Child care is crucial to families and the economy. California should treat it that way

Parents seeking child care in California often have to hunt for availability through word of mouth and constantly confirm their places on hopelessly long wait lists to avoid falling off them completely. There are simply more children than there are providers to care for them in California, leaving parents and children stranded, providers overworked and the state’s economy suffering as a result.

Child care is a crucial industry, integral to a healthy workforce, that has been decimated by the pandemic and neglected by policymakers.

The problem can’t be pushed aside any longer: California’s child care problem is hindering the workforce’s recovery from the pandemic — particularly that of mothers — and undervaluing a pivotal public service that has been traditionally disregarded as “women’s work.”

Child care workers are not mere babysitters; they are early childhood educators working with children during a pivotal period. Child care cannot and must not be simply a job; it must be a desirable career that attracts and retains workers the industry needs.

But the state’s — and nation’s — issues with child care are complicated by problems with supply, demand and affordability on every level. Rules for in-home child care providers and facilities can be complicated and vary among jurisdictions.

California subsidizes some child care workers, albeit at a rate that advocates say is far too low. In addition, last year, a new union called Child Care Providers United reached a deal with state negotiators that included a 15% raise. The agreement also included $40 million for professional development and established a grievance process, both of which were lacking prior to the pandemic.

Still, it’s not enough: According to the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at UC Berkeley, the median hourly pay for a California child care worker in 2019 was $13.43, while preschool teachers earned $16.83 and kindergarten teachers earned $41.86.

Studies show at least a third of California’s family child care providers have shut down since 2008. In 2020, a third of the state’s child care workforce reported using public assistance and experiencing food insecurity because of low wages.

Legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year provides that by 2025, all 4-year-olds will be able to access public transitional kindergarten, or TK. The program is meant to better prepare children for kindergarten and reduce child care costs for parents, which can amount to $11,000 to $17,000 annually in California, according to Kidsdata.org, a program of the Population Reference Bureau.

But many working families aren’t able to use transitional kindergarten due to a dearth of after-school child care. In addition, taking 4-year-olds out of private day care removes the easiest and cheapest group of children for care centers to take on: The state requires one staff member for every four infants but allows a dozen 4-year-olds per employee.

Additionally, many former preschool teachers are leaving low-paying child care jobs to work in transitional kindergarten, exacerbating the industry’s already-alarming staffing shortage. Working in TK, teachers can get better pay, better hours, and more vacation time.

This migration affects a crucial industry already hampered by closures: A recent report by Children Now found as many as 10,000 child care programs either temporarily or permanently closed during the pandemic, and newly-released data from the California Child Care Resource & Referral Network suggests a loss of 18,000 licensed child care slots in the state between 2019 and 2021.

Child care should be regarded as a public good, not someone else’s problem, and child care providers should be treated as the educators they are. The Legislature and governor must find ways to further increase the desirability of the field and make high‑quality child care accessible for every family in California. The value of child care to parents is far greater than what we have assigned it, and the status quo is leaving California families, communities and children scrambling to cope.

This story was originally published December 21, 2022 at 5:00 AM.