By Jim Martin
The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare deep inequalities and massive failures in our economy. One major failure is the child care crisis that we all must address before the economy can fully open up.
If you want to help the economy return to its former greatness, then express your support to elected officials for a Marshall Plan-like effort to rebuild the nation’s child care industry.
In the original Marshall Plan, the United States spent more than $12 billion to help rebuild Western Europe after World War II. It was a massive and much-needed effort.
Today, we must do the same for child care, which already was in crisis mode when the pandemic struck. Otherwise, it’s going to be more of the same, and perhaps worse: More child care facilities would be forced to close, putting more workers on the unemployment rolls; fewer child care slots for children; and massive financial strains on families.
People can’t go back to work until they have affordable, accessible and safe child care. And if the parents stay home, we won’t be able to adequately staff other industries.
Many parents had to stay home after the pandemic hit because they had no child care options, often because of closings. Some had lost their jobs. And some thought nearby centers were inadequate. Many acted as de facto teachers, covering coursework when schools and child care centers closed. Families suffered because at least one breadwinner lost his or her job or had been forced to cut working hours.
Thus, I and many others are advocating that we allocate billions of federal dollars to help restore child care centers and build new ones, leading to this domino effect: Parents could return to work and better support their families, the child care business could bounce back with tremendous growth and, finally, it could break up one of the logjams preventing the economy from returning to greatness.
News reports say child care experts agree that the child care system not only is fragile, but also is in danger of collapse without substantial help from Congress.
The airline industry received more than $50 billion in stimulus money. The child care industry, which is just as important, got just $3.5 billion. We can and must do better.
Yes, it’s essential that restaurants, hotels, banks, etc. fully open. However, it won’t happen unless we strongly fund child care, shunted aside as people focus on more visible industries.
Some statistics:
The Bipartisan Policy Center in June said 60 percent of child care programs nationwide had closed and one-third of their workers had lost their jobs. The Learning Policy Institute said that could lead to losing 450,000 child care slots nationwide.
Forbes reported that the National Association for the Education of Young Children said 40 percent of child care centers nationwide said they would close permanently without public assistance.
The Washington Post pointed out that the child care issue not only affects nearly 12 million children under age 5, and their families who rely on providers of child care, but also that it’s a major factor in how quickly the U.S. economy can recover from the pandemic.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children and the Early Care and Education Consortium recently advocated for some $50 billion in emergency stimulus funding to keep the child care industry from collapsing.
Child care is pricey. For example, in Boulder County before the pandemic, it could cost more than $15,100 a year for infant care. That figure exceeds the total cost of an in-state student’s tuition attending the University of Colorado Boulder. In fact, Colorado one of 33 states where infant care is more expensive than college.
The Brookings Institute said that low- and middle-income communities, as well as Hispanic, Black and rural families, are being hit hardest by the shortage of child care.
The U.S. Census Bureau reported that pre-pandemic, the number of children in Colorado under age 6 that needed child care was more than 251,000, which far exceeded the existing supply of openings. U.S. Department of Labor statistics predict that Colorado could lose at least 55 percent – approximately 80,000 kids – of its current child care slots.
Congress is acting on all this with at least two proposed pieces of legislation. A Senate bill would provide grants to help reopen and maintain the operation of child care programs. The House of Representatives is considering a $500 billion funding of the child care industry.
It’s important that all Americans realize that a strong child care system is essential to a full economic recovery.
Jim Martin is a past statewide member of the University of Colorado Board of Regents who has lived in Boulder since 1961, was a small business owner for 40 years, an adjunct law professor and a public trustee. You can reach him via email at jimmartinesq@gmail.com.
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July 29, 2020 at 05:01AM
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Opinion: Jim Martin: Child care key to restarting economy - The Daily Camera
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