Iowa child care providers will receive additional financial assistance in an effort to maintain quality child care services for families, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced today. The Iowa Department of Human Services has completed an updated 2020 Market Rate Survey, which will result in increased federal child care assistance rates effective July 1. Providers in Iowa are currently being paid at a rate set in 2017. The increase is among interim steps the state is taking while the Governor’s Child Care Task Force continues to review policy recommendations in advance of the 2022 session, Reynolds said in a news release. The task force, formed earlier this year by executive order, is expected to announce its recommendations in July. Iowa DHS also will expand the T.E.A.C.H. and Child Care WAGE$ programs statewide through the state’s fiscal year 2022, which ends June 30, 2022. T.E.A.C.H. is a comprehensive scholarship program that provides education opportunities to the early childhood workforce. The WAGE$ program provides education-based salary supplements to the early care and education workforce. Also, DHS will continue to pay providers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic monthly stipends and unlimited absent days until Aug. 31. Supporting child care providers through the summer will stabilize child care for working families as Iowa continues on its recovery from COVID-19, the department said. “Our child care providers worked throughout the pandemic as a vital support to our larger workforce – even as others shifted to remote options,” DHS Director Kelly Garcia said in a statement. “I am proud to offer child care providers continued support as they fulfill their critical role of caring for Iowa’s children and preparing them for the future.”