The solution to the child care crisis? Long term funding, not one-time grants, advocate says – GBH
By Rebecca Tauber
Last week, Mayor Michelle Wu announced that licensed family child care providers will receive $3,260 to help the industry, Meanwhile state House leaders proposed a plan in April to devote $40 million to raise child care salaries. These are just a few measures aimed at supporting an industry in crisis, faced with low wages and a lack of staffing.
Amy O’Leary, executive director of the policy and advocacy group Strategies for Children, joined Boston Public Radio to discuss the challenges with child care and how they can be addressed.
The pandemic exposed long-existing child care gaps in the U.S., with schools turning remote and many people working from home. In April, GBH reported that the Massachusetts economy loses an estimated $2.7 billion annually because families cannot access child care.
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As a result, O’Leary said, she has seen the pandemic lead to increased flexibility from the government and greater attention towards solving child care problems.
“Parents were more willing to talk to their employers about what was happening in reality in their homes,” O’Leary said. “So many of our policies that are very rigid and have a lot of hoops to jump through for families suddenly were relaxed because the connection between early education and care programs and our economy was so clear. We saw policy change pretty dramatically, and I think that has set the stage for what we think about for the future.”
Still, O’Leary wants to see systemic change, rather than sporadic bursts of pandemic-driven funding.
“We know even parents who are paying privately are not paying the full cost, because it's been subsidized by the early education and care professionals who are doing that work,” O’Leary said. “We can't one-time fund our way out of this decades-long crisis. We really have to think about sustainable, strategic funding and policies to get us back to where we need to be.”