It's not about the money, money, money. Ok, it sort of is.

The cost of child care continues to increase while families struggle to afford quality care according to a new report released today by Child Care Aware of America. Parents and the High Cost of Child Care: 2012Report provides results from a survey of Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) State Networks and local agencies, which asked for the average fees charged by child care programs in 2011. New York, as it turns out, is the least affordable state for child care. This piqued the interest of a reporter from CNNMoney and yesterday we spoke to her. Miss Fox did a fine job of laying out the crux of the problem; prices continue to rise for things like rent, groceries and gas. And child care is no exception. As a CNNMoney report should, the article focuses on the money and a few of the reasons why child care costs so much. But there is more to it. 

The reality is that it costs a lot to care for a child. Child care is barely a break even business. It feels like child care programs charge an arm and leg but that goes right back out the door for staff (who often make little more than minimum wage), professional development, insurance, maintenance, food, materials and more. And that’s just for the basics. A program may want to provide professional development for staff above and beyond what is required, enhance the play environment, invest in a quality curriculum, provide parent education or any of the many things that improve the quality of care they provide, but more often than not, they can’t. The cost is prohibitive and it can’t be passed on to the parents whose finances are already stretched thin.

So the real problem is not that child care cost so much, but that it the true cost of quality child care is much more than parents are paying and more than most parents can afford. But there is good news too. Quality child care does exist. Some parents pay dearly for it and some programs are very skilled at stretching a dollar and finding ways to keep skilled staff on board. And there are supports in place. New York’s child care resource network made up of 37 Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (CCR&Rs) provide low cost, high quality professional development, toy lending libraries, curriculum supports and so much more for child care providers. And New York State has QUALITYstarsNY, a quality rating and improvement system that supports early childhood programs through quality improvement and educates parents. Right now QUALITYstarsNY is being implemented in select communities around the state, but every child needs access to quality care. QUALITYstarsNY must be implemented statewide.

Another problem is that there seems to be a perception that education starts at age 5. A 5 year old can attend school full time on the taxpayer’s dime and get their education funded right up through 12^th grade. There is public financing available for college too. Yet 85% of intellect develops in the first five years. The early years set the foundation for person’s life. Multiple longitudinal studies have shown that a child that attends a high quality early education program is less likely to need special education or remediation, be a teen parent or be incarcerated. There is a very high and very real return on investment for investments in early childhood. Why is it ignored? Yes, there are subsidies available, but these only reach a small percentage of the families in need and come with no requirement that the child attend a licensed or registered program, let alone one that has demonstrated its quality. The subsidies come from a federal child care block grant. If states want to invest in quality early learning, they must use state revenue.

So yes, it is about the money. It is time for New York State to dedicate significant funds to the early care and learning system in New York State! For the sake of this state’s future we need our children to be well cared for and ready for school. This state invests in roads, schools, hospitals, colleges, and so much more. Why wouldn’t we invest in something that is good for our current and future economy, and most of all good for our children? The argument that is the parents’ responsibility is stale. We are part of a global economy and if we want our current workforce to show up for work and want our future workforce to be emotionally and cognitively ready for OUR future, than we need to invest. The kind of investment needed to truly affect change cannot be shouldered by parents alone.

CNNMoney: Child care costs exceed rent in most states.