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More than 100 parents, children, lawmakers and advocates carried signs and babies outside the Alaska State Capitol on Tuesday. They were asking the Legislature to prioritize child care funding.
The rally comes after the Alaska Senate cut more than $13.8 million in child care funding from the budget.
Hannah Weed is raising two children and runs Tumbleweeds, a licensed child care facility in Juneau. She said the only way she could afford taking care of her younger child was to start a business providing child care to others at the same time.
“I can’t actually afford to stay home with him, but I don’t have anywhere to send him,” Weed said. “So thankfully, I have experience working with children, and that route worked for me. But it doesn’t work for everybody.”
Child care is part of a long list of cuts as the Senate works on drafting their version of a budget that balances a nearly $2 billion deficit. Advocates also pushed for supporting several bills to bolster several early childhood education and development programs.
Blue Shibler is the executive director for the Southeast Alaska Association for the Education of Young Children. She’s advocated for child care support for years. She said it’s legislators’ job to look for ways to make money to fund child care, like through taxes.
“Parents are tired of having to, like, sing for their supper,” Shibler said. “We shouldn’t have to beg and plead for these things. They’re just basic things that every family needs to thrive in a state.”
At a Senate Majority press conference after the rally, Fairbanks Republican Sen. Cathy Giessel said she agrees with rally-goers on the importance of child care, but the state can’t afford to fund it.
“The problem is we don’t have any money. We’ve had to make serious cuts. And child care funding is one of them,” she said.
Giessel added that advocates shouldn’t give up as the Senate finds other ways to drum up revenue for the state.
“We’re not at a fiscal cliff anymore. We’re actually falling over the cliff,” she said. “And so what we’re trying to do is be creative, to find new ways and yet not place burdensome taxes on Alaskans that are struggling and businesses that are struggling.”
The Legislature is required to pass a balanced budget by the end of the session or face a state government shutdown. The last day of session this year is May 21.
