Investing in early childhood care and education is vital infrastructure needed to build our economy. When families have equal access to quality, affordable child care, parents can earn income and take care of their responsibilities, businesses can recruit and retain workers, workforces can expand, and the state’s economy can grow.

If we want families to be able to live, work and raise a family in Hawaii, we need to ensure they have access to child care and early childhood education.

But the cost of preschool can be daunting for many Hawaii families. The average community preschool tuition in Hawaii is about $12,000 per year. Preschool can represent a significant portion of a family’s take-home pay. For young families or single parents, who make a little too much to qualify for our current subsidies, this expense may be out of the question. As a result, many families must cobble together friends and family to help watch the keiki while they go to work, or a parent may need to leave the workforce entirely.

Fortunately, Hawaii has started working to expand access to child care and preschool, but we need to take major steps to grow the supply of child care and early learning providers. This will help to level the playing field and make early childhood education more accessible for more families.

We know that plans are now underway to build more classroom facilities, and the universities are also making certification for pre-kindergarten teachers a high priority. Our state must also sustain the current early childhood workforce and help child care providers retain classroom seats.

Allocations to support those on Maui to accelerate Lahaina’s recovery from the devastating effects of the wildfires must be a priority for this legislative session. We also know that quality, affordable and accessible child care is urgently needed on Maui and throughout the entire state. Three bills still under active consideration by the Legislature this session include:

>> A bill that would require the state Department of Human Services to establish and implement a child care provider subsidy and bonus program to provide subsidies to retain the existing child care workforce in licensed infant and toddler child care center, group child care centers and group child care homes (House Bill 1964 and Senate Bill 2603).

>> A bill that would establish a child care classroom contracts pilot program to require the Department of Human Services to contract directly with child care center providers in licensed infant and toddler child care centers and group child care centers that meet certain criteria (HB 2535).

>> A bill that would expand access to early learning programs on other state properties and public lands besides state Department of Education public school campuses (HB 1903 and SB 3087).

These are important bills that must remain on our radar because of the critical link between early childhood education and our local economy. Since the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization is forecasting continued growth but at a much slower growth rate, as a state we need to ensure we have an optimal environment for our economy and families to flourish. Access to affordable child care and early childhood education will be key to enabling Hawaii’s families to confidently take their place in the workplace and know their keiki are in good hands.

Brandon Kurisu is chief operating officer of aio, a family of Hawaii companies in media, technology, sports and food; Deborah Zysman is executive director of the nonprofit Hawaii Children’s Action Network.