By CHRISTINA MARTIN KENNY
Over the past few months, conversations at school pickups, birthday parties and playgrounds in College Park have shifted to what families affected by recent federal layoffs are going to do about child care.
For families with children younger than age 5, the prospect of unemployment presents a particularly challenging dilemma.
Pulling younger children out of day care when one parent is unemployed may logically make sense, given that the monthly tuition for child care in the area ranges between $1,200 and $2,400 per child. However, with local waitlists for licensed child care providers extending beyond a year, and in some cases up to two years, there is a very real fear that families who give up their spot won’t be able to access care when they need it again.
This leaves them with an impossible choice: continue paying steep day care tuition on a reduced income or withdraw their children and risk not having child care when they re-enter the workforce.
The child care affordability and accessibility crisis has been well documented. A study conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on public spending on early childhood education found that the U.S. spends just $500 per child per year on child care subsidies, compared with $14,000 per child that other OECD countries invest on average each year.
Without comprehensive federal support, child care costs more than in-state college tuition in 34 states and the District. Here in College Park, the University of Maryland (UMD) Child Development Center costs $1,925 per month for an infant–totaling $23,100 per year. In-state tuition for a first-year student at UMD, by comparison, is $11,505.
PHOTO CREDIT Adobe Stock photo
While affordability can certainly be addressed through subsidies, tax credits or incentives for businesses, the issue of accessibility remains a major hurdle. Since January 2020, Maryland has lost 15% of its child care providers, resulting in 15,000-plus fewer available child care slots. Many providers shut down permanently because of financial pressures exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recognizing this challenge, the College Park City Council established a Childcare Task Force Committee earlier this year. The Task Force will take inventory of the licensed child care providers in College Park and explore available programs and strategies to make child care more accessible and affordable. Members of the Task Force include College Park parents, child care advocates and educators.
Further complicating an already-established crisis, the recent cuts to the federal workforce also pose a threat to the number of local child care options. The General Services Administration (GSA), which oversees child care centers in federal buildings, recently reduced its Child Care Services office from 18 staffers to just one. The office has historically been responsible for overseeing and accrediting child care providers housed in federal buildings. The drastic downsizing leaves federal child care centers at risk of incurring higher costs or closing their doors.
The GSA oversees 82 childcare centers nationwide, including 10 in Maryland. Alarmingly, half of these centers are housed in buildings the GSA has marked for “accelerated disposition,” meaning they could soon be sold or repurposed. One such building is the U.S. Department of Agriculture facility on Rivertech Road in Riverdale Park, home to Sunny Days Early Childhood Developmental Service—a licensed child care provider serving many College Park families. In January, Sunny Days informed parents that it would close in August, further exacerbating the local child care shortage.
As College Park families navigate this crisis, they are left grappling with limited choices. While local efforts like the Childcare Task Force signal a step in the right direction, long-term solutions will require collaboration at the local and state levels to ensure that quality, affordable child care remains accessible to Maryland families.
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Christina Martin Kenny is a member of the newly formed Childcare Task Force in College Park. She lives in College Park Estates.