OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington state lawmakers are laying out plans to make child care more affordable and accessible.

The Child Care Access Now Act sets out a few goals for the state, aiming to establish universal access to child care for all families by 2025 and cap expenses at 7 percent of a family's income. Lois Martin, director of the Community Day Center for Children in Seattle, said the growing cost of living is making some families cut corners when finding care.

"You see a lot of folks advertising on Craigslist that they provide care in their home, and some families are forced to use them,” Martin said. “Where, this way, it would help to make it safer for our children to be able to be in a licensed facility."

The legislation would create a work group to form a road map toward more affordable care, considering components such as subsidy rates. Martin noted that child care costs can run higher than college tuition at many universities.

The bill also looks to raise wages for early learning teachers so they are in line with K-12 educators. John Burbank, head of the Economic Opportunity Institute, said the median pay for child care teachers is a little more than $14 an hour, which is $10 less than the state median wage. He said compensation that low shows a lack of respect for these workers.

"Workers can make more money, frankly, going across the street and working at a retail shop with a lot fewer demands than you would find in child care,” Burbank said. “So there is a real crisis, not just in compensation but in consequent hiring."

He said low pay makes it hard to recruit more workers. According to EOI research, in 2018, more than half of child care centers had unfilled positions, and a third of programs reported the need to limit their enrollment due to lack of staff.

Burbank said a capital gains tax or doubling the state estate tax could help fund the proposals in this legislation.

Martin has been working in child care for nearly three decades and advocating for early learning for more than a decade. She said it's good to see lawmakers taking action on this issue.

"I appreciate the work of the Legislature in looking into our field and recognizing the impact of early learning on our state and its effect on the future of our families."

A public hearing is scheduled for Wednesday on the Senate version of the bill, SB 5436.


get more stories like this via email

Alabama is part of a national program aimed at diversifying early childhood education.

The Enriching Public Pre-K Through Inclusion of Family Child Care initiative gives the state ways to explore how family child care homes can be part of its public pre-K system.

Erin Harmeyer, assistant research professor in the National Institute of Early Education Research at Rutgers University, said family child care providers play a crucial role in filling gaps in access, especially in rural areas where they can be a better cultural and linguistic match for families compared to traditional child care centers.

"Home-based child care providers are often doing things like offering care during nontraditional hours, nights or evenings or weekends," Harmeyer explained. "They offer this really kind of familiar and flexible and personal option for families that makes them very preferred for many."

The initiative comes as demand for pre-K programs is rising. Nationwide, state-funded preschool enrollment hit record levels last year, with 35% of 4-year-olds and 7% of 3-year-olds participating in one recent school year.

Harmeyer noted Alabama was chosen for the program because it already meets her institute's 10 quality benchmark standards, including having well-qualified lead teachers, small class sizes and robust professional development requirements. She added integrating family child care homes into the system builds on this strong foundation and can offer more opportunities to support children's development.

"We know that a large body of research does show the positive impacts of preschool, in both the short and the long term for children," Harmeyer emphasized.

Alabama is one of four participants in the initiative, alongside Nevada, Michigan, and the city of Durham, North Carolina.


get more stories like this via email

New York families are still dealing with child care barriers despite improvements.

A new report found more than half the state is a child care desert with parents having to leave the workforce because they cannot access it.

While the Child Care Assistance Program has improved, it does not make up for other shortcomings.

Lara Kyriakou, associate director of early childhood policy and advocacy for Ed Trust-New York and the report's co-author, said one of the biggest barriers is lacking knowledge about available child care programs.

"Many families reported difficulties just learning about available programs including navigating application processes," Kyriakou observed. "A lot of families spoke about learning of programs from other parents or other key trusted relationships that they had in the community."

Other issues include restrictions due to a person's immigration status, or benefits cliffs where a family earns a little too much to qualify for programs. Some recommendations to fix the situation include further expanding New York's child tax credit and working families tax credit and investing in the child care workforce to hire new and retain existing workers.

Reports showed the state's child care industry workforce fell 32% from 2019 to 2023.

Enacting such changes could help New York State reach its goal of cutting child poverty in half by 2032. The report calls for a $1.2 billion sustaining investment in the child care industry.

Jenn O'Connor, director of partnerships and early childhood policy for Ed Trust-New York, said making it a sustaining investment would give child care workers a salary matching the cost of living.

"Child care providers who are predominantly women and predominantly women of color make less than your pizza delivery guy half the time," O'Connor emphasized. "They're providing an essential service and they're educating our youngest children."

The newly announced Invest in Our New York Act could pay for this. The package of bills would have corporations and New York's ultra-wealthy residents pay their fair share of taxes and the money would then be spent on child care, education and affordable housing.

Pandemic-era federal aid for early childhood educators expired last month and Wyoming lawmakers this year failed to pass a bill which could have helped. Some hope offering a higher degree could be an answer.

The 2024 Early Childhood Workforce Index shows the median wage for Wyoming early childhood educators in 2022 was $10.60 per hour, 28% lower than what is considered a living wage of $14.70.

Nikki Baldwin, director of the Wyoming Early Childhood Outreach Network at the University of Wyoming, said child care programs close regularly in the state.

"We hear about them almost weekly and it can be really devastating for Wyoming families," Baldwin observed.

The study's recommendations include increasing public funding for the early childhood education sector. The U.S. currently invests just $4,000 per child, per year, compared with $14,000 invested in other wealthy nations.

Baldwin pointed out the University of Wyoming is currently developing a bachelor's degree in early childhood education. In Wyoming, the owners and directors need a high school diploma. The new program will be offered in-person or fully remote, which could help more rural and isolated educators.

"They're so motivated to continue to learn," Baldwin emphasized. "Even though compensation isn't tied to their continued learning, they're still saying yes and trying to do more and trying to learn more and improve every day."

Baldwin hopes the new program will roll out in 2026.

Anna Powell, senior research and policy associate for the Berkeley Center for the Study of Childcare Employment at the University of California-Berkeley, noted pandemic-era federal aid through American Rescue Plan grants expired in September.

"That means that it's time for states and localities to really step up and think about how they're going to address the need to sustain early care and education workers going forward," Powell contended.

The Wyoming Joint Education Committee sponsored a bill last spring which would have allowed qualified families struggling with poverty to put state funds toward limited early education childhood expenses. Instead, the Wyoming Education Savings Accounts Act passed, which did not include child care or preschool.


get more stories like this via email