, if there were extra funds, help defray the cost for higher-income ones. 

Councilmember Rebecca Noecker, who led the ballot measure effort, had a 2-year-old and a 1-year-old when she took office in 2015. After researching local child care issues, she came up with the idea of a city fund to help families afford care. The child care system 鈥渋s just broken, and there needs to be an injection of money into the system,鈥� she explained.

But, she noted, given how expensive child care is, 鈥淚f you鈥檙e going to make any meaningful impact on this problem you need to raise a significant amount of money.鈥� Eventually she and other lawmakers landed on the idea of gradually raising property taxes to secure the substantial amount of money necessary to make a dent in the problem. The city council could vote to raise taxes to create the fund, but Noecker wanted 鈥渟ome form of voter mandate鈥� so that the effort wouldn鈥檛 get derailed by politics, but in the end, that鈥檚 exactly what happened. 

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter vocally opposed the idea. The council had to override his veto to put it on the ballot, and once they did, he he wasn鈥檛 going to enact the measure even if it was passed, arguing that the numbers didn鈥檛 add up. Noecker said that that wasn鈥檛 true and that 鈥渋t was a completely funded mandate.鈥�

Noecker thinks Carter鈥檚 opposition gave some voters who were hesitant about raising taxes 鈥減ermission鈥� to vote no, especially given that city voters may be experiencing 鈥渢ax fatigue鈥� after they a 1 percent increase in the sales tax in 2023 to pay for parks and streets. Noecker also pointed out that the ballot measures that were approved this cycle were on the county level, entities that are more likely to provide social services, which may have worked in their favor. 鈥淚t was definitely an uphill battle to get people to see the possibility of a city taking a role around this,鈥� she said.

But Noecker doesn鈥檛 think it鈥檚 impossible to win in the future. 鈥淎 lot of cities are not successful on the first go round with these ballot initiatives,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o it鈥檚 very disappointing, [but] it鈥檚 not super surprising.鈥� Supporters are currently talking about what might happen next; it鈥檒l take some time to go back to the ballot, if that鈥檚 what they decide to do. But 鈥渋t鈥檚 clear from campaign engagement we did that people absolutely see this as a need,鈥� Noecker said. 鈥淭he question revolves around what should the city do, county do, state do.鈥� 

鈥淭here鈥檚 no way we鈥檙e going away, because the problem is not going away,鈥� she said.

This year鈥檚 successful measures come after other victories at the ballot for child care advocates in recent years. Voters in Multnomah County, Oregon, which includes Portland, to increase taxes on wealthy families to raise $200 million to provide free preschool to all 3- and 4-year-olds while raising pay for providers. That same year, voters in Colorado an increase in taxes on nicotine products to fund universal pre-K, which has since enrolled more than 40,000 children. In 2022, New Mexico voters a constitutional amendment that made their state the first to guarantee a right to early childhood education and also directed a large, steady stream of funding to it. 

Even with these measures in place, there is still a need for significant federal investment in child care, Boteach said. Cities, counties and states are far more limited in how much money they can spend on the system. Still, she adds, ballot measures are 鈥渁 tool in the toolbox to continue to build momentum and get real dollars into communities that are willing to vote for them.鈥�

Did you use this article in your work?

We鈥檇 love to hear how 麻豆精品鈥檚 reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers.