Alex de Geofroy | Support HB1566

The child care crisis in New Hampshire is a fundamental workforce bottleneck. We cannot expect parents to return to work if there are no teachers to staff our child care classrooms, and we cannot find those teachers without competitive benefits. HB 1566 is a vital insurance policy that ensures the recruitment and retention grants promised in the last budget actually reach our providers. Relying on federal TANF funds was always a precarious strategy; this bill provides the necessary state-level backup to ensure that these small businesses and their employees are not left behind by federal regulatory hurdles. Investing $15 million from the General Fund to stabilize the child care sector is a sound economic move. When centers can't find staff, they close rooms, and when rooms close, the rest of our state's workforce remains sidelined. We made a commitment to these providers, and we should use our state resources to honor that commitment, ensuring that child care remains a viable career and that parents have the support they need to participate in our economy.