Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan Childcare Roundtable in St. Cloud

(KNSI) – Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan was in St. Cloud on Friday, where she hosted a roundtable discussion about child care with Minnesota Representative Dan Wolgamott and Senator Aric Putnam.

Flanagan says parents are now faced with a reality where child care is a necessity, not a luxury.

“We are simply in a time when in order for folks to afford their lives, this isn’t just unique to Minnesota, it’s across the country, we need two parents who are working in order to be able to afford the basics.”

Flanagan was in the area to highlight provisions of the One Minnesota budget laid out by Governor Tim Walz in January that deal with child care. She says we are finally talking about the issue the way it deserves to be discussed. She says their budget includes millions to help childcare centers hire and retain staff.

Mother Allison Bardson talked with KNSI News afterward about the challenge of finding a place to enroll a child. She came across Love and Learn after approaching over a dozen other facilities when her oldest was born. Bardson said when she knew number two was on the way, she had to act fast.

“There was a joke that would I tell my husband first or tell daycare first when I was pregnant because the spots were so filled up that you have to do it as soon as you know.”

Father Dan Ziska also talked about access. He says he is lucky to find a place that could accept all three of his kids. Ziska then went on to discuss the cost and how it strains his family’s budget.

“We spend about $815 a week in childcare. It’s more than double what our mortgage is and I lose about $4,000 or $5,000 a year just sending my kids to childcare.”

In addition to the roundtable, the elected officials also visited the Great River Children’s Museum to discuss the bonding bill that is still hung up in the Senate.

KNSI Reported Jake Judd contributed to this story.

___