The
New York Times recently reported on the child care crisis with a frighteningly succinct headline : “ Why You Can ’ t Find Child Care : 100,000 Workers Are Missing .” The sub-headline is " Where did they go ? To better-paying jobs stocking shelves , cleaning offices , or doing anything that pays more than $ 15 an hour ." In contrast to private sector employment , which has stabilized , the Times reveals that the national child care sector is 9.7 % smaller than it was in February 2020 .
This report offers a comprehensive set of urgently needed actions to ensure that the state stabilizes and expands the child care industry and workforce . The cost of quality care estimation model highlights the limitations of relying on subsidy rates alone to fix the broken child care market . To
qualify for assistance through Working Connections Child Care ( WCCC ), families must earn less than 60 % of the state median income , or around $ 67,000 for a family of four .
21 Even when families do qualify , the
most recent data available estimates that only 13 % of eligible children from birth through age five actually received assistance through the subsidy program in Washington .
22 Task force discussions confirmed that solutions to workforce compensation should include public and private programs alike .
In 2019 23 and again in 2021 , 24 the Legislature directed the task force to report on the true cost of quality care based on a federally approved cost of quality care study and cost estimation model . The Washington cost estimation model is an Excel-based tool that estimates the per-child costs of operating a child care program . The estimation model is a tool that can estimate the fiscal impacts of policy and budget changes . It can be used to inform short- and long-term fiscal planning , including revenue-generation planning . 25 The recommendations that follow leverage the cost estimation model as an essential tool for addressing workforce recruitment and retention .
The task force recommends using
MIT ’ s Living Wage model , which estimates the cost of living in a region based on typical family expenses , to establish a wage floor and salary scale that adjusts for the additional responsibilities of different early childhood education staff positions . WCCC rate setting should include costs for program enhancements that support quality , such as parent-teacher conferences , family engagement specialists , substitutes to cover planning time and training , child assessment tools , and curriculum support .
Increasing the subsidy rate alone will not stabilize child care in Washington . Only one third of providers in Washington currently accept subsidies , and just 20 % of all licensed child care slots are funded through WCCC . Further , it is possible that significantly raising subsidy rates to cover the cost of quality care will put pressure on providers to increase their private pay rates , making care even less affordable for private pay families . For
2021 .
23
2022 COST OF QUALITY CHILD CARE LEGISLATIVE REPORT 14