Kelly Donnelly was thrilled to hear her states Republican lawmakers were going to act on child care but grew alarmed when she learned what exactly they had in mind.

Donnelly is director of the Grace Preschool , a Des Moines, Iowa , early childhood center that has won international recognition for its high quality. It has struggled during the pandemic, first with plummeting enrollment and, now, with a tight labor market that makes it difficult to hire and retain staff.

The same thing is happening all over America, with far-reaching consequences. Working parents cant find places to put their kids, businesses cant get their employees back on the job. In Iowa, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds has responded by identifying child care as a top priority and promising legislation on the matter.

No one should be forced to choose between earning a living and caring for their child, Reynolds said in her Condition of the State address last month.

Donnelly hoped that promise would mean significant new state expenditures on child care to subsidize families that cant afford it and, especially, to subsidize wages of caregivers, so that centers like hers could compete with the local retailers and service industries offering higher pay.