FOR RELEASE: June 13, 2024
Contact: Jack Sorensen, jack@northstarpolitical.com

WA Voters Support New Investments in Child Care, Consider Child Care Top Issue in 2024 Elections
Coalition of child care advocates polled voters on new proposal to address affordability and supply crisis

SEATTLE – Voters want to see lawmakers make significant new investments in addressing Washington’s child care crisis, and a majority are more likely to support legislative candidates in November who commit to supporting a new plan to make child care more affordable and accessible.

In polling released today sponsored by a coalition of Children’s Campaign Fund Action, MomsRising and OneAmerica Votes, 70% of Washington voters approve of a new proposal that would establish a cap on how much of a family’s income can go towards child care, increasing state subsidies, create a living wage structure with benefits for early education and child care providers, and create new state training programs for child care providers to improve quality and safety.

The proposal garners support across party lines – with a majority of Democrats, Republicans, and independents all in favor – as well as a majority of voters in every state media market. Additionally, 62% of Washington voters said they are more likely to vote for legislative candidates in November who support this proposal.

“Washington is facing a child care crisis – the cost of high-quality early learning and child care is simply too high and it’s too hard to find for many families.” said Lauren Hipp, national director for early learning and Washington state at MomsRising. “Our state recently made new investments in child care, but these are just a drop in the bucket and not enough to address our ongoing crisis. Voters are clear they want lawmakers to do more.”

According to the Washington Department of Children, Youth and Families, it’s estimated more than 600,000 Washington kids who need care because all available parents are working currently aren’t getting state licensed child care. More data on Washington’s child care crisis is available in the handout here.

The child care crisis isn’t just bad for kids and families – it’s also a drag on Washington’s economy. When parents don’t have a reliable and affordable place to take their children while they work, they’re forced to miss shifts and lose income, or leave the workforce altogether. In fact, 30 percent of parents report leaving the workforce because of lack of child care.

“Before becoming a mom, I had heard that child care was expensive and hard to find, but I was shocked that in my community it was nearly nonexistent,” said Capri Jackson, a mom and MomsRising member in Colville. “When I had my baby, I had to leave the workforce because of our state’s child care crisis. My employer lost a passionate and skilled employee. And without my income, my family can’t save as much money for our future or support our local small businesses as much as we did before.”

Washington’s child care shortage costs Washington’s economy an estimated $3.5 billion a year in lost wages, productivity and consumer spending.

Child care providers are also struggling and the entire industry suffers from high turnover as a result of low wages for child care providers. Child care workers – the vast majority of whom are women, and disproportionately women of color – are so underpaid, many have to rely on government assistance.

“I do this work because I want families to have the ability to work and thrive, and their children to have safe quality childcare full of love, but it’s a challenge to stay open, to provide enough spots for parents in our community, and to attract and retain qualified help when I need it,” said Maria de Carmen Muñoz, a child care provider in the Tri-Cities and a member of OneAmerica Votes. “But with the cost of child care already putting care out of reach for so many families, we can’t simply raise rates. We need help.”

The coalition isn’t waiting until January to begin work on passing a new child care agenda in Olympia. The polling shows 62% of Washington voters say that child care and early education is their top or a high priority when they go to vote.

“With this data, we intend to put child care and early learning issues at the forefront of elections this year in every contest in Washington state from legislative races to the governor’s race,” said Roxana Norouzi, CEO of OneAmerica Votes. “We look forward to that work ahead with our partners, and building a child care majority in Olympia that will deliver the solutions voters are calling for.”

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About Children’s Campaign Fund Action

Children’s Campaign Fund Action (CCFA) builds non-partisan political power through advocacy and education to enact transformational policy change for children, youth, and families. CCFA is the 501(c)(4) advocacy arm of the Children’s Campaign Fund, one of the nation’s longest-standing PACs focused on children’s issues. We envision a Washington where all lawmakers prioritize the health, well-being, safety, and learning and development of the children, youth, and families of Washington State, especially those who are under-resourced and marginalized. 

About OneAmerica Votes

OneAmerica Votes is a political and movement home to advance the lives and liberation of immigrant and refugee people. We are a 501(c)(4) advocacy and political organization that organizes and builds the leadership of immigrants and our allies in Washington state to break down systems that were built to exclude us and launch immigrants and people of color into public life. We strive to build a multiracial democracy that is people centered, works for us all and is reflective of our lived experiences and what we deserve to thrive.

About MomsRising

MomsRising.org is an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to increase family economic security, stop discrimination against women and moms, and build a nation where businesses and families can thrive. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families, including criminal justice reform, immigration policy reform, and gun safety. MomsRising is working for paid family and medical leave, affordable, high quality child care and early learning, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes women — particularly moms and women of color — and so many others. MomsRising advocates for access to healthy food for all kids, health care for all, earned sick days, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. MomsRising maintains a Spanish language website: MamásConPoder.org.