Oklahoma lawmakers should get a clue about the importance of childcare, and here it is

It’s become clear over the past few months that a majority of Oklahoma leaders have no grasp of how our state’s childcare industry works.

That alone is not super surprising given that we’re led by a governing body that traditionally leans older and male, and because we live in a state where women traditionally take on the burden of caregiving.

What is surprising is that despite Republican claims that we’re open for business, Oklahoma is not willing to make the financial investment needed to shore up our childcare industry when it is so critical to the economy.

Perhaps the most blatant example to date of legislators’ disconnect is their ongoing $45 million effort to turn a five-story office building into a childcare center that will serve as many as 250 state employees’ children. Their goal seems simple: By giving parents reliable access to childcare, our state will be more competitive in recruiting and retaining the best and brightest employees. 

But then you get to the fine print.

The Legislature’s current plan is to renovate the building and wash their hands of it after they find some poor sucker — or what they prefer to call an operator — who will agree to use their own money to run it.

While the state “generously” plans to pay the cost of renovating and fencing the building as well as cover utilities and pest control, the operator would have to hire and pay employees on their own dime and absorb the other costs of running a massive childcare center, according to bid proposal paperwork.

Come to find out, our lawmakers are so cheap that they’re even refusing to pay to furnish the center they want their own employees’ children to use. They won’t pay for playground equipment for children to play on or for janitorial services in a state building. The operator, God bless them, would have to foot the bill for those, too.

Also, when is the last time any Oklahoman has seen a five-story childcare center? There’s a reason most childcare centers are on a single floor. Can you imagine trying to get a dozen 3-year-olds who already struggle to navigate stairs down five stories to safety during a fire or tornado when elevators are inoperable?

And leaders wonder why, after two bidding cycles, there’s been no takers.

Unfortunately, this farce is a microcosm of a much larger legislative disconnect that threatens the stability of our entire workforce.

These days, the majority of households have parents who both work full-time. In June, the Pew Research Center reported that 52% of parents now both work full-time jobs. In 1975, only 31% did.

We also have a Legislature that has adopted anti-abortion policies, but remains abhorrently reluctant to invest adequately in the societal supports to help children and families thrive.

Over half of Oklahomans live in a childcare desert, meaning there is more demand for care than access to it.

The State Chamber Research Foundation, which advocates on behalf of businesses, found that even though our population has grown, the number of childcare centers continues to drop. And the group reminds us that “even if a parent is lucky enough to have a childcare facility nearby, they still have to afford it.”

In 2020, the group reported that Oklahomans spent 6.9% of their income on childcare. 

That number has only grown.

The Oklahoma Partnership for School Readiness, which focuses on access to childcare and early education, issued a report that found on average Oklahomans were spending 13% of their income on childcare last year.

In all, 155 childcare centers closed between July 2024 and July 2025, which resulted in 3,760 fewer spots for children.

Childcare centers are hamstrung by a struggle to find workers because, while it’s a necessity in today’s economy, it’s a low-paying career. 

Lawmakers, meanwhile, apparently want operators to be paupers because they like to pretend it’s fine that there’s a narrow profit margin. Centers cannot just keep increasing costs beyond what their consumers can afford without forcing people out of the workforce. Let’s not forget that the struggle for survival only worsened after the expiration of a federal COVID-era program that subsidized the industry.

Ahead of the recent session, the Oklahoma Human Services Department asked for $70 million to “stabilize” the industry, including $11.5 million to help with teacher recruitment and retention. Lawmakers allocated just $12.16 million total toward childcare, according to a House budget portal. That funding includes $4.56 million to address teacher recruitment and retention.

Instead of substantial financial investments, lawmakers half-heartedly responded by giving some childcare centers more flexibility in staff-to-child ratios and by granting some providers who participate in a state subsidy program permission to assess poorer families an extra fee.

Meanwhile, the state is pressing ahead with their harebrained state employee childcare center that nobody in their right mind wants to run.

If lawmakers really want to prove they’re open for business, they would fork out the cash to operate their own center. They’d hire people on the state dime to run it, offer them benefits and retirement, build the greatest playground ever, hire the best janitor to clean up vomit and haul away dirty diapers, and take full responsibility for the costs.

Maybe then lawmakers would finally understand firsthand the challenges that come from being an Oklahoma childcare provider, and they’d have a bit more empathy for them and the families and businesses that rely on them.

And maybe, just maybe, they’ll finally understand why Oklahoma is sending a signal to the rest of the world that we’re not quite open for business yet.