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Though policymakers have made a few attempts at increasing Ohioans' access to child care in recent years, the problem is as bad as ever. In fact, advocates are labeling it a crisis.
"We are using the word, and we don't use it lightly, but we are calling this a childcare crisis," Tasha Booker, president and CEO of Action for Children, told Spectrum News 1. "In order for child care to be considered affordable in Ohio, families should be spending no more than about 8% of their income."
Instead, some families with two young children are spending up to 33%.
If you're reaction to that is that it's just not worth working outside the home, at that cost, now you have a window into Ohio's labor force participation problem, too.
Childcare costs are higher in Ohio than the national average. Christy Felling, managing director of communications at the First Five Years Fund, told Spectrum News 1 the average annual cost for childcare here is nearly $14,000.
There are solutions. And the good news is, according to Spectrum News' report, state leaders and organizations ARE working to find them.
There are federal Child Care and Development Block Grants, federal tax credits and deductions, and other supports available at the state and community level, if lawmakers can just stay focused long enough to pull them together.
And if lawmakers aren't much worried about adding to the worries of Ohio families, maybe they'll rethink their priorities if they understand failure to act creates a problem for Ohio's employers, too.
"A lot of people coming to the table, Ohio Chamber of Commerce is one," Booker told Spectrum News 1. "A lot of the business community is coming together to say, we really do need to solve this together."
Other states have this sorted out -- or at least have a handle on the problem. And we know once Ohio politicians and public officials decide something is their priority, they don't stop until they've accomplished their mission.
It's time for affordable child care to become a priority.