ST PAUL, Minn. — As the nation directs its attention toward the presidential race, voters in the City of Saint Paul have another critical decision to make this November when they face a ballot question seeking to raise public money for childcare subsidies.
The measure will ask voters whether they want to increase property taxes to cover some additional childcare costs, largely for low-income families but also for some above that threshold. Over a decade, the property tax increase would fund $110 million in investments for child care. In the first year of the program, the city estimates the median homeowner would pay roughly $16 more in property taxes.
This week, the city council heard from a consultant, who outlined recommendations for the city's implementation of the early education program -- if voters approve the ballot question in November. The council decided to postpone a vote on the final design plan until Wednesday, Nov. 6, one day after the election, at which point the city will know whether voters passed the item. Last year, the city council voted to place the question on the November 2024 ballot and even overrode Mayor Melvin Carter's veto.
One of the largest supporters of the November ballot measure is "Yes For Saint Paul Families," which calls the ballot question an "opportunity to make a historic investment in our children and families in Saint Paul."
"We have some of the largest education inequities in the country. It can start when kids are as young as three or four and can follow them for their entire time in K-12. When parents can't find affordable early education programs and child care, they often have to leave the workforce," the group said on its website. "We need an early education program that helps every family succeed. Every family needs access to early education."
However, the measure faces stiff opposition from some of the city's prominent leaders, including Carter, who was vocal last summer in his attempt to veto the council's measure. In a new statement this week, issued in response to the consultant's report, Carter said that "this report finally reveals that the advisory referendum will not deliver on the free citywide child care, which the ballot question implies."
"Between misleading ballot language, absence of required campaign finance disclosures, and the first public details arriving nine days before polling begins, our voters are repeatedly being denied the needed transparency to cast an informed vote on this proposed $110 million tax increase," Carter said."
Meanwhile, the Saint Paul Federation of Educators has joined the opposition, filing a statement with the council that blasted the proposal as a "voucher" system.
"It will take public tax dollars from residents in Saint Paul and basically allow families to choose to spend them in child care centers that are private enterprises," SPFE President Leah VanDassor said in an interview. "We know there's a need for early childhood care, but this is not necessarily the program that's going to work best."