By Jennifer Trippett

West Virginia Watch

Dec. 9, 2025

https://westvirginiawatch.com

In West Virginia, we talk a lot about work. We want people to show up, punch the clock and pull their weight. But there is an uncomfortable truth we keep dodging: you can’t have a strong workforce if parents have no safe, reliable, high-quality places to leave their children.

That’s why it’s time for West Virginia to pay the true cost of child care for families who use the state child care subsidy.

Right now, our subsidy system is built on wishful thinking. The state reimburses child care programs at rates that are well below what it actually costs to provide minimal care. National estimates of the “true cost” of high-quality care show the gap clearly: caring for an infant at a high-quality level can cost more than $25,400 per year, but the average subsidized rate for infant care in West Virginia is only about $9,079. 

That difference doesn’t magically disappear. Someone is paying for it — and right now, it’s a toxic mix of underpaid educators, struggling programs, and parents who don’t receive subsidies being charged more to make up the gap.

High quality early care isn’t a luxury

High-quality early childhood education is not “babysitting.” It’s skilled work that shapes the brain development, social skills, and school readiness of our youngest West Virginians. When classrooms are staffed with stable, trained teachers; when ratios are low enough for children to get real attention; when environments are safe and rich with learning — children do better in school, need fewer special education services, and are more likely to graduate and find good jobs later in life. That’s not ideology; it’s decades of research. But quality costs money:

• Living wages and benefits for staff so they stay in the field 

• Safe, licensed facilities that meet health and safety standards

• Training, curriculum, screenings, and family support

If the state only pays a “discount” rate through subsidy, providers have two choices: cut quality or find the money somewhere else. Too often, they’re forced to do both.

How underpaying the child care subsidy hurts private-pay parents

The child care subsidy is supposed to help low- and moderate-income families afford child care. But when the state rate is below the true cost, programs must fill the hole.

That usually looks like:

• Raising tuition on families who pay out-of-pocket to offset the shortfall

• Packing more children into classrooms or cutting corners to cut costs 

• Keeping wages low, causing constant turnover and burnout

In practice, this means a family just over the subsidy income cutoff — or a family who can’t access subsidy for other reasons — may end up paying more than they should, simply because the program is trying to survive on inadequate public funding.

So instead of subsidy leveling the playing field, it creates financial hardships:

• Subsidy families are in programs that are financially fragile

• Non-subsidy families are charged higher rates to cover the gap

• Both groups experience staff turnover, closures, or waiting lists.

When we talk about “paying the true cost of child care,” we’re saying the state should stop quietly shifting its responsibility onto parents and educators.

Child care closures are a workforce crisis

West Virginia already has one of the lowest labor force participation rates in the country — about 54.3% as of August 2025, compared to over 69% in some other states. Business leaders have raised the alarm about our shrinking workforce and what it means for economic growth.

You cannot fix that without fixing child care.

Across the state, we’re seeing:

• Roughly 1,200 licensed child care providers, yet more than 25,000 children who still don’t have access to care because there simply aren’t enough slots.

• Reports that hundreds of child care providers have left the industry since early 2023 as federal relief funds ended and costs rose.

When a child care program closes or shrinks, parents don’t just lose a service — many lose the ability to work. Moms, in particular, are often pushed out of jobs or forced into part-time work when they can’t find or afford care. Employers struggle to fill openings and retain staff. Communities lose both jobs at the child care center and productivity in other industries.

This is not just a “family issue.” It is the core economic infrastructure. If we allowed this to happen to our roads or electric grid, we’d call it what it is: a statewide crisis.

Market rates don’t reflect reality — true cost modeling does

Historically, many states, including West Virginia, have set child care subsidy rates based on market rate surveys — essentially, “what are providers charging now?” The problem is that these prices are already constrained by what parents can pay, not what it actually costs to run a high-quality program. National analysis shows that the true cost of providing care exceeds not only subsidy rates but often the price charged to families as well.

Paying the true cost of child care for subsidy means:

1. Basing reimbursement on cost models, not just market rates, and updating them regularly. 

2. Recognizing higher costs for infants, toddlers, and rural programs, where staffing and transportation challenges are different. 

3. Ensuring rates support living wages and benefits for early educators, so we stop losing them to less stressful, higher-paying jobs in retail or fast food.

When subsidy pays the true cost, programs no longer need to overcharge private-pay families or cut quality just to keep the lights on.

This is a smart economic development strategy

West Virginia pours time and money into trying to attract businesses and grow jobs. But businesses look for a stable, dependable workforce — and they know childcare is a huge part of that.

We’re already experimenting with promising models like cost-sharing “tri-share” programs, where employers, parents and the state each pay a portion of child care costs. Those efforts are helpful, but they are small and limited in geography. They also allow winners and losers across the state based on what employers can afford AND choose to participate. They will never allow for parents working state or government jobs to participate and benefit. Think teachers, police, emergency service personnel, VA employees, CPS workers, etc. Tri-Share cannot replace a strong, statewide subsidy system that pays the true cost of care.

If lawmakers are serious about boosting labor force participation, they should treat child care:

• Like public infrastructure, not a private luxury service 

• Like a workforce investment, not a line item to squeeze 

• Like education, because that’s what it is for our youngest children

Paying the true cost of child care through subsidy is one of the most direct, targeted economic development policies we can enact.

More parents can work. More child care programs can stay open and expand. More early educators can afford to stay in the field. More children enter school ready to learn, forming the future workforce our economy will depend on.