Families, child care providers optimistic about funding talks

Providers are also struggling to keep their heads above water, a problem that’s further exacerbated by the state’s relatively recent rollout of transitional kindergarten. As of the current school year, the state is funding TK in all public schools starting at 4 years old.

While extremely beneficial for parents, it’s made private child care centers operate on dangerously thin margins, David Fleishman, executive director of the Child Care Coordinating Council, said. With a higher proportion of infants and toddlers in their care now, providers have higher costs due to more intensive staffing and licensing requirements.

“Infant and toddler care is not only much more expensive, it really is a whole different thing ... it’s really problematic,” Fleishman said. “It’s a shoestring budget industry to begin with, and it’s been destabilized because these 4-year-olds are no longer being served at these private centers.”

Child care investment at the county level mostly comes from Measure K and goes toward career and licensing help for prospective providers, as well as giving current providers business support, Jennifer Mayman, coordinator at Child Care Partnership Council, said. But even the few million dollars allocated from Measure K — the county’s half-cent sales tax — is still not sufficient to meet some of the workforce challenges.

According to a 2024 report from University of California, Berkeley, one-third of early childhood educators in San Mateo County rely on one or more forms of public assistance, especially Medi-Cal and food stamps, and one-third don’t receive retirement benefits. The report also noted that San Mateo County early childhood centers have fewer assistants on site than the statewide average.

“It is a low-paying profession, and a number of providers are reliant on public assistance of different means,” Mayman said. “In a number of other counties that have passed ballot measures, increasing provider wages is front and center.”

Providers are hopeful renewed conversations at the county level could expand subsidies to middle-class families and not automatically disqualify households that make just a few dollars more than the state median income. Fleishman said both parents and providers would also like to see a more centralized platform for families to apply for subsidies and search for educators that take vouchers or have open seats — which would also lessen administrative burden.

“We need additional funding, leadership and structure to build out the unification of the disjointed systems to make it a one-stop-shop portal for families,” Fleishman said.

Child care leaders’ optimism stems from recent discussions from supervisors Lisa Gauthier and Jackie Speier, who have started holding feedback sessions on the best ways to invest more heavily in early childhood infrastructure. During a Board of Supervisors meeting Aug. 26, Speier floated a few ideas to fund additional programs and subsidies, including a sales tax, increasing the vehicle rental tax or using the triple-partnership model used in Michigan, where employers, parents and the government split child care costs.

“Tri-share is designed to target the missing middle — working families who earn too much for subsidies and end up falling through the cracks,” she said. “In Michigan, families saved an average of $6,000 per year in 2023.”

In 2018, San Francisco passed Proposition C, a tax on commercial landlords, which helps expand subsidies beyond state maximums. Households making up to 110% of the area median income can receive full tuition and those making up to 150% can receive 50% off tuition rates. Alameda County is just now implementing its Measure C plan, a half-cent sales tax passed in 2020, which is providing emergency grants to providers, increasing the number of subsidized slots and boosting hourly wages.

Some cities within the county have their own child care programs, often funded by developer impact fees, though they are still limited in scope. In San Carlos, revenue from impact fees funds grants awarded to child care providers to make infrastructure and capital needs improvements. South City’s Parks and Recreation Department has a long-standing child care program for kids starting at age 2 ½, but the funds still can’t keep up with demand. Two of the three early learning centers that are part of the city program have three- to four-year wait lists, according to the city website.

“We face pretty acute challenges in San Mateo County, but at the same time there is a lot of momentum around mobilizing support to address those issues,” Mayman said.