Members of Minot's Child Care Task Force hope to get behind a statewide solution to problems facing the industry before the North Dakota Legislature convenes in January.
Having completed a parent survey, the task force looks to gain more information from a child-care provider meeting next Thursday before making its recommendation to the Minot City Council. The task force plans to meet Dec. 30 to recommend legislation for the city council to endorse.
Gov. John Hoeven has included $3.5 million in his proposed state budget for expansion and development of child care.
Rep. Kari Conrad, D-Minot, told the task force Friday that it appears the money may be available for equipment and training of child-care providers.
Rep. Kathy Hawken, R-Fargo, also is proposing legislation that would spend $10 million to $15 million in state funds on improving child care, she said.
"We will need a tremendous amount of support to get that through," Conrad said.
Proposed legislation will be discussed at Thursday's provider meeting. Child-care providers are looking for legislation that would support child-care training, program start ups and expansion and increased access to information about the quality of child-care providers.
Task force member Jerry Nelson said elected officials in Minot and Ward County need to come together and determine how they can partner with the state to address child-care issues. The city and county need to show the state that they are contributing to a solution, he said.
The task force is the city's only venture into child-care issues. The mayor set up the task force last spring at the request of parents and providers who were concerned about a shortage of providers.
Ward County Social Services provides child-care licensing. In budgeting for 2009, the county commission held social services to its previous funding level, which forced the department to eliminate plans to increase its child-care licensing staff, director Dan Richter said.
The licensing division has one full-time employee and a part-time employee whose assistance enables the division to conduct spot checks of providers to monitor quality. The county is advertising to fill the part-time position, which will soon be vacant.