San Mateo considers 2nd child care proposal

“We already have an amazing location,” Western Hills Pastor Scott Dunford said during a Planning Commission meeting Jan. 27. “As we grow, we want to be able to do more.”

The project is the second child care center the city has considered for approval in the last couple months. Earlier this month, the City Council approved a new child care center at The Carey School, which will comprise six classrooms, accommodating up to 75 children from 2 to 5 years old and 16 teachers.

The school could help alleviate the county’s backlog of child care slots. According to county data, there are about 9,000 children who need but cannot access care, with thousands of families on waitlists.

“We understand that San Mateo has prioritized its commitment to providing and developing approaches to increase the supply of child care spaces within our community,” Dunford said. “We also recognize the importance of quality child care that preschool programs play in the development of our community.”

The project comes at a time when the county is ramping up discussions on potential ballot measures and policy changes that would expand child care subsidies for middle-income families, streamline the child care application process and boost wages for child care workers.

Currently, the vast majority of child care subsidies are state-funded and as such, only families making up to 85% of California’s median income — about $93,000 for a family of three — typically qualify.

That hurts expensive counties particularly hard like San Mateo County, where the median annual cost of preschool-aged care costs about $25,000 per year, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor.

“This is a much-needed service in our community, more child care,” Planning Commissioner Maxwell Schaumkel said during the meeting.

The commission unanimously approved recommendation for the project, which will eventually go before the City Council.