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Opinion: Despite past failures, I choose to be an optimist about early childhood education in Missouri

It’s important to be an optimist. But sometimes, it can be challenging, especially when facing a problem that affects so many people and seems too complicated to solve.  

 Add to that challenge the fact that intelligent, well-intentioned leaders have previously offered solutions that have failed, and you begin to feel a sense of desperation.  

 That is the challenge we Missourians face as we try to solve the crisis in our state’s early childhood education system.  

 At IFF, the Community Development Financial Institution where I work, we have partnered with Kids Win Missouri to examine and research the child care crisis facing Missouri communities.   

Our research has found an early childhood education system at a breaking point. In addition to not meeting parents’ needs, it is one they simply can’t afford.

 It’s a system where providers can’t pay a competitive wage to their employees and have limited capacity and financial ability to increase their services. It’s a system that finds employers reporting that the lack of available childcare is negatively impacting their bottom line.

Parents
For parents, our study found a particularly acute problem – the lack of available child care slots for families with infants and toddlers (birth – 2 years). For example, in St. Joseph, the number of infants and toddlers being served is only 29%. In Marion and Ralls counties, only 25% of toddlers have adequate care. In Howell County, that number drops even lower to 23%.

 This lack of available child care slots creates a backlog of service, requiring parents to put their child’s name on a waiting list. In Cape Girardeau County, 94% of surveyed parents were on a waitlist prior to enrolling. In Kirksville, 73% of families had children placed on a waitlist. These wait times ranged from a few months to a year or more, and some children never make it off the waitlist.

 Parents and families are also not aware of the benefits available to them. In the Kansas City area, more than 30,000 children who are eligible for the state subsidy program are not utilizing it. In the Bootheel’s Mississippi County, only 2% of children are utilizing the subsidy.

 Providers
Early childcare providers are struggling to find and retain qualified staff. Providers sampled in our study most frequently cited the inability to pay a competitive wage and inability to offer benefits as the sources of staffing challenges.

 One Phelps County provider shared that they had applied for a recruitment grant for one year; however, after the grant expired, they feared they would lose those workers because they would not be able to maintain the higher wage. Providers also lack the financial or physical capacity to expand their offerings. As one Howell County provider stated, “We are at capacity for usable space.”

 Employers
For employers, our study found that child care is a workforce issue. In Springfield,  report that employees’ access to child care greatly or significantly affects their business. In Jasper County, 69% of employers report they are feeling the impact.  

 The childcare crisis is also impacting employers’ productivity through increased employee requests for time off or even workers leaving jobs entirely.  

 While the findings in our report validate the hardships many Missouri families are experiencing, they also lead to a trail of practical solutions.   

 Increasing eligible families’ use of existing programs and subsidies is a good place to start.  

 Previous proposals offered in Missouri, like tax credits for parents, providers, and employers, could be re-examined.   

 Missouri would also do well to consider innovative programs offered in other states. Take for instance the dedicated funding source New Mexico voters approved for the New Mexico Early Childhood Trust Fund in a 2022 constitutional amendment, which increased the permanent funding for the state’s early childhood services. Or look to the public/private Tri-Share program offered in Michigan, where the cost of an employee’s child care is shared equally among the employer, the employee, and the state.

 As I mentioned, I try to be an optimist. While our state and its leaders have had trouble reaching an agreement on the solution to our early childhood education crisis, I am optimistic that, in the end, our “Show-Me State” persistence will find the answer to the problem.  

 At IFF, we’re ready to collaborate with communities, leaders, and partners to turn these challenges into real solutions. Together, we can build a system that works for all Missouri families, providers, and employers alike.