Wico van Genderen: Child care, early childhood education vital to economy’s restart

The COVID-19 public health crisis has put an immense strain on the child care and education sector, and it has emerged as a critical component to any recovery plan for working families, our businesses, our local economy and our community.

Right now, as many Americans are struggling to transition back to work, child care providers are facing costlier health, infrastructure, PPE and safety protocols, enrollment and child health issues, teacher training and safety requirements. These added costs and protocols increase the risks and liabilities to their ability to stay open and in turn increase the lack of child care options for families that rely on them.

And it couldn’t come at a worse time. Prior to COVID-19, our state and nation already faced a child care crisis. This was a crisis around:

• Access: With more than half – 57% – of Pennsylvanians living in areas where child care access is non-existent or where child care access is over subscribed to demand.

• Affordability: High-quality child care costs are ranging as high as in-state public college tuition.

• Quality: Current reporting indicates that only 39 percent of all child care in Pennsylvania meets high-quality standards.

When kids are in quality early care and education they are building the skills that matter the most.

Early childhood brain development demands stimulation, enrichment and interaction with caring adults – and those connections built in the early years of development support mental, social and emotional functioning for life. The skills that every future job and career will need – team work, empathy, resiliency – are all shaped by quality educational experiences early in life.

Investments in high-quality child care and pre-K pay off when children enter school ready to succeed, are more likely to stay on track academically, graduate from high school, pursue higher education and career training and become more productive workers and contributors to our future economy.

When parents do not have reliable, affordable, quality child care, their work suffers, their productivity plummets and they have difficulty advancing in their careers. With more than two-thirds of the nation’s children under the age of six having all available parents in the labor force, child care and early education programs supply crucial support for working parents.

There will be no economic recovery if the child care industry is not healthy and stable. Our nation’s long-term well-being depends on a child care infrastructure that works for every family.

As we think about all of the priorities required at the federal, state and local levels that we need to address to reopen our businesses and restart our economy, protecting and supporting the entire child care and early learning sector will be fundamental to our success.

We need to reset the bar now. We need to make this a top priority with our federal, state and local legislators and our business and community leaders. We must make the investments today to re-imagine a more dynamic and robust child care and early education infrastructure that serves our families and communities today and enriches and shapes the quality of our workforce for generations to come.