Richmond, Virginia - June 1, 2022
The lack of child care is the biggest barrier to this nation’s economic recovery. Bigger than inflation, the national debt ceiling, and even political division. Ensuring the daily care of children, America’s next generation of workers, is not a problem only plaguing working families. It is an issue that anyone concerned with the future of our economy must immediately recognize. “The inability to manage child care is the primary reason our economy is struggling,” warns President Barry DuVal of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce in a recent interview with the Virginia Child Care Association (VCCA). This urgent warning by many pro-business organizations in Virginia the country’s top business-friendly state, is a wakeup call to corporate America. Their competitiveness and survival rest on whether 40% of parents with children under age 18 find child care so they are able to join the workforce. If they can, we will see our economy grow and thrive once more. If not, it will continue to struggle in the present, as well as in the future. The economic impacts of COVID have spotlighted the insecurities of child care options in the US; particularly in low-resource and rural communities, resulting in greater shortages of quality child care. More than half of working Americans reside in so-called child care deserts, while those who can find care are paying staggering percentages of their income for it, far more than the federal recommendation of 7%. Providers ranging from the national nonprofits YMCA/YWCA to the statewide VCCA have lobbied for serious investment in a child care system that focuses on private-public partnerships. These partnerships could blend private and public funds to construct more affordable child care options for families However, for too long, policy makers, and other stakeholders have ignored pleas for long-term solutions seeking short term solutions that are not sustainable. It’s taken a global pandemic to disrupt this norm. Without new operational models in child care and significant investments, (something the corporate community could help provide) America’s economy will continue to grow at a slow rate. Many businesses will suffer from the absence of an eager workforce. Small businesses that form America’s economic backbone are at particular risk since they do not have the resources to operate when missing employees. “We will not solve the workforce problems unless we solve the child care problem,” DuVal further cautions. Solving the child care problem, takes deeper understanding of how the U.S. child care industry, mainly small, privately owned businesses, operate. Most child care centers operate on profit margins barely near 1% . Long-term sustainability under the current fragile systems are not practical because the industry is almost entirely private and offering a service that is in high demand but too expensive for the majority of working families. Root Causes of the Child Care Crisis The biggest expense for child care providers are teacher’s salaries. According to the Center for American Progress, 70% of child-care center costs go to wages and benefits, yet many assistant teachers make near-poverty-level salaries. Operational budget constraints allow providers to pay staff an average of $12.74 per hour according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Therefore, few are willing to enter the child care profession. In addition, although child care centers are viewed as “day cares,” most offer educational programs for all ages. Child care teachers are required to provide curriculum that support children’s development, do individual assessments, and attend parent-teacher conferences all very similar to requirements of teachers in K – 12 schools. However, child care center teachers must also meet extensive and sometimes excessive, state licensing regulations. These struggles cause many early-education teachers to leave for higher paying, less-burdensome careers. Finding replacements is nearly impossible for care providers because no pipeline of trained, qualified employees exists. Winwood Children’s Center, a well-established private child care center in Virginia, that traditionally operated at 100% enrollment prior to Covid today is only operating at only 60% capacity, due to staffing shortages. Other financial supports such as subsidies provide help to families, but most don’t apply, either because they are unaware that they would qualify, or because household income is higher than the very low threshold. For Virginia, this means allocated funds are unused despite promotional campaigns. Nationally, only 1 in 10 eligible children under age 6 receive child care subsidies. For working parents, the desperation of finding and paying for child care transfers directly into the workplace and the decision to stay at home or join the work force. Parents must consider working hours, potential travel, attendance at off-hour meetings, and ability to profit at all from working. This challenging decision most often falls on women. The Virginia Chamber of Commerce and Virginia Promise Partnership write in The Business Case for Strong Child Care that “breakdowns in our child care system disproportionately affect women, who make up 94 percent of workers [who are] involuntarily working only part-time due to child care challenges. According to a summer 2020 U.S. Chamber Foundation survey, 50% of parents who had not returned to work cited child care as a reason.” As a small Virginia business owner himself, DuVal has witnessed the impact of child care scarcity on his employees, including turnover, diminished productivity, and high stress. While large companies often have more than one person who can execute different jobs, a cross-trained interim worker rarely exists in tightly budgeted small organizations. If one or two people quit, business operations may stall or stop completely, forcing closure, reduced hours, and lost growth opportunities. The business community is slowly recognizing the foundational importance of early childhood to future workforce sustainability and excellence. “We hear from our members regularly about workforce challenges due to a lack of child care,” write Presidents & CEOs Alexis Ehrhardt and Danielle M. W. Fitz-Hugh of the Danville Pittsylvania County (VA) Chamber of Commerce and Chesterfield (VA) Chamber of Commerce, respectively. “Child care is not only critical to sustaining a highly skilled workforce today but also is vital to developing Virginia’s workforce of tomorrow.” Research is clear about the importance of early years to human development. If children do not have consistent, sensitive, and responsive caregiving from ages zero to five, their ability and interest in learning and other skills are harmed and will significantly impact them as they get older. Studies have shown that high-quality child care and early education programs help children develop cognitive and learning skills that include attentiveness, determination, self-control, critical thinking, and problem-solving. These are critical elements to any innovative future workforce. To providers and, increasingly, workers, child care is a business problem too long relegated to others without the expertise, ideas, leadership, and capacity of the corporate community. The child care industry needs business leaders to unite and work with state governments and organizations such as VCCA, YMCA/YWCA, Chamber of Commerce, and others to re-envision and rebuild this crumbling but vital support pillar of the economy. Incremental progress is not going to resolve the monumental challenges, as reflected Dec. 3, 2021, when newly elected Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin received the report Blueprint Virginia 2030: A Business Plan for the Commonwealth at the Annual Virginia Economic Summit on World Trade. Early in its 144 pages is an entire section demanding actions for long-term resolution of child care access and affordability as key to further securing the state’s position as a business leader in the domestic and global economies. Virginia Pilots Generate Successes Virginia has made modest progress toward addressing the child care shortage, but is committed to trying and many leaders have worked across parties to build support for issues impacting child care. In 2019, the Virginia Department of Education, in partnership with the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation and the University of Virginia, used federal funding to start a Teacher Recognition Program, a financial incentive in 11 localities of the state that pays child care teachers an annual bonus of up to $2,000. Its success has prompted Virginia to expand it dramatically statewide by 2023 after a rigorous study of the first year showed turnover rates among child care teachers cut in half from 30% to 15%. As the nation continues to consider early education investments well beyond pandemic relief measures, child care experts urge greater focus on ways to motivate the business community to address this serious threat to their own sustainability and profitability. Businesses large and small need to fully recognize the rising threat to economic prosperity and their own success if safe, affordable child care is not available. “This is the most-needed business investment of 2022,” says VCCA Vice President, Clark Andrs, owner of two child care facilities in Chester, VA. “It’s in the self-interest of every corporation and organization to redirect resources and use their formidable clout with policy makers and community change makers to solve this problem for the sake of our companies, employees, and economy.” AUTHORS: Clark Andrs Owner of River’s Bend Children’s Center in Chester VA & President of the Virginia Child Care Association (VCCA). Kim Hulcher is VCCA Executive Director virginiachildcareassociation@gmail.com
8 Comments
We will be sending out communication a few times a week from now until we get through this time of crisis. Hopefully everything we’re all doing will help the situations so we can get back to normal soon. Until then, here’s the latest from VCCA
Tara has asked for our help. Several childcare centers are closing. We’d like to know if our members have additional capacity and if so, how many students could you take on to help cover so that parents who need to get to work can. Please read her communication below. We would appreciate your input in the survey that’s included at the bottom of this email. Tara’s question for VCCA Members: One thing to keep in mind, we are getting information that "some" and we do not know how many (we are working on that aspect now) centers are closing. This is concerning with the number of school closures and parents needing to work. We are working through possible options to lessen requirements but we are open to suggestions! Thank you for the prayers and support! Tara Since the teacher shortage is so dire and teachers are off for the next few weeks (or longer) I asked if we could send out a message to our parents who are teachers and want to work if we could use their existing criminal background reports if they are current teachers. This may help us in the short run. We suggest for those of you who are able to take on more school agers at this point to communicate with families that you will do your best to be open for working families, especially since the child population is the least affected. If they or a family member or friend are temporarily out of work and would like to work for you for the next few weeks or longer to let you know. It may take a few days to get the others printed, but if you have teachers that you could onboard immediately that may help. We’ll let you know on Monday what Tara says about teachers already printed by D.O.E.
We want you to know that supplies are being restricted to health care facilities first. They still have products for now, but things may be in limited supply soon. Adam says for the child care industry to be aware that chemical companies may not claim to have products to kill COVID-19 specifically. If they do that is a false claim, but there are chemicals that are know to kill this virus family, which may include COVID-19. They just can’t tell you that it’s a 100% effective. He did say that this “envelope virus” is one for the easiest viruses to kill so being diligent is key! Clorox wipes are gold so if you have them he said you can sell them for a mint on EBAY. (Ha Ha!!!) Adam is going to be creating some short clip videos with practical solutions to help us make our own wipes incase supplies run low. Also, be sure to check out the tab on their website on Corona Virus!
Please take the quick member survey below. Responses are requested to be made no later than 2:00pm on Monday, March 16, 2020. Thank you for your time & support! VCCA Survey http://vachild.associationsonline.com/site_survey.cfm?pk_association_survey=1524 (WRIC) — In Virginia, it’s more expensive to send your child to daycare than a four-year college with in-state tuition, according to a new study. The cost factors of childcare are the child to teacher ratios, how qualified the teachers are, the building’s rent, feeding the children and utilities. Watch Now by: Alex Thorson | Posted: Aug 13, 2019 / 05:39 PM EDT / Updated: Aug 14, 2019 / 10:26 AM EDT
Governor Northam Releases Early Childhood Education Needs Assessment and Draft Strategic Plan8/9/2019 Public comment now being solicited for feedback on draft Strategic Plan to strengthen school readiness in the CommonwealthRICHMOND—Governor Ralph Northam today announced the completion of a statewide Needs Assessment and draft Strategic Plan that were produced through the $9.9 million federal Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5) announced in January.
We found this blog to be very useful.
On a typical school day, Virginia educators will teach classes across multiple subjects, provide personal social and emotional support for students inside and outside the classroom, manage after-school programs, and grade assignments or prepare lesson plans. They might have a second job to make ends meet. Read more Virginia officials are trying to make it easier to teach preschool.
For the first time, students taking early childhood education classes at Virginia’s community colleges can have those credits and degrees automatically transfer to four-year schools. Driving through Virginia you can catch over 200 different personalized license plates, recognizing everyone from animal lovers to veterans. But, a delegate is trying to make sure one special job is highlighted too. Read More
Of all the important public policy issues confronting Virginia, the need for exceptional early childhood education stands alone in its potential to significantly impact both current and future prosperity.
The School Readiness Report Card gathers, synthesizes and interprets a broad array of relevant data to help various stakeholders track the status of state and local school readiness initiatives.
|
Virginia Child Care Association (VCCA) is a statewide, nonprofit membership organization of business leaders, directors, and teachers of privately owned and operated early education facilities.
CONTACT US AT: 5 East 2nd Street Richmond, VA 23224 Copyright © 2023 | All Rights Reserved | Website provided by Child Care Biz Help |
Quick Links |