Bill to address issues from Ohio’s infant mortality to early childhood education passes legislature
Legislation to make improvements to systems ranging from infant care to early childhood education throughout the state of Ohio was passed by the Ohio General Assembly on Wednesday.
House Bill 7 made it through the lame duck session with passage the day after the measure was favorably passed in the Senate Finance Committee with amendments to remove funding provisions within the bill.
“We raised awareness, and we are asking to up our game next year,” said co-sponsor state Rep. Andrea White, R-Kettering, when the House concurred in Senate amendments late on Wednesday night.
Co-sponsor state Rep. Latyna Humphrey, D-Columbus, called it “a good step in the right direction,” and said supporters would be pushing for the funding in the budget.
“We want people to know that we’re not done,” Humphrey said.
Other amendments to the bill eliminated doula services for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, and though advocates were disappointed to see funding removed, they expressed hope that next year’s budget would include items to help move forward with improvements to infant and maternal mortality and community resource engagement to bring about better child outcomes in the state.
The bill still contains a directive for an Ohio Department of Medicaid-led study regarding “reimbursement of evidence-based peer-to-peer programming that supports infant vitality,” and a requirement that the Ohio Department of Children & Youth streamline it’s processes, including central intake and referral to focus on home visiting programs and “encourage early prenatal and well-baby care” as well as parenting education.
The ODCY will also be required to “rate” licensed child daycare centers and family daycare home operations for Head Start or Early Head Start in the same rating system as Step Up to Quality.
The bill had bipartisan co-sponsors, unlike other child care bills that seem doomed as the lame duck session comes to an end, including a Democrat-led bill that would have created a tax credit similar to the federal tax credit seen during the COVID pandemic, and a Republican proposal to split costs for child care in Ohio between employers, employees and the state.
The child care system in Ohio has been criticized as highly flawed, unaffordable and inaccessible to many Ohioans who need the ability to place their children in quality facilities in order to contribute to the workforce.
Susan Tebben is an award-winning journalist with a decade of experience covering Ohio news, including courts and crime, Appalachian social issues, government, education, diversity and culture. She has worked for The Newark Advocate, The Glasgow (KY) Daily Times, The Athens Messenger, and WOUB Public Media. She has also had work featured on National Public Radio.
Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
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