By Margaret Carmel - BoiseDev Sr Reporter

Boise is hoping to bring a little relief to the struggling childcare industry.

This fall, the city council gave an enthusiastic thumbs up to a series of three proposals to relieve some of the regulatory hoops childcare workers have jump through to get licensed in city limits. These suggestions were proposed by a childcare task force made up of local business leaders, childcare providers and industry experts convened by Mayor Lauren McLean earlier this year.

The changes include the possibility of a temporary license that would allow childcare workers who have passed local and state background checks to start work while they are waiting on their federal check to clear. The task force also suggested waiving fees for new and renewed licenses and covering the cost of required CPR training for childcare workers.

Eric Tegethoff, Public News Service

Read the full story on The Lewiston Tribune

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, half of Idaho families were living in child care deserts. Some rural communities lacked child care centers. Even in metropolitan areas, however, the capacity fell short of meeting the need.

Read the entire article in the Idaho Statesman.

Idaho’s child care system is collapsing, and the resulting effects will be devastating for families, employers, and our economy. Families that depend on affordable, quality care are being left with few options and many providers are at their breaking point, being unable to find staff to operate at needed capacity.

This situation is dire and, if we do not act to support this industry and its early childhood professionals now, the dwindling of available child care availability will only get worse. While this assessment is bleak, we have never had a better opportunity to address the structural barriers to accessing child care than right now, but we need to be clear on what is causing this problem.

Read the full story on The Post Register

Gov. Little recently sought praise from Idahoans for the large budget surplus Idaho is realizing. The surplus is at least $1.4 billion, plus another $2 billion in federal coronavirus funds coming into the state. But Idaho legislators, and Little himself, do not deserve praise for this large of a budget surplus. They deserve ridicule. And they definitely don’t deserve to keep their jobs if this is how little regard is given to what actually matters to Idahoans across the state.