We are annually met with the State of the Union and the State of the State addresses, and, at least for us here in West Virginia, they’re always delivered by men. But what if we hosted a State of the Working Mom address? What would that look like?
Well, the first thing we would have to do would be to talk about all of the foundational parts necessary for a mom to work. Let’s start with childcare (or the lack thereof). How are moms going to participate in the workforce if we don’t prioritize that as a state, and believe me when I say that we don’t put much effort into a quality childcare system.
First of all, let’s talk about the lack of childcare.
Here in Wheeling, wait lists at centers are running at an average of three years. That means by the time your child has moved up the list and secures a spot, that he/she is almost old enough for a free universal pre-k spot. Not very helpful when you can’t find quality childcare and need to work, is it?
No Childcare for How Long?
No childcare for the first three years of life; how are women dealing with this? Well, if the family can financially afford it, the mom typically doesn’t work so the children can be kept at home. Actually, to be quite honest, a lot of families that can’t afford it are doing this, and thank God for the government assistance safety net programs.
Here’s a statistic that might blow your mind: Families who don’t qualify for childcare assistance are spending over $8,000 a year PER CHILD for childcare here in West Virginia. To put that into perspective, that’s more than a year’s tuition at WVU and Marshall. Two kids will raise that bill to an annual $16,000. If you’re making $20/hour and work 40 hours a week, that’s around $38,000 a year before taxes. And two kids in a childcare center costs you almost half of that.
And before you declare that the centers are charging too much, know this: I have sat across the desk from a lot of childcare center directors from across the state and watched them wipe away tears because they are struggling to keep their doors open.
Childcare centers, highly regulated and under constant pressure, are hosting fundraisers to meet their operational costs. They hear the voices of the families who can’t find childcare. They hear the voices of the families who can’t afford childcare. They hear the voices of their staff who are working for a non-livable wage. And there’s nothing they can do because the regulations they have to abide by make it financially impossible to provide quality care at a lower cost.
The Requirements
To open a center in West Virginia, six months of operating expenses have to be in the bank, untouched. I met with a director/owner in Monongalia County who was opening her second center. One center is filled to capacity, and there is a huge need for quality care. She told me that the state required $300,000 in a bank account for her to meet the six-month expense requirement. I asked how she had that kind of money and was told that her husband and her father had passed away in the same year. All of her survivor benefits went into opening that second center, and she still had to take out a cash-advance business loan.
One other requirement to opening a childcare center in West Virginia is a hired teacher with a four-year degree. This person needs to be hired before the center opens, and I can tell you that I’ve met Pre-K teachers who have the exact same qualifications as a county paid pre-k teacher who is making $10.75 an hour to work in a childcare center rather than for the board of education.
Staff retention is a huge problem because the centers I’ve come across are unable to pay their highly qualified teachers what they deserve. The average salary I’ve encountered is between $9.25 and $9.75 an hour. Sheetz pays more than early childhood education in the state of West Virginia. In fact, one director here told me that her son makes more money working at Subway than her employees do working at the childcare center. Let that sink in.
Someone who makes sandwiches makes more money than someone who is educated and trained to teach in an early childhood education center.
If you’re unfamiliar with early childhood education, know that the staff in those centers are required to stay up-to-date on their education, and they are not by any stretch of the imagination “glorified babysitters.” Study after study has proven that the first 1000 days of life are the most important in terms of brain development. The first five years of a person’s life are vital to development, physically, emotionally, and mentally, so why are we not putting more value on early childhood education?
No Room
Because of the way the state reimburses centers for Title 20 funds (childcare assistance), the low-income families are having spots taken away because of the need for the centers to survive financially. So, the families who are low-income and are constantly being told to “get off their lazy butts and get a job” can’t because there’s no one to care for their children.
The number of counties with no or only one childcare center is mind boggling to me. Wetzel and Tyler counties have no centers. Hancock has one. Calhoun, the county with the highest unemployment rate, doesn’t even appear on the state’s DHHR childcare drop down menu. Now Head Start centers are available in a lot of places, but Head Start is federally funded and a completely different setup. I am talking about West Virginia-owned and operated childcare centers.
I recently worked with a citizen group in Hampshire County to host a town forum about the dire need for a childcare center there. The conversation started with a look at the poverty rate and a question as to why the household incomes were so low. Well, the majority of families survive on one income because someone has to stay home with the kids. When an estimated 6,500 families are counted on the Census and over 1,000 of those are led by unmarried women in a county where there is no childcare, does it really take a rocket scientist to figure that out?
Life Without Childcare
I’m working with childcare directors and communities across the state to have legislation introduced that will work to fix some of the issues with West Virginia childcare. In the meantime, talk to your child’s provider and ask what you can do to get involved. Sit and think about what your life would look like without childcare. How would your job be affected? Would your manager have enough employees if childcare centers had to close their doors?
Would you have to quit your job? Could your family afford to survive if you had to quit your job?
If we’re going to continue to push the rhetoric that there are jobs and people need to work, then we need to start demanding that the basic building blocks are provided so we can do just that, and childcare has to be one of the first blocks laid. Let’s hope this will spur conversations about what your child’s center faces and needs.
I know they need your voice. They need your patience. They need your understanding. And they’re going to need your help to support them as they begin to shine a light on the state of West Virginia’s Childcare Crisis.
Onward,
Amy Jo
