Another element that has not really been considered globally in US educational policy and ece funding is the impact of the push down of elementary education expectations. As Kindergarten became the new 1st grade and Pre-K became the new Kindergarten, there was an outcry that children were "not ready for school" and a rush to make them ready. Aside from the ridiculous idea that early childhood programs serve only as a means to prepare the child for "real school," I would agree that not all children have equal access to the enriching early experiences and that providing support for programs that can help with this access is crucial to giving all children a somewhat common starting ground. That said, in the haste to create the structure for these programs on the federal level (along with all of the accompanying guidelines, reporting requirements, and ridiculata that is the hallmark of government oversight), it created an unbalanced system in most states and in the country as a whole.
Early Childhood began to be seen through the same lens as public education (admittedly not a universally successful system, itself), and similar policies and funding streams were created to bring financial support to the programs tasked with giving young children in need better access to high quality programming. Financially, this is great - monies are going into the care and nurturing of children - but what ultimately happened was that those holding the purse strings demanded such an overwhelming amount of accountability that programs that were originally intended to provide enriching early experiences, by necessity, were forced to become more school-like. Once this transition occurred, the measures that provided these accountability figures became the norm and all programs, federally funded or not, were soon beholden to these same guidelines. The financial support, however, did not follow. So now, we have a system in place in many states where all programs are required to comply with the same guidelines, but only those receiving federal funds have access to the training and resources to fully comply, and, back to Mr. Kaminski's point, those outside of the federally funded system are left to fend for themselves. Even private K-12 schools have access to funding for textbooks and basic supplies, but ece programs do not have this same benefit. In addition, while all K-12 teachers are entitled to tax benefits, only teachers in federally funded ece programs qualify for tax credits. The same is true for our families in our state - only those children attending Type III programs can claim tax benefits regardless of the quality of the program.
Full disclosure - as part of a larger school, I have the luxury of not having to struggle with all of the incredible infrastructure elements that stand-alone programs must face to remain solvent and our parents come to us knowing that our price point may be higher. Our facilities, insurance, maintenance, and day to day operations are folded into the function of the larger institution, so I am free to focus more on curriculum than keeping the doors open, BUT programs like ours still struggle with many of the same issues of salary, enrollment, access to high quality professional development, acquisition of materials, and services for children with special needs without the support of the resources available to federally funded programs. My hope as we move forward is that all programs will be considered in future legislation and that those who actually work in the field will be allowed input into how best to utilize the funds available. More than that, however, I hope that we will reexamine the system itself so that we can move back to a view of the child's best interests rather than the financial bottom line or how to "get them ready" for a school system that, itself, is not child-friendly.
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Holly Dalferes
Director
George Cottage at St Martin's Episcopal School
Metairie LA
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-04-2021 09:13 AM
From: Cynthia Bohrer
Subject: Quality Care Ain't Cheap
Great point. I think that some of this stems from the fact that the legislation asking for quality care don't understand or are able to relate to the early childhood and child care fields.
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Cynthia Bohrer
Director
Kids International Early Childhood Education Cente
Ellisville MO
Original Message:
Sent: 06-03-2021 10:48 AM
From: Tim Kaminski
Subject: Quality Care Ain't Cheap
For years now, advocates have pushed for "Affordable Quality Care". But who is suppose to pay for the quality care? No matter what price point your center charges per week, (ie: $100, $150, $200, $250 etc), people state that childcare is too expensive based on their income level. People assume that childcare providers are making huge profits and are taking advantage of parents because of the perceived "High Cost of Childcare".
However, for any you that are still in business after the pandemic, you know that childcare was struggling to make ends meet even before the pandemic and the situation has gotten even worse since the pandemic. Those that are advocating for "Affordable Quality Care" need to have a plan for how it is going to be paid for before and who is going to be responsible for paying for it. Although there is federal stimulus money coming down the pipeline at some point, that is a one time deal and not a permanent fix to the problem. Quality care ain't cheap and it can't be delivered on the backs of the providers or the childcare workers. There is no place for us to significantly cut expenses to where the cost of tuition could be lowered. In fact, if ratios were to be cut by two or three children per age group and wages were to increase to $15.00 an hour, tuition would have to be raised significantly to cover the increased cost of providing the care. The pandemic has shown that if there is not enough revenue coming in to pay the bills, at what were our current operating cost, the childcare programs were unable to remain open. And as we try to reopen and are unable to find qualified staff to hire, because of the low wage scales, we will be forced into a situation of having to pay hire wages to get staff and in turn raise our tuition rates to cover the increased wages.
Again, if parent's, advocates and politicians want us to provide "Quality Care" then they have to be willing to "Pay" us for what it actually cost to provide "Quality Care".
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Tim Kaminski
Director/Owner
Gingerbread Kids Academy
Richmond TX
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