“Depending on what source you look at, Vermont is one of the top few most heavily taxed states in the country. This will add significantly to that burden. Child care is not the state’s business and we should stay out of it at all cost.”
Perhaps Vermont should pay parents to stay home and care for their own children. Many of them would earn a higher wage than they earn in their out-of-home jobs, there would be no need for state regulations and oversight, and fossil fuels would be saved — the parent will stay home from work; the child not be driven to hard-to-find daycare.
As lawmakers evaluate a bill focused on universal public preschool, they are also considering ways to strengthen Vermont’s fragile network of private child care providers. One proposed way is through a property tax exemption.
The results are undeniable that the system of educating our children in Vermont is not working — neither for the kids nor the teachers and staff. This is why expanding this broken system by a year to include full day preschool for 4-year-olds should be absolutely unthinkable.
Sen. Dick Sears is not going to argue if it’s better for the child to be home with a parent during the first five years because there is no argument. Except in extreme circumstances, it’s better for a child to be raised at home by a parent.
As it relates to the child care crisis in Vermont, representatives in my district have decided to champion this to the tune of $179 to $279 million, overseen by the House Human Services Committee.
In addition to the $125 million the state currently spends on child care programs annually, an additional $258 million will need to be raised, for a total of $383 million taxpayer dollars a year. This on top of the $260 million that citizens privately pay for child care services.