SALT LAKE CITY — As the last federal funding dries up and many families and child care providers tip over the “funding cliff,” Utah parents and child care providers are calling on Utah lawmakers to push for public investment in the sector. I’m looking for.
The nonprofit group Utah Care for Kids held a rally and letter-writing campaign Saturday calling for investment in critical infrastructure at licensed child care centers, which the organization said has been “decaying for decades.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the sector temporarily stabilized after the state received nearly $600 million through federal child care stabilization grants, part of the American Rescue Plan Act.
The child care crisis existed long before the COVID-19 pandemic, with the state only having enough licensed child care workers to meet about 35% of child care needs. With the help of federal funding and state funding from the Child Care Authority, licensed child care capacity in Utah has increased by 31% since March 2020. The Child Stability Grant provided by the Child Care Bureau helped child care providers cover unexpected costs related to child care. Solve the pandemic, stabilize your business, and pay your staff more than $15 an hour.
But now that funding is gone, causing tuition increases, child care programs to close and parents to leave their jobs.
Sarah Stone, executive director and founder of Wonder Bloom Nature Place Group, accepted a 25% pay cut to prevent educators from having their pay cut when government funding dried up.
“We have relied heavily on child care stability subsidies in recent years to pay teachers competitive wages,” she said. “And this year, with the funding cliff, we didn’t want to cut any staff or reduce salaries.”
Stone added that since most of Wonder Bloom’s revenue goes toward paying employees, it’s difficult to find other costs to cut when cash is tight.
The company held a fundraiser Friday night to help fill some of the funding gap. Stone said the goal is simply to make ends meet for the program.
Closing a licensed child care center has a major impact. Utah has one licensed child care center for every three children who need child care, and no county in the state has enough licensed child care providers. Statewide, only 36% of child care needs are met, according to Voices for Utah Children’s report Mapping Care for Kids. The report also found that in Utah, two out of three households require both parents working to provide basic needs such as housing, food and clothing.
Rising child care costs are beginning to rival college tuition, leaving some families without access to quality child care or forcing one parent to quit their job. According to a 2022 U.S. Chamber of Commerce report, child care shortages cost Utah $1.36 billion in lost economic development. According to Utah Care for Kids, recent data shows that 60% of mothers with children ages 0 to 5 are in Utah’s workforce.
“Child care should be less than 7% of income, but we know in Utah it’s closer to 20-25% of income,” said Pastor Brigette Weier, organizer with Utah Care for Kids. said.
“Parents feel like they have a little more control over the pricing of care and how much care is needed,” she continued. We know that their families and children need public investments like K-12 education. If parents had to pay for third graders, they would be forced into the same intolerable situation. ”
Recent efforts by the Utah Legislature included increasing the number of children allowed in unlicensed child care to eight. Utah Care for Kids says it has required background checks on unlicensed providers, but so far only 16 providers have done so.
Early child care advocates, educators and parents are calling for the child tax credit to be expanded to benefit more than 1.8% of Utah taxpayers and to reduce the number of children placed in unlicensed child care centers. . The group also called for state investment in HB461, which lawmakers passed this year to make all child care staff eligible for child care subsidies regardless of income. While the bill passed, the state provided no state funding.
“We know these are some of the situations parents are in, and we don’t want them to feel hopeless or helpless. We need to make our voices heard and understand that times have changed,” Weier said. “It’s really almost impossible to have a stay-at-home parent. In most places in Utah, you can’t make ends meet on just one income. Housing is expensive, food is expensive, and everything but wages has gone up. Masu.”
