‘Solution’ To Child Care Crisis Isn’t Doing The Job

We are on the brink of a child care crisis in our community. Four Spokane-area child-care centers and numerous family child-care homes have closed their doors this year.

Hundreds of children lost the caregivers they knew, trusted, and liked. The providers lost the children they cared for and their jobs. The parents lost an essential service they had come to depend on and were forced into a desperate search for a safe, affordable substitute. Some have admitted that, failing to find care that they can afford, they have left their children alone or in the care of people they did not fully trust, rather than risk losing their jobs.

If we don’t act soon, thousands of parents across the state will face this dilemma and most importantly, thousands of children will suffer the consequences.

At the heart of the problem is the difficult economic equation of how to make child care simultaneously high quality, affordable, and remunerative enough for providers to make a living wage. According to this equation, the child care subsidy rate structure set by the state just doesn’t add up. To qualify for these subsidies children must be from a low or moderate income family (that is, with income up to 175 percent of poverty level) with parents who are working, going to school, or homeless. The parents are also required to make a “co-payment,” which is adjusted according to income.

Because of the new rules associated with welfare reform, the Department of Social and Health Services expects a 40 percent increase in the number of children needing subsidies. The Legislature did not fund an equivalent increase in the child care budget, so the Department is lowering the subsidy rate, based on a formula that is supposed to ensure that a subsidized child anywhere in the state can “afford” 59 percent of the child-care centers in the region.

There are three problems with this “solution.” First, the rate is being lowered to 59 percent from a previous standard of 75 percent. Second, the survey on which the numbers are based is two years old. Third, Spokane is averaged in with all the surrounding rural counties in calculating the rate providers receive, resulting in some of the lowest rates in the state.

In short, some providers may see a small increase in subsidy rates, but most will feel a huge loss. Part-time rates are especially low. The hourly rate for a toddler in a licensed family home in Spokane is only $2! Accordingly, it’s nearly impossible for a center or family child care to break even if they take on too many subsidized or part-time kids. This was a contributing factor in The Salvation Army and YWCA center closures.

If the child-care providers try to make ends meet by raising rates, they put the squeeze on middle-class parents, who are already paying an average of $406 a month for full-time licensed care for a child under 6. When a center or family child care closes, all the kids and parents, regardless of income, are left in the lurch. Other problems in Spokane include the lack of providers who are open on weekends or evenings, a shortage of before-and-after-school programs for older children, and a serious shortage of care for infants. Welfare reform requires that parents take any job offered, regardless of work hours, and mothers of infants and toddlers are no longer exempt from work requirements.

Ironically, this is happening at a time when the political rhetoric about families and children seems to be at an all-time high. High-quality child care is crucial to our social and economic future and we should put our money where are mouths are in the upcoming Legislative session. Governor Gary Locke has included $5 million in his supplemental budget for a proposal similar to a bill I co-sponsored last year. It would provide a tax credit for employers who assist employees with their child care needs. This is a good idea, but it isn’t enough.

We can spend $180 million dollars in a supplemental budget, stay under the spending limit set in Initiative 601, and still leave more than $500 million in reserve for an economic downturn.

There will be many competing requests for money and tax breaks this session, but with only 10 percent of the supplemental budget capacity, we could restore child care rates, put some funds into attracting providers into evening and weekend care, and provide some matching funds for community groups to expand after-school programs.

Child-care providers, whose wages currently average $7 an hour, are worth this investment, and so are the children they care for. Parents deserve the peace of mind that comes from knowing that their children are safe while they are at work. When older children are in structured activities after school, neighborhood safety increases, as they are less likely to become involved in inappropriate or illegal activities.

Neither parents, employers, providers, or taxpayers can take complete responsibility for averting this crisis. The child care equation will come into balance when we are all part of the solution.

xxxx