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- Advocates rallied at the Capitol in Salt Lake City for increased child care funding in Utah.
- Kristyn Rose emphasized the burden on parents and providers, urging public investment.
- Proposals include retrofitting state buildings and tax credits for business-supported facilities.
SALT LAKE CITY — Advocates rallied on Capitol Hill Friday to push for more money for child care. They said Utahns are struggling to afford child care, and public funding is desperately needed.
"Parents and child care providers, from my perspective, have shouldered the burden of financing child care long enough," said Kristyn Rose, who runs a home-based child care facility in Hyde Park. "I feel like it really is time for a public investment, and even the business sector to put their money where their mouth is and invest in Utah's children."
Rose joined other advocates at the Capitol in Salt Lake City to call attention to what they say is a crisis for child care that's been developing for decades. They're especially worried now that hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funding to support child care facilities is gone.
"Most brain development in the human lifespan happens in the first three years of life," Rose said. "When we're not investing in Utah's children, we're not investing in that development."
Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, acknowledged child care is an issue that needs to be looked at.
"I think it's a real challenge in Utah," Adams said.
Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, said there are a few bills in the works this session that aim to address the problem. One proposal from last year that didn't pass would retrofit unused state buildings and build child care facilities in them, partnering with private businesses.
Escamilla said another bill would provide a tax credit to businesses in Utah that open a child care facility.
Last year, state lawmakers approved a measure boosting the number of children allowed at unlicensed day care facilities.
