As I’m sure you are aware, many Salt Lake City’s families need and rely on child care so that they can work and support their families. It is important to parents that there is sufficient access to affordable, high quality care. Utah does provide subsidies to low-income families to offset some of the cost of child care but the eligibility cut-off for this program is $35,400 for a family of four (171% of the federal poverty level). This is roughly 10% of a family’s income that is put towards child care. A family of four earning $36,000 is not eligible for assistance. Research has shown that quality of care in Utah is adequate at best, and State needs assessments show a lack of availability of slots. During the 2007 General Session the Utah Legislature gave increased funding towards the Child Care and Development Block grants which is a federal/state match. This was the first time in many years that the legislature appropriated state money for subsidized child care. While this was a positive move to support working families in Utah we are still lacking in adequate support to assist families in maintaining employment and moving off of all public assistance.

Secondly, there has been extensive research done on the benefits of high quality education on young children, as well as long-term studies that show the return on investment from improving early learning opportunities. Not only do early experiences of a child have a long-term impact on learning, behavior, and health, but investments in early education pay huge dividends as children perform better in school, get into college, and become productive members of the workforce. Utah saw some advancement in this area with the expansion of extended-day kindergarten for Title I schools but as a whole Utah is far behind other states in its investment in young children.

Should you become Mayor, I was wondering what thoughts you have related to 1) affordable, accessible quality child care for Salt Lake’s working families, and 2) your ideas for a city level early education initiative, early learning office, or the like.

Thank you for your detailed presentation of information and suggestion. I am with you 100% and as mayor would look for ways to assist with affordable child care and early education from the City.

I think these concepts are the types of initiatives that help establish SLC as a child-friendly community and may offset some of the higher costs of housing we have in much of the City.

Best regards,

Ralph