The 2019 legislative session was a missed opportunity for families who, with access to child care, represent Minnesota's current and future educated, taxpaying workforce. A major piece of economic infrastructure is child care assistance, a state/federal partnership for lower-income working families. Helping about 30,000 Minnesota children each month, it is our greatest support for low-income infants and toddlers, during the period of the most rapid brain development and when child care costs are highest.

In 2014, Congress enacted bipartisan legislation to improve child care assistance for children, parents and providers. Minnesota received nearly $60 million to help implement these reforms. The Legislature adopted several smaller reforms that were beneficial, but only chipped away at the problem of inadequate assistance.

Increased reimbursement rates, for which Minnesota was once a national leader, are the most expensive and pressing requirement. Insufficient rates restrict family choice. When providers are unable to accept such low payments, they (1) cannot serve lower-income families or (2) must charge parents the difference between reimbursement and tuition, on top of required parent copays. This forces children into low-cost, often low-quality care, or parents out of the workforce.

Child care reimbursement follows a complicated formula, with current Minnesota rates based on the lowest quarter of child care costs in 2011. Can you meet today's needs for food, housing, etc., if your available resources could only have purchased the cheapest of those items eight years ago? Of course not, as expenses for materials, wages and everything else have increased during that period. These are the financial gymnastics parents and providers are forced to accept. No wonder the struggle for child care is real.

Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan prioritized these rates. The House acted similarly, and the Senate previously supported increased rates in 2018. All parties recognized the critical role of child care assistance and were poised to accept new federal funds to invest in it.

As the most recent session hurtled to a close, however, what had previously been an area of agreement (with new federal dollars there for the taking) became politically poisonous. Senate Republicans tried to eliminate the entire program, and not even reduced versions of the governor's and House's earlier rate proposals survived. What happened?

Families' needs were overshadowed by the deeds of a few dishonest child care providers who stole public funds. It's the fault of those who defrauded the child care assistance program and the Legislature, which in past years chose not to give the Department of Human Services more authority to combat fraud when asked to do so. Fault also lies with the Department of Human Services, for not doing everything in its power, however limited, to address fraud. Other individuals sensationalized the issue, employing ugly and often racialized undertones. Who isn't at fault? The hardworking families who can't make ends meet without adequate child care assistance.

Every public program is at risk for potential fraud, and every step must be taken to ensure public dollars go toward their intended purpose. Thankfully, many common-sense program integrity measures passed this session. Both the public and those served by child care assistance deserved both decreased vulnerability and desperately needed new resources, however; unfortunately, this proved politically unpopular. Now, having repeatedly failed to comply with federal law, Minnesota has received notice it stands to lose millions of federal dollars. Money meant for our children could go to other states.

We are left with another year of crisis; families crippled by debt and forced to try to surmount the ever-increasing gap between available assistance and child care expenses. We are left with nearly $60 million federal dollars (roughly the cost of a minimum rate update over the next biennium) sitting as-yet unused, unable to go toward increasing reimbursement rates because of legislative inaction.

The Legislature played a part in creating our child care crisis and must stand united to fix it. Meanwhile, Minnesota families and our economy suffer as our child care system experiences mounting strain. Investing in child care shows our respect for children and their development, and our support of their families' success. What does our behavior say to them now?

Jane Kretzmann is co-founder of Elders for Infants. Chad Dunkley is president of the Minnesota Child Care Association and CEO of New Horizon Academy. Sondra Samuels is president and CEO of the Northside Achievement Zone.