THE FIGHT FOR UNIVERSAL, COMPREHENSIVE, AND AFFORDABLE CHILDCARE

Study after study finds that, amongst rich nations, the United States ranks near or at the bottom when it comes to the provision of universal, high quality, and affordable childcare. As a recent report by the National Center for Nonprofits observes:

The United States is an outlier among wealthy nations in its miserly support for the care of preschool children, spending on average $500 per year for a toddler’s care, compared with $14,000 among other rich countries.

Likewise, a new report by the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) spends 0.3% of its GDP on childcare and early childhood education. As a percentage of GDP, that’s less than half the 0.8% average for the OECD nations as a whole.

Nordic countries like Iceland and Sweeden spend 1.7% and 1.6% of their respective GDP.

Just consider this:

• The median earnings of childcare workers clock in at the rather measly sum of $13.25 per hour

• Families with kids in childcare currently spend, on average, 27% of their household income on childcare expenses.

• Between February 2020 and April 2020—the opening rounds of Covid— the number of employees in the childcare sector dropped from 1.05 million to 680,000, a decline of 35% within the matter of 3 months!

• Almost 9,000 childcare centers closed between December 2019 and March 2021.

STABILIZATION GRANTS: A TEMPORARY REPRIEVE

The situation would have been worse, though, had it not been for the American Rescue Plan’s $24 billion childcare stabilization grants. Signed into law March 2021, childcare providers used these funds to, among other things, defray unexpected costs resulting from the pandemic, purchase Personal Protection Equipment (PPP) to aid in in the protection of staff and children from contracting a potential deadly virus, cover the cost of providing mental health support to staff and children and, importantly, increase the compensation and benefits of those who stayed and help weather the storm unleashed by the pandemic.

In its Information Memorandum (IM), the United States Department of Health and Human Services underscored the importance of these stabilization grants in both shoring up the childcare sector during the pandemic-related recession and the central role that sector would have to play in economic recovery:

The COVID-19 public health emergency has put a spotlight on the critical role childcare plays in supporting children, families, businesses, and the economy as a whole. It has also highlighted the fragility of the child care market. Child care is essential for our communities to thrive, but the system’s current structure means many families cannot access or afford high-quality care, and the workforce is underpaid for skilled and valuable work. There is no doubt that child care providers are critical to the recovery and continued wellbeing of families and the economy, and that, without immediate financial relief, child care providers will continue to close and accumulate debt, further reducing the already limited supply of child care. This outcome would be catastrophic for families, businesses, and our economy.

As important as the American Rescue Plan’s $24 billion childcare stabilization grants have been in staunching the bleeding of a sector of the economy that has been wounded for decades, the grants themselves were temporary, and are scheduled to expire on September 30th, 2023.

And what’s likely to happen as a result of that expiration?

Well, a recent study by The Century Foundation indicates that the expiration of the stabilization grants will likely increase the amount of socio-economic pain upon felt by parents and kids dependent upon securing reliable child care, as well as inflict considerable financial losses on state’s balance sheets.

Here’s some of what the study finds:

• More than 70,000 childcare centers could end up closed and, as a result, 3.2 million kids could lose their childcare spots.

• The lack of childcare is likely to cause parents to lose $9 billion dollars per year income— a reflection of the fact that the closing of childcare centers could force many parents to either reduce their hours or cease working altogether.

• States could lose up to $10.6 billion per year as a result of lost income tax revenue and reduced productivity from disruptions in childcare.

• The childcare workforce is likely to lose 232,000 jobs

• Five states—Arkansas, Montana, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia— could lose 50% or more of their licensed childcare programs.

Such findings make it abundantly clear that allowing the stabilization grants to expire will result in both private and social gain, with the suffering undoubtedly falling with a particularly hard thud on the lives of those least able to bear the weight.

There’s something else that’s increasingly clear: Workers need access to comprehensive, universal, and affordable childcare.

WE NEED COMPREHENSIVE, UNIVERSAL, ACCESSIBLE, AND AFFORDABLE CHILD CARE

While the American Rescue Plan’s (APA) stimulation grants have played a critical role in keeping the childcare sector afloat, the bottom line is that this country is sorely in need of a permanent, affordable, accessible, and universal childcare system. Study after study finds that, amongst rich countries, the United States consistently ranks near or at the bottom when it comes to the provision of universal, high quality, and affordable childcare.

Often overlooked, though, is the fact that, during World War II, the United States came close to establishing a childcare system that was universal, comprehensive, accessible, and affordable. This was inextricably linked to the nation’s need for women to shore up the declining numbers of workers that resulted from the deployment of millions of men in support of the war effort.

A report by the Congressional Research Service makes note of this dynamic:

During World War II, the federal government offered grants for child care services to authorized community groups that could demonstrate a war-related need for the service. The program was justified as a war expedient necessary to allow mothers to enter the labor force and increase war production. Funding authorization came through the 1941 Defense Public Works law (Title II of the 1940 National Defense Housing Act), popularly known as the Lanham Act. The law was designed to assist communities with water, sewer, housing, schools, and other local facilities’ needs related to war industry and growth. The federal government granted $52 million for child care under this Act from August 1943 through February 1946. Communities, mostly through user fees, contributed an additional $26 million. At its July 1944 peak, 3,102 federally subsidized child care centers, with 130,000 children enrolled, were located in all but one state and in D.C.

Federal funds were used to cover a broad range of operating costs, including staff wages, as well as facility construction and upkeep. Overall, federal funds covered 2/3 of the total cost of running these childcare centers, with the remaining costs being covered by parental or user fees.

By the time the war ended, somewhere between 550,000-600,000 children directly benefitted from these federally subsidized childcare centers, the number of women in the labor force had increased by almost 50%, and the number of women employed in durables manufacturing dramatically increased from 340,000 to 2,174,000.

Since all of this was tied to the war effort and meant to be temporary, once World War II wound down the entire program was phased out.

Still, it’s important to acknowledge that this overlooked history provides strong evidence that this country can, in fact, create and sustain a childcare system that strives to be comprehensive, universal, accessible, and affordable.

This time, though, it needs to be permanent and grounded in the notion that there are certain goods—and child care is one of them— that we should never totally place at the mercy of the market to provide.

Some things in life—and childcare is one of them— ought to be guaranteed.

There’re are certain goods—and childcare is one of them— that we simply can’t trust the magic of the market to provide a quantity that’s of sufficient quality, quantity, and at affordable prices.

There’re certain goods—and childcare is one of them— that any society that purports to care about families and kids ought to ensure are accessible to all who need them.

Catch you on the flip side,

Doc Greene