We have the chance this fall to strengthen our communities by supporting 7A, a ballot measure that endeavors to dramatically increase the resources for early childcare from Parachute to Aspen and everywhere in between.

For child care, the community need is considerably greater than can be met by the current roster of providers from Parachute to Aspen. Waitlists can be so long that parents often start the search for childcare before the arrival of their newborn. Those who are lucky enough to have a spot for their young child then move on to the next hurdle: paying for child care. Costs can sometimes be so considerable that a parent ends up making the choice to stay home and out of the workforce to raise their child until they become old enough for pre-kindergarten care.

These tough choices have domino effects through our communities: Lower participation in the workforce by parents, increased pressure on child care providers to take on more than their current resources can handle and diminished opportunity for children to develop mental and social skills at a critical stage in their lives. 

The real-world impacts of these challenges are an average cost of $1,400 a month for childcare (per child) and less than half of our communities’ children having a spot in child care and tens of millions of dollars lost in Garfield and Pitkin counties’ economies from parents dropping out of the workforce, according to data provided by Strong Start Bright Future, the group organized to advocate for passage of 7A.

Ballot measure 7A would implement a quarter-cent sales tax in Garfield County, Pitkin County and the Roaring Fork Valley portion of Eagle County to fund three prongs to boost child care availability: expanding capacity at childcare facilities, increasing wages for childcare educators and staff and lowering the overall cost of childcare for families. 

This tax would not be placed upon groceries, gas, feminine hygiene products, diapers and medicine. So, for example, a $100 purchase at a local retailer not including any of those exempted items would cost 25 cents more than it does now. That 25 cents per $100 is estimated to add up to $10 million per year. Strong Start Bright Future estimates that there could be as much as $20 million in unmet child care needs throughout our communities, so $10 million a year will go a long way toward shrinking the needs gap.

How to divvy up funding between the three strategies noted above would be determined by a five-member board of directors, each representing a different part of the district. Those directors will be voted upon as part of the same ballot as 7A this fall. If 7A fails, then the board of directors will not be put into place.

It’s our hope that 7A won’t fail — it’s the best opportunity our region has had in years to helping secure the best future possible for young families. And if they succeed, that means our communities succeed as well.

The Post Independent editorial board members are Publisher Peter Baumann and community representatives John Stroud, Mark Fishbein and Amy Connerton.