Unintended Consequences . . . Child Care Crisis

This fall many children across Texas will go to preK3 or preK4 for the first time. Only children living in poorer areas, homeless children and English as a second language students will have access to these free services in their neighborhood (so this does not apply to affluent areas of town). Research has shown again and again that children need stimulating environments, exposure to books, stories and songs in order to build their vocabulary skills at a young age and opportunities for positive social interaction. In theory free PreK sounds great!

All this is well and good until you realize the effect this has on the child care industry. All the non profit child care programs (churches, neighborhood programs, etc.) will either have to dramatically raise their prices or shut down as a result of this new "opportunity". Without preschool children on their roles it is almost impossible for a child care center to make ends meet (much less make a profit).

The ratios in infants are 4:1 and in a preschool room (3 and above) they are 15:1. In an infant room - charging $375.00 a month (yes that's $4500/ year for the family - the per capita income for poor areas in San Antonio is about $12,000.00/ year - so that's 1/3 of your income for ONE CHILD!)- you can't even cover the cost of the day care workers (and that's paying them 6.50 as part time workers - federal minimum wage rises to $7.25 next year)! You just can't do it with the younger children! If you are a parent just trying to make ends meet will you choose free or a paid preschool - FREE every time. So as a result of this we can add child care to the list of things that are fleeing the inner city. As it is, most people can barely afford day care and the waiting list for child care assistance is a mile long.

I am currently on the board of a program that has run a child care center for over 30 years. In that time they have consistently been one of the lowest and most affordable quality day cares in the area. However, we, along with many others are feeling the pinch. This is yet another example of how governments "good programs" can have serious unintended ripple effects. I am hoping that this will be an impetus for people to rethink child care in general - but we'll see!

I have much more to say about child care - but we'll stop here for now.