On the 7th Day of Decline, the Iowa GOP Gave Us… A 40,000 Child Care Slot Shortfall

DES MOINES, IA – On the seventh day of Christmas, Iowans did not receive seven swans a-swimming. Instead, they received a huge shortfall of child care slots. 

Iowa needs about 162,000 daycare slots to meet its current need, which is about 40,000 more than the capacity of all of Iowa’s child care centers combined. 

It also means nearly 1 in 4 kids who need care can’t get it and instead are receiving substandard care. 

The lack of affordable and accessible child care costs Iowa about $1.1 billion a year in lost earnings and tax revenue. Fourteen percent of Iowans have been forced to quit, change or turn down a job because of child care issues. Twenty percent of Iowa parents who participated in a Kids Count report said they were fired because of ongoing child care struggles. 

Nearly a quarter of Iowans live in a child care desert, meaning there are either no child care centers or there are so few slots available that there are three times more children than licensed child care slots. That’s more than 715,000 Iowans who live in a child care desert and do not have access to child care – more than 431,000 of whom live in rural areas. 

Iowa Republicans keep making promises about improving child care that they simply can’t keep. 

We can’t keep heading down this path. 

This December, instead of French hens and golden rings, we’re counting down the 12 Days of Iowa’s decline — a daily look at the rankings Iowa has tanked under a decade of one-party rule. Stay tuned tomorrow for Day 8. 

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