Katherine L. - Parent

As a former educator and a new mother to a 3 month old, I am both shocked and appalled at how expensive childcare - let alone HIGH QUALITY childcare is. Right now I’m getting ready to return to work and I’m stressed out about who I’ll be leaving my precious baby with and where. I shouldn’t have to consider working part-time or not working at all to stay with my child due to the skyrocketing costs of childcare. In spite of my husband and I making decent money, the high quality daycares are still cost prohibitive. It forces us to reconsider do we leave him in the best of hands or pay our mortgage? It’s a question we shouldn’t have to ponder.

Compared to many other developed countries, the United States trails behind when it comes to affordable, high quality early childhood education. It’s time we fix this by providing ALL families access to affordable, holistic, child-centered early education.

If I had access to high-quality, affordable early education and child care that would mean less of a mental and a financial burden would be placed on my family. My partner and I could return to work content knowing that our child is in good hands, and can therefore focus on thriving at work. We wouldn’t have to consider sacrificing our way of life or possibly not working at all to care for our child.