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Task force: Child care centers need more help in Washington state

Yakima Herald-Republic - 12/15/2019

Dec. 15--Statewide, licensed child care centers only have the capacity to serve 17% of children under the age of 13, according to research from a task force looking at child care issues.

An ongoing effort by the Child Care Collaborative Task Force is intended to highlight where improvements are needed. The group kicked off a statewide assessment Wednesday intended to map gaps in services and detail how closely centers are meeting families' needs.

"Too many working parents in Washington are either paying more than they can afford for quality child care or struggling to find an affordable, safe place to provide care for their children," state Commerce Director Lisa Brown said in a news release about the study launch.

The problem is affecting economic productivity, she added.

The group will report its findings to the Legislature in July. It expected to provide a more detailed view into what is considered a "broken market." Child care issues cost employers statewide $2 billion in 2017 from employee turnover, according to an October report commissioned by the panel.

Nationally, Washington has the sixth highest share of people living in child care deserts of all states, according to the Center for American Progress. The think tank defines deserts as "any census tract with more than 50 children under age 5 that contains either no child care providers or so few options that there are more than three times as many children as licensed child care slots."

Most of Yakima County is considered a child care desert.

In the county alone, an estimated 4,000 of 12,400 local children under the age of 5 were potentially unaccounted for by the child care industry in 2018, based on estimates from Child Care Aware and U.S. Census Bureau data.

Recommendations

The statewide assessment comes after the task force released its first report of recommendations for Legislature late last month -- an extensive list of potential incentives or support for the struggling child care industry spanning roughly 25 pages.

Employer support of child care, retention of existing centers, efforts to streamline the launch of new centers and avenues to reduce disparities in child care access and delivery were the focus of the report.

Key recommendations included:

* Developing local networks of substitute pools to enable professional development and time off for child care workers

* Providing professional development in accessible formats and a variety of languages

* Administrative support, technical assistance and mentorship for child care startup and expansion

* More access to grants, loans and financial assistance to better handle unanticipated costs, curbing the rise of tuition

* Creating tax incentives for businesses providing child care benefits to employees

* Providing tax exemptions for furniture, linens, infant care products, books and administrative supplies used by child care providers

* Streamlining licensing pre-approval for facility development

* Reworking child care subsidy thresholds to eliminate steep co-pays for families just above the eligibility threshold

* Expanding subsidies to include moderate and even middle-class families

* Adjusting the provider subsidy rate to fully cover the cost of child care, encouraging a living wage for providers

Several items require further study, the report said.

Local impact

Guadalupe Magallan, an in-home provider for 16 years in Kennewick and an informal mentor to child care providers throughout Eastern Washington, sees promise in proposals like the tax exemptions for child care supplies.

With new rules for in-home child care centers rolled out in August, many home providers are scrambling to make updates. Purchasing and installing proper fencing with a gate is one significant cost several centers are facing, she said. A tax exemption would lessen this burden, she said.

But with the child care industry in flux in the wake of the changes, Magallan was reticent to say whether the task force's recommendations would benefit the industry. She worries they may benefit larger centers and harm in-home centers, many of which she said are choosing to close in light of new regulations.

"I think it could go both ways," she said. "Child care is really tight right now."

Reach Janelle Retka at jretka@yakimaherald.com or on Twitter: @janelleretka

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