Local Child Care Centers Speak Out

The swath of bankruptcies might inure us to the risk of losing some businesses or organizations over others. Nieman Marcus, J.C. Penny, Payless, Brooks Brothers and now Ann Taylor are among the first casualties in retail of the failed policies to combat the virus. The job losses are staggering but fortunately we can find other ways to find clothes and shoes. When it comes to child care, parents already faced a shortage of providers that, absent federal funds and reversal of a recently released state policy, could decimate what child care capacity remains.

The U.S. Senate still has yet to release a draft of its CARES 2 bill. But if the original bill is any indication of the Senate’s concern (or lack thereof) about taking care of children, the 169 child care providers that have already closed permanently in PA will be the tip of the proverbial iceberg. In addition to the Senate’s mystical thinking about the financial needs of a key piece of infrastructure needed for the economy to reopen, the state rolled out a sweeping change that would abruptly reverse protective measures designed to shore up the state’s child care infrastructure during the pandemic. 

But child care providers in Southeast PA weren’t going to go down without a fight. They know better than anyone what is at stake.

“Financial predictability is crucial for our survival. I have never seen it this bad. I’m afraid a lot of us are not going to make it,” said Tana Rinehart of the Warwick Child Care Center chain in Chester County, who has been in the child care sector for 28 years. Along with fellow providers from Montgomery, Bucks, and Delaware counties, PCCY, and First Up, Rinehart spoke with reporters on a video press conference about the crisis they are facing and the ominous turn Pennsylvania seemed to be taking.

Rinehart noted that before COVID, Warwick centers had an enrollment of 95% capacity; currently that figure lingers in the thirties.

Unless the pandemic protections are restored, “I honestly don’t see how we will be able to sustain ourselves,” said Veronica Crisp of Step by Step Learning Centers in Delaware County.

The press conference also included State Senator Tim Kearney (SD-26), who stressed the importance of maintaining the viability of the child care sector.

“This affects all of us, not just those with children who need care,” said Senator Kearney. “It allows society to function. We literally can’t function as a society if parents don’t have quality places for their kids to go.”

PCCY Executive Director likened the necessity of supporting child care to the need for protecting the airline industry. Beyond tourism, Cooper noted, the economy is dependent on high quality and efficient airlines for business travel and cargo. She lamented that there has been no indication that the federal government understood the magnitude of the situation.

“This economy cannot open without a high quality, efficient, widely available and affordable child care system,” she said.

Adding even greater urgency for action is the realization that when school begins in September, child care providers are likely to be tasked with providing care for school-aged children whose parents must return to work but who cannot stay home alone. Caring for older kids comes with different pay rates, noted Tyrone Scott, Director of Government and External Affairs of early childhood education advocates First Up.

“Destabilizing payments will make it impossible for child care centers to take in school-aged children when school begins,” said Scott.

Without restoration of the stability of state funding and desperately needed federal support for child care, any hopes of economic recovery in Pennsylvania will be banking on a foundation of child care that is growing more brittle every day.