Child care crisis: California providers calling for statewide rate reform as shortage in care escalates
SACRAMENTO -- California's childcare crisis is in the spotlight.
Thousands are expected to rally at the State Capitol in downtown Sacramento on Thursday morning to call for Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state Legislature to act on industry reform.
It's summertime, school is out and the need is up -- but the system is at a breaking point and so are the daycare providers who say they are set up to fail by the state's policies.
Annette Nicholson runs a daycare every single day, including weekends, out of her Stockton home. She's been doing it for nearly a decade.
"This is our lesson for the day. We have school from 9-12," she told CBS13, showing us her learning boards.
She calls the nine children she cares for her babies.
After leaving childcare for a time to get a master's degree and work in hospital administration, she ultimately quit to pursue her passion once again: working with kids. That passion is the only thing keeping the doors of her daycare open.
"There has been times I've struggled with deciding if I should just close and go look for another job," said Nicholson.
That's because she says she and other childcare providers don't make a living wage. Right now, that's one of many things driving a nationwide shortage of people like Nicholson.
"The fact is providers are leaving the profession at alarming rates," said Max Arias, chair of the Child Care Providers United union.
Arias, along with the thousands who will march on California's Capitol Thursday, says solving the crisis starts with rate reform.
"What we are demanding is that the State of California adopts a single rate model that covers the cost of care," said Arias.
So what exactly needs to change? The long-term solution, they say, is the state reimbursing providers 100% of the cost for state-subsidized daycare. That's for lower-income families who get daycare at little-to-no cost.
Right now, the union says the state only reimburses these providers at a rate of about 25% for the care these families are getting -- calling this a major financial setback.
In the short term, they want the state to immediately bump that reimbursement up to about 50%.
"We're not trying to get rich off of parents. We are trying to live equitably, too," said Nicholson.
She wants to take on more children at her daycare and even hire an employee. Financially, it's not yet possible.
"We don't grow. We don't see growth in our business. We just are stuck," said Nicholson.
Here are some other changes the union is calling for:
- Changing state policy so providers can charge a higher rate for their private, non-subsidized clients. Right now, they have to charge the same rates across the board and want the change to make up for some of their losses by being able to decide what they can charge and not being mandated.
- Benefits for childcare providers include paid sick time, healthcare, and retirement.
- They want to be deemed essential workers in their new union contracts.
The march on the State Capitol comes as childcare providers who provide care subsidized by the state for low-wage working parents are bargaining with the Newsom administration on their contract; their current contract expires on June 30.