Tax credits for early childhood workforce advanced

Early childhood care and education program providers and their staff would be eligible for a tax credit under a bill advanced by the Legislature March 29.

Introduced by Omaha Sen. Heath Mello, LB889 originally proposed several tiered tax credits related to early childhood care and education.

A Revenue Committee amendment, adopted 32-0, narrowed the bill to two tiered tax credits—one for providers of eligible early childhood care and education programs and another for staff members.

Mello cited a recent survey from the University of Nebraska’s Buffett Early Childhood Institute in which a majority of Nebraskans said high-quality early childhood care and education programs are too few and too expensive. He said the bill would address that problem by encouraging more child care workers and educators to enhance their training and education, improving the overall quality of the workforce.

“Along with supporting the development of early childhood professionals,” Mello said, “supporting programs that work to provide high-quality care is another way to build a better system for Nebraska’s children.”

A child care or early childhood education program would have to be assigned a quality rating under the Step Up to Quality Child Care Act to qualify for the credit. The amount of the credit would be determined by the program’s quality rating and the average monthly number of children who attend the program.

The bill also would direct the state Department of Education to develop a classification system for employees of applicable early childhood care and education programs. An employee’s rating would be based on his or her level of education, training and work history. The rating would determine the amount of credit the employee receives.

The total amount of credits would be capped at $5 million per year and the credits would be available for five years beginning Jan. 1, 2017.

Sen. Kate Sullivan of Cedar Rapids supported the bill, saying the state should invest in early childhood education to ensure that children succeed once they reach kindergarten. She said the proposal would support child care workers and improve the quality of the early childhood workforce.

Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte opposed the bill. He said a more qualified workforce also would be a more expensive one, placing high-quality early childhood programs farther out of reach for many families.

Senators voted 33-6 to advance the bill to select file.