Ways to help provide more child care

To retain qualified staff through competitive wages, many providers must compensate by being forced to raise tuition costs. However, this is an unsustainable solution for most families that are already struggling with rising costs of living. This growing imbalance threatens the stability and accessibility of early childhood education. To address this crisis, government programs must prioritize increased public funding at the state level and implement protective policies that ensure sustained investment in early education.

Streamlining the Family Day Care Home licensing process would also expand access to funding and acknowledge the vital role in-home providers play in addressing early child care shortages. Significantly, increasing the salary for early child care workers is essential not only to reflect their hard work, but also to sustain longevity for them in the early education workforce.

Shainna Flores

South San Francisco