By Jakub Blum / KVSC reporter

Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan recently visited Fergus Falls to highlight the child care plan in the One Minnesota Budget that was released in January.

Flanagan hosted a roundtable with city and county leaders, business leaders and parents to discuss the Governor and Lieutenant Governor’s plan, which would increase child care access and affordability and provide middle class families with up to $10,500 to help pay for child care. While in Fergus Falls, the Lieutenant Governor also visited the children and staff at PioneerKids child care center and toured infrastructure projects that would be funded by the One Minnesota Budget with Mayor Ben Schierer.

Flanagan says the state has a historic opportunity to make child care more affordable and accessible across the state. She added the child care needs in Greater Minnesota are unique from the needs in urban areas, and she’s proud that they’re addressing the entire spectrum of need in the child care plan in their budget. They’re looking to lowering the burden of child care costs for mosts of the workforce while also supporting the providers that care for the youngest Minnesotans.

  The Child Care Plan proposal includes:

• Expanding access to Child Care and Early Learning
• Support Working Families and Reduce Child Poverty
• Creating the Office of Child Care and Community Partnerships with the Department of Employment and Economic Development

Another part of the plan is to provide lower income families up to $1,000 per child with a maximum of $3,000 in tax credits, a nation-leading amount from a state government.