There are 40,000 available openings for children at child care facilities across Connecticut, but the facilities lack enough staff to fill those slots leaving many working parents without access, according to a report and interactive map released by the United Way of Connecticut.
“One in four child care slots in Connecticut – more than 40,000 legally authorized slots – exist only on paper and are not available for children and their parents,” the United Way reported in a press release, noting that across the state, only 74 percent of the child care slots are filled.
The press release coincided with the launch of an interactive map compiled by the United Way showing how many childcare slots are unfulfilled in each municipality, including more than 1,000 in Hartford. However, towns like Marlborough and Hampton had the highest percentages of available slots, near or over 40 percent.
“This additional data provides a new opportunity to think strategically about how and where local and state leaders, parents, philanthropy and providers can work together to address this urgent need,” said Lisa Tepper Bates, president and CEO of United Way of Connecticut.
The problem, according to United Way, is staffing and childcare costs. United Way indicates that “the actual costs of providing child care, particularly quality child care, often exceeds the fees that providers can charge in Connecticut,” thus keeping staff wages low, just about minimum wage. With staff wages making up most childcare provider expenses, increasing the wages will increase childcare fees and potentially make it more difficult for parents living paycheck-to-paycheck to afford childcare.
“Child care providers face a significant challenge because many parents can barely afford what they pay now,” the press release says.
Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposed budget adjustments for this year include an additional $43.4 million directed toward early childhood education, on top of a $45 million increase last year, that the Lamont administration says will help childcare staffing.
“Child care access is an investment with payoffs that reverberate,” Lamont said in a press release. “Investments in high-quality child care help optimize children’s brain development and long-term physical and emotional health, as well as their educational achievements. It also supports the economic growth of our state, helping businesses recruit and retain workers.”
“As we work to enhance the early childhood workforce, these rate increases, coupled with ongoing stabilization payments will help lift compensation for the field,” Office of Early Childhood Commissioner Beth Bye said. “The proposal to simplify the state’s early childhood teacher credential, coupled with apprenticeship and workforce pipeline programs will help expand the workforce over the next three years.”
Part of the proposed funds for early childhood education will go to Care 4 Kids, which helps low-income families pay for child care, and will support a “tri-share pilot program in Eastern Connecticut to support more child care options for families with direct engagement of the business community.” Both Marlborough and Hampton are in Eastern Connecticut.
However, Lamont’s proposal pulls most of that $43 million from Connecticut’s Education Cost Sharing fund, which sends hundreds of millions to school districts, leading to public outcry by education supporters who say the governor’s budget is short-changing schools or “pitting educational institutions against one another,” according to CT Examiner.
The State of Connecticut is operating under fiscal guardrails that place caps on how much spending can increase each year and how much of Connecticut’s revenue surplus is available for appropriations, and the budget is already razor-thin with many education groups, including higher education, clamoring for more state funding as federal COVID-relief funds come to an end.
Lamont’s funding proposal and the United Way’s latest findings comes on the back of a report by a Blue Ribbon Panel created last year to examine Connecticut’s child care system. The report cited a study that found Connecticut loses $1.5 billion in economic losses per year due to a lack of child care services.
The Panel ultimately recommended $148 million to support the expansion of Care 4 Kids, rate increases to support increased workforce, expansion of child care slots, and overall state support.
Sherri Sutera, senior vice president of child care services for United Way of Connecticut, says that data map will help the state and organizations work with child care providers to get them fully staffed and able to take more children.
“Partnering with child care providers to fix problems that limit capacity – like increasing wages for staff or making improvements to existing facilities – can help a community to increase the number of child care slots more cost-effectively and quickly than building new brick and mortar centers.”
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It’s hard to fill the spaces with no money to pay for childcare. Family’s can’t afford to pay with so many household expenses for the family. Also, not trusting caregivers with their children because of horrible circumstances, social media sites, new media word of mouth and etc. in daycare. This something I hear from families.