by Laurel Demkovich, Washington State Standard
Tasha Fitzgerald didn’t want to leave her job as a child care provider.
But after years of low pay and few benefits, Fitzgerald realized she would not be able to stay in the field and still afford to live in Port Angeles.
“I’m a highly qualified, well-educated provider who left because I could not make it work,” she said.
Many child care providers in Washington, like Fitzgerald, face low pay, minimum benefits and difficult working conditions. Some leave the field altogether, leading to more empty classrooms and a worsening of the state’s child care shortage.
Lawmakers are trying to find more ways to support them and keep them in the job, including by upping pay, changing how reimbursement rates are calculated, and cutting fees and regulations.
With a budget gap of around $12 billion, any new state spending may be difficult to approve this session, but advocates and lawmakers from both parties agree that strengthening the child care system is critical.
“We know we’ve seen a tough budget situation, but we cannot go back by any means,” said former state representative Tana Senn, who recently took over as Department of Children, Youth, and Families secretary. “I have faith that we will continue to make great investment and advancements in making sure child care is accessible and affordable.”
Increasing provider rates is ‘critical’
Kim Davies Lohman, a parent from Port Angeles, said she was shocked when she heard how little child care providers make.
“I don’t know anywhere else that makes near minimum wage where you have so many requirements, so many out-of-pocket costs upfront and then have to do this really hard work with such high stakes,” Davies Lohman said.
After moving to Port Angeles from Seattle, she was forced to leave her job to care for her child full-time because she could not find care nearby.
Davies Lohman and Fitzgerald were among a group of about 100 child care advocates who traveled to Olympia last week to encourage lawmakers to better support providers and families.
One ask that might help with pay is upping the reimbursement rate for providers who take state subsidies.
Former Gov. Jay Inslee’s budget proposal included $510 million to fund rate increases for providers who take the state’s Working Connections subsidies. That would bring their rates up to the 85th percentile of 2024 market rates, a requirement under the Fair Start for Kids Act, a law approved in 2021.
While the fate of many expansions under Fair Start is up in the air, paying providers more may remain a priority — if lawmakers can financially swing it.
“Increasing the rates that we’re paying is critical so that providers can attract and retain those high-quality staff to open those classrooms and serve those kids,” Senn said.
Another proposal that might not cost the state anything immediately would change the way that reimbursement rates are calculated. Currently, subsidy rates are set using the market rate, which is based on what child care centers charge in different regions.
Advocates want those rates to account for the cost of providing “quality care,” which is often pricier than the market rate and can include costs like employee benefits, family engagement activities, and professional development.
Senate Bill 5500 would allow the Legislature to choose the quality care rate model to pay providers instead of the market rate.
“The bill would provide an alternative amount that the Legislature could pay,” Sen. Emily Alvarado, D-West Seattle, said. “If there aren’t the resources, I anticipate they would fund to a lower amount, but this provides the option.”
Easing fees and building more centers
Lawmakers are also considering ways to lower regulatory fees and other costs.
One proposal, sponsored by Sen. Claire Wilson, D-Auburn, would eliminate fees for people who want to obtain a child care license. Currently, the annual fee for home providers is $30, and the annual fee for centers is $125 for the first 12 children plus $12 for each additional child.
Republican leaders said that the most important thing to help providers in the near term is to ease difficult and costly regulatory burdens.
“We want to keep care safe, but we continue to make it almost impossible to run a successful child care center on the private side,” Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, said.
House Minority Leader Drew Stokesbary, R-Auburn, pointed to Republican-backed child care proposals, including ones to allow counties and cities to license providers, to remove “unnecessary” regulations for obtaining a license, and to offer a tax credit for businesses that provide child care for their employees.
“The most important thing we can do is better attack regulatory structure so that it’s easy to become a provider,” Stokesbary said.
Another funding request this session would increase money for child care and early learning facilities construction grants. The Early Learning Facilities Fund helps programs that serve low-income families cover the costs of adding, remodeling or expanding facilities.
Advocates are asking for $50 million to be put into that fund over the next two years. Inslee’s proposed budget had $58.6 million for this work. That money comes from the capital budget, which is less strained than the operating budget.
Expanding access still in question
With a looming budget deficit, lawmakers are considering delaying expansions to child care access planned under the Fair Start for Kids Act.
Starting in the 2026-2027 school year, the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program is supposed to become an entitlement, guaranteeing access to families below a certain income. This program provides child care and other support services for 3- and 4-year-olds and younger children in some locations.
Meanwhile, Working Connections Child Care, the state’s subsidy program, is supposed to increase eligibility for families with up to 75% of the state median income starting next July. Currently, families who make 60% of the state median income can receive subsidies.
Child care advocates want to see the subsidy expansion carried out as promised, but the budget crunch may be a snag.
Inslee proposed pushing the expansions back until 2026-2027. Ferguson has suggested holding off on most of the expansion but keeping one piece of it. He wants the state to move forward on allowing families with one parent who works for a small business and has household earnings up to 75% of the state median income to receive the subsidies.
It’s unclear where exactly lawmakers will land on pausing the expansion.
Senn, who sponsored the Fair Start for Kids Act in the Legislature four years ago, said the policy laid out a road map for where the state needs to go with early learning and child care.
“I have faith that we’re going to continue along that road,” she said. “It just might be a little bit longer than we anticipated.”
Republished with permission. Read the original article.
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