The hot news buzz today is that in many states, daycare costs as much or more than college costs.  A group called the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies released a 61-page report entitled "Parents and the High Cost of Childcare".  And guess what it found?  It's expensive to put kids into daycare.

And the ulterior message to us all?  Child care is so expensive, we need the Nanny State to step in.

Now any sharp news observer knows that these big news reports don't just happen.  They're designed and released to soften the public for something the orginating group wants. In this case, it's relief. They want more money for child care workers - a growing number which are joining service worker unions - and they're demanding more funds from their taxpaying neighbors. 

 We say "more subsidy" because the fact that states like Illinois already heavily subsidize child care is hard to find in those 63 pages.  Why?  Because, well, the message clearly is what we do now is just not good enough. And likely, it's an issue that will be pushed in the upcoming political campaign. 

So guess where Illinois ranks in child care affordability? One of the worst.  The NACCRRA report shows Illinois as 8th from the worst, the state of Massachusetts:

A two-parent family median income in Illinois is $83,669 and the average family spends 14.1% of their income on childcare, 4% more than experts recommend for family budgets.  But it's non-married mothers with a median income of $23,239 paying over $11,000 per year for child care that's most troubling.  That figures to be almost 46% of that single mom's gross salary for child care alone.

The message is strong and clear:  It's time for taxpayers to hike their daycare subsidies.

It apparently matters not that a sizeable number of those taxpaying families are made up of two-parent families, one of the parents which is foregoing a second income to stay home and take care of their children themselves.  While they're caring for their own children at no taxpayer expense, their neighbors begin hinting they should be doing more to help fund the care of others children placed in out-of-home centers. 

How much do Illinois taxpayers subsidize daycare?  The State of Illinois' Department of Human Services listed the following taxpayer-funded programs for children:

• Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) provides low-income, working families with access to quality, affordable child care that allows them to continue working and contributes to the healthy, emotional and social development of the child.  Families are required to cost-share on a sliding scale based on family size, income, and number of children in care. Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) Eligibility Calculator
• Migrant Head Start office provides child care and a comprehensive program of health, parent involvement, and social services for preschool children (under 6 years of age) of low-income migrant and seasonal farm workers. 
• Head Start State Collaboration office is a federal-state partnership organized to support and encourage collaboration with Head Start and various other state and local stakeholders that serve low-income families with young children. 
• Healthy Child Care Illinois provides a network of registered nurses who help child care workers provide quality care for the well-being of Illinois children.
• Quality Counts Quality Rating System (QRS) assists Illinois child care programs in providing quality care for children and their families. A provider's voluntary participation in QRS means they have gone the extra mile to help make sure children are receiving an enhanced learning and care experience, which can help children succeed in school and in life. Providers caring for children eligible for the IDHS Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) also receive a quality bonus above the standard payment rate.

 We found that Illinois taxpayers are generous in their child care program subsidies.  Using the median income of $504 per week, a household of 4 (3 children/1 adult) would calculate like this:

 
and the results would be:

 
The Department of Human Services calculator shows that person would co-pay $88.00 a month, considerably less that the 46% the child care reports a single mom pays for child care.

The DHS website reports that the state of Illinois will pay a little over $40 per day for children under age 7, Illinois compulsory school age:

Prepare for day care subsidy hikes to hit the Illinois legislature in the upcoming session.  Taxpayers have been set up in an attempt to shame them with this report.  And all those families with stay-at-home moms need to understand they just haven't done enough to help their community.

But you can bet there will be silence when it comes to the economic importance of solid, healthy families and how America will benefit from promoting strong traditional values units.  Without strong families, the government must step in, become the provider, and cultivate a societal dependence and fiscal addiction that is exceptionally diffcult to break.