Editorial: Hope, help for child care needed as desert expands | Editorials


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The first day of school arrives with hope.

Pencils are sharp, notebooks haven’t snagged any sweaters yet and students march forth into a new year, many looking forward to what it might bring.

The first day of school also arrives with relief.

For parents of public school children, the first day provides relief from out-of-pocket costs associated with child care. Before- and after-school care are a different story, as is day care for pre-school age children — a story that gets more trying, the younger kids are.

Michigan has more than 559,000 children under the age of 5. A recent Muckrock report, led by former Record-Eagle data journalist Luca Powell and published in Sunday’s edition, determined that statewide capacity estimates of 373,000 day care “slots” for Michigan’s children are an illusion.

The real figure for 0- to 5-year-olds is closer to 264,000 — since state numbers reflect the licensed capacity of what centers could take, not realities such as staffing shortages, costs and COVID-19 closures. The actual picture shows a child care desert twice the size of what was thought, and it’s spreading.

Families in these deserts — defined as three kids waiting for one slot — form a cumulative statewide waiting list of at least 54,057 children.

On a population-adjusted basis, a waiting list of more than 3,200 children was the longest on our home turf — Grand Traverse County, which saw more than a third of its childcare facilities close in the past three years.

We know that sting. Parents know it, as they scramble to find a safe, affordable place to send their kids. Employers know it, as their workforce ebbs and flows with options available. Our community knows it, as young families, facing the double-whammy of high housing costs and few daycare options, relocate; or day cares, unable to make ends meet, close their doors.

The problem isn’t black and white, and solutions won’t be either.

Calls to deregulate the system, like removing state-set capacity limits to allow day care workers to take more kids, may increase profits but also bump up risks to child safety. Care providers should only have as many kids as they can reasonably keep track of, but what this looks like varies widely from day care to public school — a 5-year-old in day care is restricted to a 1:12 ratio, but a 5-year-old kindergartener may be in a class of 25-30.

Throwing one-time money at the problem also hasn’t fixed it. Michigan providers received one-time grants from a $1.4 billion pot of federal money. State-subsidized child care loosened to include 100,000 more families. But subsidies only work when the slots are available, and 9,000 vacant worker positions mean they aren’t.

The point is to continue investing — time, energy, and consistent state funding — into finding solutions. We agree with the state’s moves to allow rule exemptions to hire younger staff who are finishing required coursework and are awaiting final certifications. We think student debt should be factored into subsidy need equations, and families should be able to access someone to help them through the process. Day care operators need this as well — state licensing must be open to helping operators find a successful path, not just telling them what’s wrong.

It won’t be easy. But, as we greet a new school year with hope and promise, our kids are worth it.

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