With New York Ranked Least-Affordable State For Child Care, Gillibrand Announces New Bipartisan Legislation To Ease Burden Of Sky-High Child Care Costs For Working Families

Press Release

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) announced new bipartisan legislation today that would change the federal tax system to help make child care more affordable and accessible for working parents and families. With a new report confirming that New York families pay the highest child care costs in the country, parents and advocates from across Upstate New York joined Gillibrand to discuss the new push to make the services more affordable.

"While middle class wages remain stagnant child care is now so expensive in this state, that it is rivaling the cost of sending our children to college," said Senator Gillibrand. "For many families, both parents working, or a single mom going to work to provide for her family isn't a choice. And no family should have to choose between earning a paycheck or staying home because they can't afford the child care bills. Congress must come together and take this head-on, and we should start with these three proposals that have one very clear goal - to finally make child care affordable and accessible for our working families."

The average household income here in Monroe County is only $52,394 and in the City of Rochester even less at $30,875. New York was ranked the least affordable state in the nation for child care, according to a recent report by Child Care Aware. For many families, paying for child care represents a family's largest monthly expense after housing.

In the Rochester Finger Lakes Region, there were nearly 62,000 families with children under six years old. For a year of child care in a day care center, families spend an estimate of up to $10,851 for an infant, up to $10,244 for a toddler 1.5-2 years, up to $9,620 for a toddler 3-5 years and up to $9,013 for a child age 6-12.

To help low-income and middle class families save more on quality child care, money that would go right back into the local economy, Senator Gillibrand is pushing to more than double the federal child care tax credit and make the credit refundable, allowing working parents to receive a maximum credit of $3,000 for one child, up from $1,050, and put more money back in their pockets. The Senator is also proposing allowing a family to deduct up to $14,000 of qualifying child care expenses, for two children, putting $3,500 back into their pockets. Additionally, Gillibrand will introduce legislation that would increase the amount of money families can contribute to a flexible spending account that is not subject to taxes families can use to pay for child care expenses -- saving them hundreds of dollars.

"As one of the leading providers of early childhood education in the Rochester community, we feel strongly that quality childcare in Rochester is critical to the success of our community as a whole," said Lynn Lubecki, MS Ed., Ed.D, Rochester Childfirst Network Executive Director/CEO. "As practitioners, we place a strong emphasis on evidence-based professional development for our teachers and staff, and engage in continuous improvement practices on an ongoing basis. We believe that child care is not a perk, but an essential service for thousands of working families who rely on quality early childcare for their child's first 3-5 years of development--the most critical time of development in a child's life."

"High quality care and education is so important for children - for all children. But it's expensive. Here in Rochester, families can easily pay $12,000 a year for quality care - almost double the cost of SUNY tuition!," said Carolyn Lee-Davis, Policy Director at The Children's Agenda. "We know that many working families already have budgets that are stretched to the limit. Families are then caught in the impossible situation of finding care that they can afford so that they can stay working. This often results in children being placed in lower quality, less stable, and sometimes unsafe, environments. By recommending these critical improvements to the tax provisions for child care costs for working families, Senator Gillibrand is supporting working families -families that have middle incomes and families that have low incomes - helping parents stay at work while being able to better afford the high quality care that is best for their children, getting them ready for school and life."

Rochester Business Alliance President and CEO Bob Duffy said, "Rochester Business Alliance appreciates Senator Gillibrand's leadership on this important community issue. Affordable, high-quality child care benefits both the work force and employers. Parents are more focused at work knowing their children are safe and cared for, while employers see fewer absences and less employee turnover. The Rochester Community Coalition, convened by Rochester Business Alliance, has recognized the importance of child care to working families and employers and has included the issue in its annual state advocacy agenda in the past. RBA is also pleased to see the federal government take an active interest."

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