New Bill Proposes Tax Incentive For Oklahoma Employers To Help With Daycare Costs, Tax Credit For Childcare Workers

State leaders said there has been a decline in Oklahoma's workforce as more parents are staying home.

While some have planned to all along, others find their paychecks just aren't enough to cover the cost of childcare.

But there is hope. Starting next school year, Bartlesville Public Schools will offer employees a discount on child care and now, the same option could be expanded with a new bill in the house.

Families said the bill would solve a lot of problems because they say the cost of childcare is getting to be so expensive that staying home is the only option.

Blair Abrahamson and her 6-month-old baby Mack have much more time together every day but Blair said that's partly because she has to stay home instead of teaching pre-school.

"I was starting to crunch the numbers of costs for childcare, and the hours putting in at work," she said. "They were not adding up."

Blair said she enrolled her first child Boyd, now 3, in preschool but once she had Mack, it was too expensive to put them both in childcare.

So she is now staying home with her youngest instead.

“Adding a second was almost like having a second mortgage.”

Blair isn’t alone.

Representative Suzanne Schreiber said Oklahoma has too few childcare centers that are too expensive for many families, leading to fewer people returning to the workforce after having kids.

"The childcare industry is taking care of every other industry, not just babies.”

House Bill 4147 would give a $1000 tax credit to childcare workers in the industry for at least 8 months.

It also incentivizes employers to help employees pay for childcare, operate a daycare, or buy spots at a daycare for employees because in return employers would get a 30 percent tax credit capped at $30,000.

“It benefits our workforce, families, the economy, and small businesses who are childcare providers," Schreiber said.

 “It would take so much stress and pressure off immediately," she said. "Childcare is one of the biggest costs you have.”

The bill has already passed out of committee and has a hearing before the full house next week.