New Jersey Assemblywoman Aura Dunn is sounding the alarm on a looming financial crisis which she says could cripple the state’s child care industry and push women out of the workforce as pandemic-era funding for the sector ends September 30.
Dunn says she is working on a package of bills to make child care more affordable for families and create more stable funding for providers.
“New Jersey needs to prioritize quality child care and quickly, because providers may not be able to recover this time. A shuttered child care center not only hurts the business owners, who are more often than not women and minorities, but also the working families, children and the economy overall,” Dunn explained.
One policy think tank estimates 104,000 New Jersey children could lose care and 1,300 child care programs could close as a result of the loss of federal funding.
And nationwide, more than 70,000 child care programs are projected to close, and about 3.2 million children could lose their spots due to the end of the child care stabilization grant program, according to an analysis by The Century Foundation.
“Providers are going to be forced to raise prices and parents will no longer be able to afford care because wages are not keeping up with inflation. New Jerseyans are struggling and I’m afraid that women will be the first to leave the workplace because of unavailable or unaffordable child care. It will move New Jersey backwards in terms of opportunities for women,” Dunn added.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s national database of childcare prices, the cost for infant care in New Jersey averages nearly $15,000 a year. Out-of-pocket preschool costs are approximately $12,000 a year.
Dunn plans on introducing a bill to increase the amount of the state child tax credit while also expanding the income and age limits to $100,000 from $80,000, and to 11 years old from 5 years old.
Dunn had attempted to expand the state’s child tax credit from the floor of the Assembly last year, but was ultimately voted down by Democrats.
Other bills in the package would urge the federal government to restore its child tax credit to 2021 levels to ensure that families receive sufficient financial support, and permanently codify the provisions in her bill that became law last year that temporarily based child care provider subsidies on enrollment instead of attendance.
Let it expire. It will bring down the prices for the many of us that don’t get any of these benefits.
Somehow I don’t think so.
Speaking as a professional in the financial sectors (think accounting banking etc) and having reviewed financials for a number of these daycares, many of them have their fixed costs too high to effectively lower prices.
I think of these programs expire, we will see then try to bill the parents $18,000 a year and a whole lot of daycares will shut down.
We will see a bunch of consolidation, acquisitions, and mergers, until only the large margin daycares daycares with strong cash reserves will remain and only those who can afford these massive premiums will send.
I am unsure as to whether it will be an overnight mad dash or a steady trickle over a number of months.
We will see a return to smaller home-based daycares with one or two babysitters where parents can actually choose their child’s caregiver. There will be no “daycare owner” making a killing while the employees barely make a living; babysitters will be able to charge more reasonable fees without having to run full-service buildings; kids will be cared for in smaller, more caring environments, with personally invested babysitters…And maybe some will actually work Fridays again. I see mostly good coming from less gov’t involvement…
You would need an awful lot of home based babysitters to accommodate Lakewood’s new population size.
of course, this country needs that money to support the illegal immigrants
Let the yiddeshe mamas stay home with pitzelach for once and for all!!!
Why are mothers all leaving 6-8 week olds in the care of total strangers?????
Let men go out to work.
It May be an unpopular opinion in this town but time to think rationally