EXCERPT FROM: The Reno Gazette-Journal
By Michael Martinez
Brenda Barringer, who was at the end of a long waiting list when she decided to enroll her two children at St. Mary’s Child Care Center, says she pays more a month for child care than her mortgage.
“I don’t think price should be an issue when you’re talking about the care of your kids,” Barringer said.
Her experience brings to life issues of demand for child care outstripping the supply of resources raised in a biennual report released recently by the Children’s Cabinet of Reno.
The growing demand for quality, affordable child care strains early childhood development in Washoe County and could eventually have negative ramifications as children reach adulthood, according to Children’s Cabinet officials.
Washoe County meets just more than 30 percent of the demand for such services for families with parents in the workforce.
Finding money to retain quality, committed child care workers and make the enterprise more gainful are important objectives, said Jamie Burnett, director of the Children’s Cabinet child care resources and referral program.
Terry Lenshyn, a teacher at the St. Mary’s center, began as an aide 29 years ago so she could take her child to her work. She continued in early childhood education despite the hard work and relatively low wages.
“I just really, really like the work,” she said. “And it’s an important job.”
Burnett said more resources are needed to keep quality teachers.
“We need to have the guts to stand up and say we’re going to invest in our kids and invest in a system that has a livable wage for quality teachers because we need them to do a good job,” Burnett said. “When you pay (teachers) well and educate them well they’re likely to stay in that job.”
Society needs to look at the spending as an investment in children, said Marty Elquist, a Children’s Cabinet program manager who prepared the study.
“There’s plenty of research out there that shows that there is a rate of return on every dollar invested in child care and for early childhood education it’s $16 for every dollar invested,” Elquist said.
State funding an issue
Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie said Nevada has never properly funded child care.
“It’s always been amazing to me that in our society we pay the people who take care of our our most precious resource, our children, less than we pay people to collect our garbage,” Leslie, D-Reno, said. “So the system has always been out of whack.”
She acknowledged that such jobs have high turnover because of low wages and thin profit margins.
“And a lot of people leave to get higher paying jobs,” Leslie said. “And at the same time it’s very expensive for parents.”
Barringer, a 31-year-old single mom and loan officer, said she paid about $1,600 per month in child care for Luke, 5, and Lily, 2, while her mortgage payment is about $1,350 a month.
She said it’s worth the cost to know that her children are in a safe environment and getting the early education they need.
“I can’t put a price on the safety of my kids,” Barringer said. “I can’t fathom putting them somewhere that would jeopardize them.”'
Opening, retaining resources
Burnett said applicants for child-care licenses have varied educational backgrounds.
“Family care providers are licensed to have up to six children, sometimes they are stay-at-home moms, who started out watching their best friend’s child who have an interest in caring for more children,” she said. “Sometimes it’s people with early childhood degrees that have a passion for having their own child care business.”
The best scenario is for the owner/operator of a child care center or family care home to have a two-year degree in early childhood education, if not a bachelor’s degree, Burnett said.
Truckee Meadows Community College offers an associate degree and the University of Nevada, Reno offers a four-year bachelor’s program.
Elquist said that people going into the child care business don’t always assess what their overhead will be operating a business in their home.
The report shows that the average family care center with six children earns about $873 per week, and that after household and business expenses the provider nets $366 for that week’s work.
“So people go into business thinking I will charge $190 per week per kid, but they are not taking into consideration their expenses,” Elquist said. “What we found in our data is that the greatest turnover is within the first three years of doing business.”
Director Thelma Avila said the St. Mary’s center, — the only nationally accredited day care center in the Reno area — has avoided high turnover by offering benefits to attract and retain qualified teachers.
“Here it’s not how much they get paid, because (aides) start out $8.50 and hour and teachers start at $9 an hour, she said. “The person that makes the most makes $11 hour at this center.”