While the Reno City Council is currently looking into changing how child care facilities are handled within the Reno Municipal Code, to perhaps ease, lighten and facilitate applications for child care centers, why don’t we take much bolder steps?
Local parents scramble to find solutions which work for their own specific situation, with limited spots at more affordable day cares, and some centers accepting just one child per family. Many are forced to quit their jobs, with some falling below the poverty line or even homelessness due to child care burdens.
Reno and Nevada are going through a child care crisis, and despite some legislative efforts at the state level and possible tinkering at the local level, the response so far seems woefully insufficient. People like to say “our children are our future,” but do we actually mean that here?
In terms of bewildering stats, infant care in Nevada costs 133% more per year than in-state tuition for our four-year universities. According to the Economic Policy Institute, in the Silver State, infant care for one child takes up 18% of a median family’s income. For an infant and a 4-year-old the average annual cost of child care is $29,000, 36% more than average rent, and a third of overall income.
A minimum wage worker in Nevada needs to work full time for 33 weeks to pay for child care for one infant.
Other states are taking bold action to address this crisis.
New Mexico, after long having been ranked at or near the bottom in the country for child well-being, has become the first state to offer free childcare for a majority of families.
In a process initiated four years ago, New Mexico decided to start using revenue from its oil and gas holdings to pay about $150 million per year to subsidize child care and after school care. Families making up to 400% of the federal poverty line, about $124,000 a year for a family of four, qualify.
The US which has no federal universal childcare as many other countries do ranks 40th on a UNICEF ranking of 41 high incomes countries in terms of childcare accessibility, with only Slovakia below.
In New Mexico, following the change, poverty rates are quickly falling, including among childcare providers.
Other states are now establishing trust funds dedicated to early care and education, and finding new funding sources after pandemic era American Rescue Plan assistance ended. These include a new payroll tax in Vermont, a so-called millionaires tax in Massachusetts and a capital gains tax in Washington. Connecticut created an early childhood endowment which will be filled with any surplus revenues it has.
When states don’t step up, some cities such as New Orleans went their own way, approving a property tax increase to boost their early childhood fund, adding over 1,000 child care spots.
Repurposing buildings, co-locating child care with affordable housing, expanding child care vouchers, increasing the support for home-based care and streamlining licensing processes are all within the city’s realm of action.
In the end, it’s all a matter of priorities. What do we value as a community? If it’s our kids, then we are being hypocrites, because the help just isn’t there.