Reader’s View: Legislature must step up for child care – Duluth News Tribune

As a mother of a 1-year-old, a former child-care director, and a child-care start-up and retention navigator with Child Care Aware, I have experienced the child-care crisis. I’ve struggled to find affordable, high-quality care for my daughter. As a director, I struggled to pay teachers a living wage and charge families an affordable tuition. I continue to struggle to piece together resources for child-care providers that fall short of their needs.

Mastering the skilled work of child care takes years of education, experience, and grit — plus thousands of diaper changes along the way. No wonder providers are experiencing burnout. If child-care professionals are to utilize vacation time, maintain small teacher-to-student ratios, and prioritize their own wellbeing, Minnesota needs to fund child care in a real and comprehensive way.

We as a community can’t continue to take advantage of the few kind hearts who take on this important work. Families can’t afford to pay more than college tuition so their children’s early-childhood teachers can put food on the table. Employers can’t continue to lose workers who are pushed out of the workforce to stay home with their children rather than foot the bill for child-care tuition. Our children can’t continue to miss out on the quality care they deserve because their family can’t afford it.

The new Minnesota Legislature has the opportunity to fully fund child care to bridge the gap of affordability for families and a living wage for teachers, while supporting Minnesota businesses and children.

We need to count on the Minnesota Legislature to lead the way to a comprehensive solution to the child-care crisis.

Leah Budnik

Duluth

Letters to the editor are a critical part of the community dialogue, and the News Tribune attempts to publish all letters of opinion meeting our requirements.
Letters are limited to 300 words, must be the original work of the author and must be exclusive to the News Tribune. Letters are edited for style, space, accuracy and civility. Letter writers are limited to one published submission every 30 days.
With rare exceptions, the News Tribune does not publish poetry; letters that are anonymous, libelous, or attack other writers; consumer-complaint letters; thank-you letters or letters generated by political or special-interest campaigns.
We will consider exclusive local view columns of about 600 words or fewer. Authors should possess unique insights, and their commentaries should demonstrate greater knowledge of their subject than letters.
Email submissions to: [email protected]