Parent leader Marisol Rosales had the voices of 26,000 families with her when she spoke at a March 1 Legislative hearing. Rosales and the other 26 thousand families have benefited from child care family fee waivers since July 1, 2021. These waivers are set to expire June 30 and will leave Rosales’ family and others without the child care assistance they desperately need.
“As a mother of four I know what it’s like to pay child care fees that are unaffordable. I had to decide which bills to pay first and which bills to pay later. I was accumulating late fees. There was no breathing space for me. I was always behind and no matter how hard my husband and I worked, we could never get ahead.”
Marisol Rosales
The freeze on family fees, a savings of $500, allowed Marisol to take steps to get ahead by paying off debt and raising her credit score and created opportunities for her children by joining dance classes.
Every penny counts with struggling families. Freezing, if not eliminating, family fees and increasing wages for child care providers in addition to the Governor’s proposal to add 30,000 child care slots is a way for families to gain upward mobility and security in an ever changing world. “Tens of millions of dollars have stayed in the bank accounts of CA families who worked hard to earn it. All of them are experiencing financial liberty and more stability during one of the most uncertain times in our history.”
Read Marisol’s full speech here:
Good morning, my name is Marisol Rosales. I am here today representing Parent Voices and the 26 thousand families who have benefited from child care family fee waivers since July 1, 2021. That’s 26 thousand families who will be impacted if you don’t extend those waivers.
As a mother of four I know what it’s like to pay child care fees that are unaffordable. I had to decide which bills to pay first and which bills to pay later. I was accumulating late fees. There was no breathing space for me. I was always behind and no matter how hard my husband and I worked, we could never get ahead.
That all changed because of child care champions like Assemblywoman Gomez Reyes. Starting July 1st, the $500 I was paying in family fees went to pay off a student loan instead. Because I paid my total debt down, my credit score increased by 20 points within 6 months! I was also able to enroll my kids in a folklorico dance class. With the pandemic and being in isolation away from their peers, these dance classes are bringing joy to my kids again! I am able to breathe every month because I had those extra 500 dollars to make choices that benefitted by entire family . One less bill, one less worry.
The fees are waived till June 30th of this year and we need all of you to use your power to keep family fees frozen beyond that. Imagine if fees were eliminated? My goal is for my credit score to rise even more, to have a chance at home ownership, to build the life my kids deserve. This is just the impact on me. Tens of millions of dollars have stayed in the bank accounts of CA families who worked hard to earn it. All of them are experiencing financial liberty and more stability during one of the most uncertain times in our history.
This is why it is so important for the next budget to waive family fees until September 2024, the maximum amount allowable by federal regulations. It will allow families like mine to recover from the pandemic, build financial stability, and provide opportunities for our children.
But waiving families fees are only one part of the solution to fix our child care crisis. Finding child care was hard before the pandemic but it is even harder now. We are watching our very little child care supply vanish because providers cannot afford to stay open. We support the Governor’s proposal to add 30,000 child care slots but it has to happen together with fee waivers and increases to child care provider wages. I have benefited from amazing child care providers over the years but I know that they have been paid poorly and that is not right. For my husband and I to work with peace of mind, it’s important that our child care providers also have peace of mind. How can they have it if they are worried about paying bills, paying staff, paying themselves! When providers and parents are whole, when we have peace of mind, all our kids benefit.
So we stand with the ECE field and the End Child Poverty Coalition demanding significant investments to save our early educators with higher wages and expand slots with no fees. This is how you ensure women, especially women of color can be included in our state’s economic recovery. Thank you.