Public Comments

The challenges our state's childcare system is facing don't just hurt working parents, they hurt our invaluable childcare providers, and our state's economy as a whole. Investing in childcare must be a priority for this state to move forward. I ask you to please support this bill. 

1. I urge the support of this bill as a mother who relys on childcare to provide for my home. It took two years for me to get accepted to a childcare facility due to low availability, as a result of unfulfilled employment at childcare facilities. These workers are not paid what they deserve, but at the least they deserve a benefit for doing the work that most parents rely on to keep the world moving. If West Virginia really wants to see more folks working, we as a state need to invest in those who keep our parental employees employed, starting with our childcare workers and providers. When our childcare centers are staffed and able to work, we will also see the workforce showing up to work.

Covering the cost of child care for child care program employees is a workforce strategy.  Child care programs are struggling to recruit and retain staff, not because people don’t want to work with children, but because they cannot afford to. Offering child care as a guaranteed benefit makes these positions far more competitive with retail, hospitality, and other entry-level jobs. It becomes a tangible incentive that attracts qualified candidates. When child care classrooms close due to staffing shortages, working parents across every industry are impacted. Supporting child care staff ensures programs stay open, which keeps other sectors functioning. Investing in child care employees is an economic safeguard. If we want a stable child care system, we must first stabilize the workforce that makes it possible.

As an early learning center director, I believe this bill is critical to sustaining high-quality child care. The heart of our center is the educators who show up every day to make a meaningful difference in children’s lives. When those same employees struggle to afford care for their own children, it directly impacts retention, morale, and the stability families depend on. Supporting them by helping cover the cost of their children’s care is an investment in the workforce that makes quality early education possible. I strongly urge passage of this bill.

In rural West Virginia, child care is not just a family issue — it is an economic survival issue. Agriculture, small businesses, tourism, and seasonal industries depend on a reliable workforce. When child care programs cannot retain staff, they reduce capacity or close classrooms. When that happens, parents cannot show up for work — and local businesses feel it immediately.

Many child care employees work 20 hours or more per week caring for other people’s children, yet struggle to afford care for their own. In small rural communities, wages are modest and options are limited. Without support, these employees often leave the field for other industries that offer better financial stability. Every time we lose a child care worker, we risk losing child care slots — and in rural areas, there are rarely backup options.

For agriculture and seasonal businesses especially, timing matters. Planting, harvest, farmers markets, festivals, tourism seasons, and local events require dependable labor. If parents cannot secure reliable child care, farms struggle to find workers, small businesses reduce hours, and community events suffer. The ripple effect is real and immediate.

HB 4067 is a workforce stabilization bill. Allowing child care employees to access a subsidy regardless of household income recognizes that child care is essential infrastructure that supports every other industry. Investing in the people who care for our children ensures that rural communities can keep their workforce engaged, their businesses operating, and their economies growing.

In rural West Virginia, we cannot afford to lose more child care providers. Supporting the child care workforce supports agriculture, small businesses, and the families who keep our communities strong.

For these reasons, I respectfully and strongly urge passage of HB 4067.

I am a 19 year old soon to be mother working in childcare. I make 12$ an hour and work 36-40 hour weeks I can barely make ends meet as is. This bill would benefit so many people in so many ways! Some childcare can be up to 300$ a week! That is my whole paycheck! This bill would be so beneficial to so many.

I’m a working parent who has lived through how limited child care options and high costs can destabilize a family. In rural areas, availability can be so tight that parents are forced into impossible choices—long commutes, patchwork care, or leaving the workforce—because there simply aren’t enough slots.

When my family was raising two young children, we faced extremely limited local child care options and costs that would have added up to tens of thousands of dollars over the years. The constant strain of trying to keep jobs, keep children cared for safely, and keep a household functioning took a real toll on our family.

HB 4067 is a practical workforce-and-family policy: if child care workers can access a subsidy based on their work hours rather than household income, it helps retain qualified staff, reduces turnover, and strengthens the child care system for everyone.​

I urge you to pass HB 4067 to support the child care workforce and to make child care more stable and accessible for West Virginia families.

I support this bill.

My name is Chris Gale, and I am writing to support House Bill 4067, which would allow employees working 20 hours or more per week in licensed child care centers or certified family child care homes to receive a child care subsidy for their own children, regardless of income.

Quality child care is essential for families and the workforce. Yet the sector has long struggled to recruit and retain staff because compensation is often low and workers can barely afford care for their own children. By allowing child care workers to access subsidy support, this bill would help ease that gap and make careers in early childhood more sustainable.

When those who care for our children can afford care for their own families, it:

• Improves workforce stability in child care settings;

• Reduces turnover and increases consistency for children and families;

• Strengthens access to quality care throughout our communities.

Supporting those who give so much to others is an investment in West Virginia’s children and families. I respectfully urge you to support HB 4067.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

My name is Tiffany Gale, and I am a child care provider and member of the early childhood community in West Virginia. I am writing to express my strong support for House Bill 4067, which would allow employees of child care programs — including family child care homes — who work at least 20 hours per week to receive a child care subsidy for their own children, regardless of income.

This bill makes sense for our child care workforce. Many of the dedicated professionals who care for our children are parents themselves. Despite the importance of their work, child care employees are often paid low wages and struggle to afford care for their own children. This creates financial stress and barriers that make it harder to recruit and retain quality staff — a challenge that many providers, including myself, face every day.

By ensuring that child care workers can access subsidy support for their families, HB 4067 would help remove a critical barrier to workforce stability. It would:

• Support recruitment and retention of qualified child care staff;

• Recognize the value of early childhood professionals by supporting their own families;

• Strengthen the overall child care system by helping keep more caregivers in the field.

I urge you to support this practical and compassionate legislation. Helping child care workers afford care for their own children is not only fair — it benefits families, children, and our entire early childhood system.

Thank you for your consideration.

• As someone who worked in this field for many years and has also had three children go to childcare, I can say with my whole heart that when you find a good childcare you hold onto it. One of the main reasons why I stopped working in childcare was because it is so underpaid. And that is not on the programs themselves at all. Unfortunately childcares are struggling for funding as it is. The teachers can be some of the most wonderful and talented teachers around, but they still have bills to pay and unfortunately most of the time they don’t qualify for childcare payment assistances. Therefore, these teachers would benefit incredibly from their own children being offered scholarships. They spend so much time working with and caring for children in communities that don’t have access to consistent warm meals and love. They spend their hard earned money on classroom supplies, treats, and other classroom needs like diapers and wipes and have their own children to worry about as well. They are who so many of us trust our babies with in a world that is hard enough. Please see these workers and their hard work and understand that they deserve the world. They deserve to be able to do what they love and still be able to afford living as well.