Democrats in the Iowa Senate are hoping to offer low-income Iowans who qualify for child care assistance the option of using it while they work or go to school. Senator Amanda Ragan,, a Democrat from Mason City, says current rules don’t allow that. “You can either work or you can be in school,” Ragan says. “You can’t do both.”
The state program offers a state subsidy to cover up to 28 hours of child care expenses per week. Ragan says it makes sense to allow low income Iowans the option of both working and upgrading their skills at the same time. “It would make it so they could better themselves and improve themselves through education while they’re still working,” Ragan says.
A single parent may qualify for child care assistance from the state if their monthly income is $1,200 dollars. Members of the House/Senate committee who are responsible for writing the budget for the Iowa Department of Human Services are considering the proposed changes to state child care assistance.