When Ellie O’Keefe moved to Oak Hill in Fayette County, West Virginia, she was surprised how difficult it was to find child care.

“I was very surprised, coming from a much more suburban area, to be faced by this lack of child care,” she said.

More than 25,000 children in West Virginia don’t have access to child care, and more than 150 child care providers have closed their classrooms over the last year. There are also concerns about the state’s long-term plan to fund its subsidy program that helps working parents pay for child care.

Parents, child care workers, the state’s business leaders and some Republican and Democrat lawmakers have asked for bills and funding to address widespread issues.

Another legislative session is likely to end with no movement on the issue.

“Well, none of our bills made it through, so I think that says a lot about priorities,” said Pamela Shope, site director for Playmates Preschools and Child Development Centers, which operates six centers in Cabell and Wayne counties.

O’Keefe, pregnant with her second child, stood in the lower rotunda of the state Capitol on Tuesday for Child Care Day. A sticker on her T-shirt said, “I am a child care voter.”

“Families are really struggling in ways they haven’t in the past,” she said. “It is another year where we’ve been told that this was going to be a priority, and nothing has really shifted.”

It feels like déjà vu for those hoping for changes after last year the Republican-led legislature failed to send a stack of child care-focused bills to the governor’s desk for consideration. Lawmakers, at former Gov. Jim Justice’s urging, did approve a Child Care Tax Credit in 2024, and it’s available to families who already claim the federal child care tax credit.

“I’m disappointed,” said Del. Kathie Hess Crouse, R-Putnam, who sponsored several child care measures. She said the House of Delegates’ focus on budget constraints had partially held up the measures. “It’s not over till midnight on Saturday, so there’s always hope, but I won’t be surprised if nothing happens.”

West Virginia has the nation’s lowest rate of women serving in a legislature, which Crouse believes has impacted the House’s action on child care.

“Unfortunately, the majority of the body are men, and they don’t have to deal with these issues,” said Crouse, a mother who chose to leave the workforce to stay home with her children. “I’m not saying they don’t care about them. I just don’t think they have the same pull and realize what it takes and what’s needed.”

Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, is a mom of two and at one time was the only mother of young children serving in the House. She has championed child care legislation during the last few years.

“I don’t think we have any women who are chairs of major committees in the House, and it’s obviously not a priority of this super majority,” Young said.

“Feels like another year with all the same excuses,” she continued. “We still haven’t done anything for child care.”

Child care measures stalled in session’s final week

The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce has backed child care measures, saying it’s necessary to improve the state’s abysmal workforce participation rate. Others pushing for child care expansion point to the importance of early childhood learning and resources in a state with a high rate of poverty and babies impacted by the substance abuse crisis.

There were a number of child care measures introduced this year, particularly in the House.

House Bill 2731, sponsored by Crouse, would create the Employee Child Care Assistance Partnership, where the state would partner with child care employers to offset their employees’ child care costs. The program is meant to help centers retain workers and keep classrooms open.

Shope said the measure would have “a huge impact to help retain staff.”

The average annual cost of care at a licensed child care center in West Virginia is more than $6,000 per child.

“Child care is very expensive, and we do give our teachers and staff employee discounts … but it’s still very hard,” Shope said, adding that employees at her centers can make too much to qualify for the state’s child care subsidy program.

“We want to have the highest quality child care that we can provide for our families, and sometimes it’s difficult to find a good, qualified teacher that wants to work in child care. We need all of the benefits that we can to get them to stay,” she said.

The bill remains parked in the House Health Committee with the legislative session set to adjourn Saturday.

Crouse also introduced legislation, House Bill 2730, to establish a pilot program where the state, an employer and an employee each pay one-third of total child care costs. It’s known as a “tri-share model” for child care. The program is currently being piloted in eight counties. The bill, which would have cost roughly $10 million, is unlikely to make it to the full House of Delegates for consideration.

Del. Bob Fehrenbacher, R-Wood, who serves on the House Finance Committee, said there wasn’t one single thing that had derailed child care measures this session.

“I do think there are some tax considerations, you know, with the structural deficit, but there are some of the options that I think would be OK. Let’s get started on this,” he said. “Yes, there may be some tax implications, but there also ought to be some benefits, such as more people being in the workforce.”

Fehrenbacher sponsored multiple bills aimed at tackling the state’s child care issues, including a measure that would increase the tax credit for employers providing child care for employees. His child care bills weren’t considered by House committees.

“Frankly, I’m disappointed,” he said.

While the House budget increases funding for child care in fiscal year 2026, Young is concerned that the state’s subsidy program is facing a July 1 funding cliff, which she said could result in thousands of children being removed from the program. During House budget negotiations last week, she tried to amend the budget bill to include around $32 million for the child care subsidy program. The House voted down her amendment.

“[It] means we’ll have more parents out of the workforce. It means we’ll have more centers closing,” Young said.

Fehrenbacher said testimony from Department of Human Services Secretary Alex Mayer led him to believe the program will be funded throughout the year, but there’s still a question mark about the long-term funding amid the state’s child care issues.

“We need other options. So, things like the tax incentives for an employer or the tri-share model are things that are out there that I think could have helped give us options,” he said.

O’Keefe hopes the state will work to address the affordability of child care.

“We’re looking for the best opportunities for our children. We’re looking for the freedom to be able to go to work,” she said.

“Just because you don’t see these parents coming to the Capitol doesn’t mean that they don’t want to speak up … They often are not able to come to this stage because they’re working and because they have child care,” O’Keefe continued. “Their voices deserve to be heard.”