Lt. Gov. Flanagan highlights child care concerns during west-central Minnesota visit

0C7A1205 (2).JPG — Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan reads a children's book to kids at PioneerKids, an employer-provided child care facility for employees of PioneerCare assisted living in Fergus Falls, as part of a visit to highlight community concerns surrounding child care availability and access on March 10, 2023.

By Michael Achterling

March 10, 2023 at 5:53 PM

FERGUS FALLS — Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan visited Fergus Falls on Friday to host a roundtable discussion with community leaders on child care and visit with local kids during story time at an employer-provided child care facility.

0C7A1006 (2).JPG — Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, right, greets Samantha VanWechel-Meyer, a development specialist with West Central Initiative, during a child care roundtable discussion with Otter Tail County community leaders at the Fergus Falls Public Library on March 10, 2023.

0C7A1032 (2).JPG — Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, center-right, speaks during a child care roundtable discussion with Otter Tail County community leaders at the Fergus Falls Public Library on March 10, 2023.

During the March 10 visit, Flanagan highlighted the Walz administration's effort to assist families with rising child care costs through a variety of tax credits, dependent care credits, workforce stabilization grants and potential direct payments to taxpayers. The measures are linked to Gov. Walz's biennial budget proposal currently being debated in the Minnesota Legislature .

"Child care is incredibly important to our administration," said Flanagan. "I think we are finally in a place where we are talking about child care in the way that we need to talk about child care. It is the workforce behind the workforce and it also is economic and workforce development, and we have to talk about it that way, no matter where you live."

Flanagan said child care access is a personal issue for her because she was the child of a single mother who depended on the state's child care assistance program to give her a safe place to be while her mom worked and attended school.

Gov. Walz's budget proposal calls for a child tax credit of $1,000 per child, up to $3,000, for those that earn less than $50,000 per year and would cut the child poverty rate by 25%. Additionally, the expansion of the child and dependent care tax credit to $4,000 per child for those earning less than $200,000 per year could provide more relief for about 157,000 families across the state, Flanagan said.

0C7A1103 (2).JPG — Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, left, listens to Amy Baldwin, community development director for Otter Tail County, during a child care roundtable discussion with Otter Tail County community leaders at the Fergus Falls Public Library on March 10, 2023.

0C7A1085 (2).JPG — Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, right, leads a child care roundtable discussion with Otter Tail County community leaders at the Fergus Falls Public Library on March 10, 2023.

Being able to construct new facilities, or repurposing existing buildings, were additional concerns brought up during the discussion.

Maggie Fresonke, Perham Health volunteer coordinator, told Flanagan that she ran into problems with square-footage requirements when planning out a child care center recently, which forced her to seek a variance through a complicated process.

"No wonder nobody wants to do this," said Fresonke. "This is hard. ... The silliest little things are putting barriers in our way, so my ask for the state level is: can we take a look at the licensing? Is there some middle ground we can find?"

Flanagan responded, and said, "I think there's opportunities, as she said, for a variance ... but I do think a lot of the rules, a lot of the regulations, are there because of safety. They are there because of some tragic event (in the past) oftentimes deep injury or loss of life, and that is our primary lens. Our job is to keep people safe."

She added the Walz administration is working with the Minnesota Department of Human Services to make some changes to child care regulatory requirements based on responses they have been receiving from child care providers, but stressed they want child safety to remain a primary concern.

0C7A1047 (2).JPG — Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, center-right, speaks during a child care roundtable discussion with Otter Tail County community leaders at the Fergus Falls Public Library on March 10, 2023.

"We want to make sure child care is as accessible as possible," said Flanagan. "There are some of those barriers there that can be removed, the ones that are there for safety we need to keep in place."

Nancy Jost, director of early childhood at West Central Initiative, said regulations are an easy target when trying to come up with a quick solution to a complex problem.

"If you don't make enough money, and that can't be fixed, then I'm going to talk about those regulations that are so bad," said Jost. "Minnesota has less regulations than some states, more than others, but every state in this country has a (child care) shortage and one of the biggest reasons is because the women that do this work are not being paid a wage that values the important work that they are doing."

Another aspect of Gov. Walz's budget proposal is workforce stabilization grants. The budget calls for $350 million per biennium for child care program retention payments.

"This money, 100% of it, has to go towards compensation and towards the workforce, as well as recruitment, training and support for providers, starting or operating child care businesses," said Flanagan.

0C7A1270 (2).JPG — Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan reads a children's book to kids at PioneerKids, an employee child care provider for PioneerCare assisted living, in Fergus Falls as part of a visit to highlight community concerns surrounding child care availability and access on March 10, 2023.

Following the roundtable discussion, Flanagan visited PioneerKids in Fergus Fall during story time. PioneerKids is an employer-provided child care facility for employees of PioneerCare, an assisted living and nursing facility.

Flanagan read "Llama Llama Home with Mama" to about eight pre-K-aged children before visiting with facility staff.

0C7A1189 (2).JPG — Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan reads a children's book to kids at PioneerKids, an employee child care provider for PioneerCare assisted living in Fergus Falls, as part of a visit to highlight community concerns surrounding child care availability and access on March 10, 2023.

By Michael Achterling

Lead Multimedia Reporter for the Detroit Lakes Tribune and the Perham Focus.

Lt. Gov. Flanagan highlights child care concerns during west-central Minnesota visit

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan read to Fergus Falls kids and hosted a child care roundtable discussion with community leaders during her visit to west-central Minnesota on March 10.