NY Mag: Daycare is Broken

[Anonymous]

https://www.thecut.com/2022/11/childcare-crisis.html
Sadly we are seeing this play out in NYC now with my grandchild’s daycare closing due to staffing shortage.

[Anonymous]

Paywall. Can you provide a synopsis?

[Anonymous]

Yeah I'm crossing my fingers that we make it though the next 1.5 years until my youngest goes to school. Our daycare has had to make some cost-saving cuts (and tuition hikes) to avoid closing altogether so even though I'm less satisfied with our experience than I was with our older DC, I know we are fortunate that we have an option that we can afford and where DC is happy.

[Anonymous]

Paywall . So all I can do is respond to the title. It’s bizarre to me to see “Daycare is Broken” — because daycare was never NOT broken. People who could afford it made their own private arrangements. People who were lucky and met the guidelines got high quality programs like HeadStart. We don’t have national or local policies and funding to offer “daycare” or nursery school programs to everyone who wants and needs it. If we truly value children and their well-being as future citizens, we’d start with coherent adaptable policies and funding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Paywall . So all I can do is respond to the title. It’s bizarre to me to see “Daycare is Broken” — because daycare was never NOT broken. People who could afford it made their own private arrangements. People who were lucky and met the guidelines got high quality programs like HeadStart. We don’t have national or local policies and funding to offer “daycare” or nursery school programs to everyone who wants and needs it. If we truly value children and their well-being as future citizens, we’d start with coherent adaptable policies and funding.

That was partly the point of the article- the pandemic has just made it far worse. I am not a subscriber but was somehow able to read it but don't have time to summarize, maybe the OP can.

[Anonymous]

I’m reading it now and copying some relevant snippets

“ Meanwhile, prices continue to rise with inflation. One mother who lives outside of D.C. was recently informed that day-care tuition for each of her kids would be going up by about $100 a month. For a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old, the bill comes out to more than $41,000 a year.”

Low pay “ The average child-care worker in the U.S. makes around $13 an hour. Around 95 percent of child-care workers are women; more than a third are women of color. When I drop my daughter off at 7:30 a.m., I exchange smiles and thank the women who will care for her for the next nine to ten hours. But I also feel uneasy. I know I’m getting the better end of the deal.”

This article is nothing new. Daycare is expensive, different parts of the United States pay different amounts of money and the writer feels her mental state is better because she has her child in daycare.

[Anonymous]

I thought everyone who has kids needing childcare knows this by now. My child’s wonderful in-home closed permanently the minute the first pandemic shutdown was announced because the provider had high-risk family members. We heard of several more such closures. None of them have reopened.

[Anonymous]

DP and here is another snippet
"Biden’s Build Back Better legislation would have provided universal preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds and expanded access to high-quality child care for low- and middle-income children."

Thank god this legislation did not pass and no one should ever think this is some great idea or vote for it. It's a truly terrible idea that would make daycare instantly more expensive for those in the DC area. If you think your daycare bill is large now, expect it to triple if something like this were to pass.

It shows how misguided lawmakers are regarding what daycare is and what is needed.

3 and 4 yrs old are relatively cheap for daycares and the cost for that can be less. Strip that away and daycare centers are left with the costly infant and toddler rooms that require several staff to cover all shifts and can only accommodate a small number of kids. Centers like those wouldn't even be able break even unless they started charging more. A lot more.

And daycare is needed for infants and toddlers as well NOT just 3 years and up.

We are still wanting to cling to the belief that it is 1950 and daycare is extraneous. What we have to do and what politicians have to do is accept it is reality - just like K-12 school. And that's what has to happen. There has to be a public portion of all daycare centers to subsidize the cost of all daycares across the county. Teachers have to be paid similar to public school teachers and there has to be public money plus private pay money.

The idea that only low income parents need child care subsidies also has to go away. Subsidies have to extend to families that are in middle incomes for their specific area - not a national average. In DC, I would argue that families of 3 - two adults, one kid - making up to $175K likely need a subsidy in order to not be drowning each month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m reading it now and copying some relevant snippets

“ Meanwhile, prices continue to rise with inflation. One mother who lives outside of D.C. was recently informed that day-care tuition for each of her kids would be going up by about $100 a month. For a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old, the bill comes out to more than $41,000 a year.”

Low pay “ The average child-care worker in the U.S. makes around $13 an hour. Around 95 percent of child-care workers are women; more than a third are women of color. When I drop my daughter off at 7:30 a.m., I exchange smiles and thank the women who will care for her for the next nine to ten hours. But I also feel uneasy. I know I’m getting the better end of the deal.”

This article is nothing new. Daycare is expensive, different parts of the United States pay different amounts of money and the writer feels her mental state is better because she has her child in daycare.

This was true 10 years ago as well. It’s nothing new.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP and here is another snippet
"Biden’s Build Back Better legislation would have provided universal preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds and expanded access to high-quality child care for low- and middle-income children."

Thank god this legislation did not pass and no one should ever think this is some great idea or vote for it. It's a truly terrible idea that would make daycare instantly more expensive for those in the DC area. If you think your daycare bill is large now, expect it to triple if something like this were to pass.

It shows how misguided lawmakers are regarding what daycare is and what is needed.

3 and 4 yrs old are relatively cheap for daycares and the cost for that can be less. Strip that away and daycare centers are left with the costly infant and toddler rooms that require several staff to cover all shifts and can only accommodate a small number of kids. Centers like those wouldn't even be able break even unless they started charging more. A lot more.

And daycare is needed for infants and toddlers as well NOT just 3 years and up.

We are still wanting to cling to the belief that it is 1950 and daycare is extraneous. What we have to do and what politicians have to do is accept it is reality - just like K-12 school. And that's what has to happen. There has to be a public portion of all daycare centers to subsidize the cost of all daycares across the county. Teachers have to be paid similar to public school teachers and there has to be public money plus private pay money.

The idea that only low income parents need child care subsidies also has to go away. Subsidies have to extend to families that are in middle incomes for their specific area - not a national average. In DC, I would argue that families of 3 - two adults, one kid - making up to $175K likely need a subsidy in order to not be drowning each month.

It has already happened in DC-why do you think infant/toddlercare is so expensive here? I think they thought that sending 3-4 year olds to schools would create more infant-toddler slots. Nope. The building requirements are more stringent as are staffing ratios. It just doesn't make good financial sense to serve lots of infants and toddlers.

[Anonymous]

What's broken is an economy that forces a majority of parents to work full-time in order to make ends meet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP and here is another snippet
"Biden’s Build Back Better legislation would have provided universal preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds and expanded access to high-quality child care for low- and middle-income children."

Thank god this legislation did not pass and no one should ever think this is some great idea or vote for it. It's a truly terrible idea that would make daycare instantly more expensive for those in the DC area. If you think your daycare bill is large now, expect it to triple if something like this were to pass.

It shows how misguided lawmakers are regarding what daycare is and what is needed.

3 and 4 yrs old are relatively cheap for daycares and the cost for that can be less. Strip that away and daycare centers are left with the costly infant and toddler rooms that require several staff to cover all shifts and can only accommodate a small number of kids. Centers like those wouldn't even be able break even unless they started charging more. A lot more.

And daycare is needed for infants and toddlers as well NOT just 3 years and up.

We are still wanting to cling to the belief that it is 1950 and daycare is extraneous. What we have to do and what politicians have to do is accept it is reality - just like K-12 school. And that's what has to happen. There has to be a public portion of all daycare centers to subsidize the cost of all daycares across the county. Teachers have to be paid similar to public school teachers and there has to be public money plus private pay money.

The idea that only low income parents need child care subsidies also has to go away. Subsidies have to extend to families that are in middle incomes for their specific area - not a national average. In DC, I would argue that families of 3 - two adults, one kid - making up to $175K likely need a subsidy in order to not be drowning each month.

+1 to that

[Anonymous]

I'd like a breakdown of where the money goes. I pay a lot- about 55k a year for my kids. I know salaries aren't very high, however. Is it insurance? And if so, is there anything we can do to fix that? Is it rent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Paywall. Can you provide a synopsis?

Hint: For a site you're unlikely to visit often (in which case you should be subscribing), right click and open in incognito window.


You're welcome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd like a breakdown of where the money goes. I pay a lot- about 55k a year for my kids. I know salaries aren't very high, however. Is it insurance? And if so, is there anything we can do to fix that? Is it rent?

Rent and Labor costs are the main expenses for a close in daycare. They aren't getting a discount on the market rate commercial rent.