business backgrounder | child care
Erin Vincent from Greater Spokane Inc . joins other members of the LEAP study group in a panel discussion on child care .
“ We have been talking about this issue ever since I ’ ve been in office in 2018 ,” Eslick said . “ This trip made it really clear to me we ’ re going to start making some changes , and that was very heartwarming to me .” State Rep . Tana Senn , D-Mercer Island , agrees . “ Child care is at the core of so many workforce challenges , whether it ’ s employment in health care , construction , etc .,” Senn said . “ We need a workforce ; they need child care . And child care builds a better workforce of the future .”
holding up the tent
An analogy used on the tour is that supporting a successful child care system is like holding up a tent . There are four main poles : Affordability , access , workforce and quality . Attendees who spoke with Washington Business said they came away from the trip with the conclusion that Canada focused too much on affordability at the expense of workforce development , which made the system a little unbalanced .
“ One of the biggest ‘ aha moments ’ was that you cannot just dump a bunch of money into the system and have it be fixed ,” said Amy Anderson , AWB ’ s government affairs director for child care issues . “ They definitely put a bunch of money in to make it more accessible and affordable ... but they don ’ t have enough teachers and facilities .”
workforce challenges
Indeed , a key takeaway from the trip is the need to focus on attracting , training and paying the many skilled workers you need to sustain the low employee-to-student ratio for child care .
“ We have been talking about this issue ever since I ’ ve been in office in 2018 . This trip made it really clear to me we ’ re going to start making some changes , and that was very heartwarming to me .”
— Rep . Carolyn Eslick , R-Sultan
“ Good news , bad news ,” said Senn , who chairs the House Human Services , Youth , and Early Learning Committee . “ Both countries , most countries are particularly struggling with child care workforce . Good news because it ’ s not just us . Bad news because it ’ s also us .”
Eslick , the ranking minority member on the panel , said the trip convinced her that in addition to her goal of working on reforming child care regulations , policy makers also need to be focusing on recruiting and ensuring pay that will bring people into the profession .
“ We know a lot of families aren ’ t working because of child care ,” Eslick said . “ If we could give benefits to business to include child care in their employee benefits , that could take care of some of our issues .”
costs and subsidies
Colleen Condon employs 27 people at Lilac City Early Learning Center in Spokane , where they care for 79 children with 24 early Head Start slots . She also advocates for Washington Communities for
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