ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The situation for families across the country is much the same. Child care is unaffordable for many, difficult to find for those who can afford it, and financially unstable for child care operators and staff.
The Biden administration and Congress have tried to alleviate some of these problems as the pandemic crippled the child care industry. But with a record $52.5 billion in relief funding dwindling, many states have come up with their own solutions.
States have expanded free preschool and early education and helped more families pay for child care, making child care affordable or even free for many. Recognizing that a federal solution is unlikely to materialize anytime soon, policymakers have devised new ways to pay for the plans, creating a permanent funding source that will make the new programs sustainable.
For example, New Mexico has tapped into oil revenues, Washington has imposed a new tax on investment returns, and Kentucky is encouraging parents to become day care workers.
While the biggest investments in child care have come from Democrats, Republican state lawmakers across the country are embracing child care support plans, citing their importance to the economy.
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After giving birth, Marisshia Sigala put her plans to start a real estate career on hold. She and her husband, a personal trainer, had been living on one salary for about two years, and realized that even if they both worked, childcare costs were unaffordable.
Then, in 2022, New Mexico amended its constitution to make child care free for nearly all of the state's families and to fund early childhood programs by directing money to oil and gas companies from state land leases.
These changes are expected to cost about $150 million a year on the early education of children like Mateo. Sigala and her husband qualify because they earn less than 400% of the federal poverty rate, which is about $120,000 per year for a family of four. Mateo is one of more than 21,000 children currently benefiting from the grant.
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Now 32, Sigala is back at work and Mateo attends Koala Children's Academy, which specializes in bilingual education.
“Being an entrepreneur is much more difficult and requires us to rely on ourselves. I don’t get paid every week,” Sigala said. “It was a blessing for us.”
Related: Convincing Voters to Raise Taxes: Child Care
Expanding free child care for families “is something that changes families in such a profound way,” said Elizabeth Groginsky, New Mexico’s secretary of early childhood education. And she said this is also benefiting those who care for and educate young children.
Groginski and other state leaders hope the massive investment will help blunt the effects of poverty.
“This is an incredible opportunity,” she said.
Washington State aims to provide free preschool to all low-income families and child care vouchers to all low- and middle-income families by the end of 2010, along with high-quality child care for infants and toddlers with developmental issues.
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The state is expanding the program by imposing a new 7% tax on profits earned from residents' financial investments. This tax was designed to be levied on wealthy people.
When Zaneta Billyzone-Jatta's daughter Zakiah was born prematurely in 2021, her mother hired a nanny to care for the baby three days a week. Billyzone-Jatta, 42, a clinical manager for a network of hospitals, had to work while keeping an eye on her daughter for her remaining two days. She felt she could not give the child enough attention, much less address the girl's developmental issues like a professional.
Through a state program for struggling, low-income families and children like Zakiah, she is now sending her daughter to a child care center near her Seattle-area home for free. There, three teachers supervise the seven children in Zakiah's class and diligently record her progress. An occupational therapist and speech therapist meet Zakiah at school and work closely with her teachers.
Related: Schools must address child care issues to keep staff in the classroom.
Billyzone-Jatta said Zakiah has made great progress at school. She talks in detail about her own days and mentions the names of her classmates. She learned to interact with other students, drink from an open cup, and share.
Solving the child care crisis
This story is part of a series highlighting the impact of the parenting crisis on working parents, with a focus on solutions. It was produced by Education Report CollaborationIt is a federation of eight newsrooms, including AL.com, The Associated Press, The Christian Science Monitor, The Dallas Morning News, The Hechinger Report, Idaho Education News, The Post and Courier in South Carolina, and The Seattle Times.
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“Being a working mom and knowing that I am bringing my children into an environment where they are loved and cared for gives me great peace,” she said.
But programs that help infants and toddlers like Zakiah are still small, serving fewer than 200 children statewide. And in November, Washington voters will have the opportunity to repeal the tax through a referendum, which would jeopardize the progress the state has made.
“It would be catastrophic,” said Jon Gould of Akin, the nonprofit that runs Zakiah’s state-funded child care center.
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Riley Monn, 24, was working at Baptist Health Child Development Center in Lexington when she had her second child, and she had to double her salary to ensure her children attended the same center. paid the money.
She thought about quitting her job and working a night shift so she could stay home during the day and look after her children.
“My entire salary went to daycare,” Monn said.
Related: Our childcare system presents many mothers with a stark choice: quality childcare or a job.
Then, in 2023, Kentucky launched a program to cover or reduce child care costs for parents working in the child care industry. This program was intended to address two challenges simultaneously. Policymakers hoped this would attract more workers to the child care industry and address workforce shortages. And they wanted to make child care more affordable for all families.
More than a dozen states are currently considering or have already adopted policies modeled after Kentucky, according to EdSurge, a publication focused on education.
The program helped the state's child care industry recruit workers for service occupations.
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Delaney Griffin, 30, was working at a pizza restaurant last year and considering her next move with her young family. Her child care costs had consumed all but $100 of her biweekly check.
After learning about child care benefits, she took a job at the Baptist Health Child Development Center in December. She now pays about $5 per week. Her oldest child is in a pre-K program.
“The biggest reason I actually started child care was the free child care aspect,” Griffin said.
This series on how the child care crisis affects working parents focuses on solutions. Education Report CollaborationIt is a federation of eight newsrooms, including AL.com, The Associated Press, The Christian Science Monitor, The Dallas Morning News, The Hechinger Report, Idaho Education News, The Post & Courier and The Seattle Times.