Mindy Binderman is executive director of GEEARS: Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students. In a guest column, Binderman explains why the General Assembly should invest more money in child care, an industry vital to the state’s economy and to healthy families. She says it is also an industry in peril without a greater state commitment and investment.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Get Schooled blog asked Georgia advocates for children and schools to explain what they would like to see state lawmakers tackle — or avoid — this upcoming legislative session. Rather than a laundry list, we asked for specific recommendations and advice that they believe will improve children’s lives or student outcomes. The columns will run in this space over the next two weeks.
By Mindy Binderman
Georgia’s parents have long struggled when it comes to child care. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, it was a challenge for a working caregiver to track down a high-quality early education program that was also in a convenient location, with affordable tuition, and hours that accommodated their schedule.
At the same time, most providers’ primary source of funding came from their families’ tuition and fees, making it challenging to offer wages that could attract and retain educators.
This was the early care and education landscape when the pandemic hit.
To say the industry faced an existential crisis in 2020 and 2021 is an understatement. In a March 2020 survey of child care providers conducted by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, nearly half of respondents said they would go out of business if they were forced to close for even two weeks without significant help.
Credit: undefined
Credit: undefined
Some of the lifelines that saved hundreds of Georgia programs from permanent closure were PPP loans, the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning’s swift and decisive distribution of the American Rescue Plan Act’s relief funds, and private grants from philanthropic sources.
But as we now settle into this endemic phase of COVID-19, those ARPA funds are beginning to dwindle, as they were designed to do. By the end of 2024, they will end completely.
Meanwhile, early childhood educators are among the lowest-paid workers in every state. And national data shows that, while other sectors have recovered from the pandemic, the child care workforce is still suffering significant shortages because lack of support is driving educators from the field.
If the federal funds that are due to evaporate aren’t replaced by state ones, this industry, upon which so many working families depend, could be devastated. Georgia parents could be pulled out of the job market, and our state’s children might miss out on vital learning during the critical birth-to-5 years, when their brains are developing at a rate they’ll never experience again.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
And the economic toll? That will hit us all.
GEEARS’ research bears this out:
Our 2018 study, “Opportunities Lost,” found that child care challenges annually lead to at least $1.75 billion in losses in economic activity and an additional $105 million in lost tax revenue.
In a survey we conducted in 2021, 1 in 3 (34%) of caregivers said they or someone in their family had to quit a job, not take a job, or greatly change a job in the previous 12 months because of problems with child care, up from 26% in 2018.
And finally, in our September 2022 poll of likely voters, 78% agreed that expanding access to high-quality child care gives parents the opportunity to work and contribute to the state’s economy.
Our state now has a budget surplus of more than $6 billion. In our poll, 71% of respondents supported using part of that historic surplus to help early childhood education and child health programs. We agree. To be more precise, we advocate funds be directed to Georgia’s Childcare and Parent Services (CAPS) program, expanding its capacity to serve families and help providers maintain and improve quality.
Now, CAPS provides child care scholarships only to families who meet a bevy of qualifications. The families must experience low income and meet activity requirements, such as working at least 24 hours per week. Moreover, they must be a member of a priority group such as foster care parents, homeless families, or those who’ve experienced domestic violence.
This is because CAPS funds, which are primarily supplied through a federal-to-state block grant known as the Child Care and Development Fund, come from a limited pool of money. Very limited. The Center for Law and Social Policy estimates that less than 15% of Georgia’s income-eligible families receive CAPS scholarships. In ordinary years (those without emergency federal aid), the state usually caps enrollment at 50,000 children.
If Georgia uses state funds to increase the size of that pool and enroll more children, so many would benefit:
• More children would be enrolled in high-quality early care and learning programs. Countless studies indicate that infants and toddlers who receive a strong educational launch are poised for better academic, social, and professional outcomes.
• More parents and caregivers would be free to engage in the workforce and higher education.
• More child care businesses would thrive, providing sustainable employment to thousands of essential workers.
An increase in CAPS funding, in other words, would be an investment — an investment in children, in their families and the professionals who teach and care for them, and in Georgia’s economy.
Before Georgia’s ARPA aid is gone for good, our state must use its brimming coffers to help fill the CAPS gap. If our legislators make this choice, Georgia will see a robust return on that investment in both the immediate future and for generations to come.
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