By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium
Last week, the Children’s Campaign Fund Action, in partnership with MomsRising, and OneAmerica Votes, released a poll that indicated that 70% of Washington voters support a new proposal that would establish a cap on how much of a family’s income can go towards childcare, increase state subsidies, create a living wage structure with benefits for early education and care providers, and create new state training programs for child care providers to improve quality and safety.
Families across Washington are facing many challenges that relate to the current childcare crisis within the state. From having to leave the workforce to care for their own children and others, or cutting back on expenses, the childcare crisis has hindered many moms and families in Washington.
“When I had my baby, I had to leave the workforce because the state’s childcare crisis is impacting a lot of us, so I care for our kids full time and at this point I don’t see myself being able to return to the workforce until my kids are in school full time,” says Capri Jackson, a member of MomsRising. “Being pushed out of the workforce, my employer lost a passionate and skilled employee.”
According to Lauren Hipp, National Director for Early Learning and Washington State at MomsRising, says that Jackson is not alone and that there are many people who are facing similar circumstances and are having to make some very tough decisions.
“Washington is facing a childcare crisis,” says Lauren Hipp, National Director for Early Learning and Washington State at MomsRising. “The cost of high-quality early learning and childcare is simply too high, and it is too hard to find for many families. Our state recently made new investments in childcare, but these are just a drop in the bucket and not enough to address our ongoing crisis.”
“We hear from members who are struggling because childcare is unaffordable,” continued Hipp. “In just the last decade, the median cost of childcare has increased by 74%, and many families tell us that childcare costs are higher than their rent or mortgages.”
In many cases, families find themselves on waitlists for affordable childcare for years because the supply is simply not enough to meet the demand. Kisha-Marie Schnereger, one of the 40,000 members of MomsRising in Washington state, believes that Washington’s childcare crisis has caused significant challenges for her family and others as well.
“For the first year of my firstborn’s life, I tried to juggle remote work and caring for my children at the same time, and it just wasn’t feasible,” says Scnhereger. “I wasn’t there 100% for either and my family depends on my income, so we had to start looking for childcare so that I could stay in the workplace.”
According to Schnereger, who lives in a rural part of Pierce County, finding childcare was exceedingly difficult because many rural areas do not have a lot of options when it comes to childcare. Fortunately, Schnereger and her family were able to secure a spot at a facility, but, like many good things, it came with its own set of challenges.
“Every week we pay about $650 for our children, so that is a little under $3,000 a month. That is literally more than my mortgage,” says Schnereger. “That is not even the worst part of it. To pay for this, we have had to scale back in a lot of different areas, and even my wonderful husband has had to dip into some of his retirement funds to offset those costs. I don’t think that any family should have to jeopardize their savings and their economic future just to get safe and reliable care for their children.”
In July 2021, the City of Seattle Department of Education and Early Learning (DEEL) and King County Best Starts for Kids jointly commissioned a report to build upon work done by P5 Fiscal Strategies for the statewide Washington Child Care Collaborative Task Force to understand the actual cost of childcare.
According to Leilani Dela Cruz, Early Learning Director at the Seattle Department of Education and Early Learning, the report re-affirmed prior findings that the cost of childcare is higher in Seattle and King County than in any other area of the state. The information from this report will be used to inform the administration of the City’s Child Care Assistance Program and to continue advocacy for increased investment in the childcare sector at both state and federal levels.
“Child Care is essential to a thriving economy and ensuring that young children are safe and healthy. But it is also a fragile system where workers are underpaid and families struggle to afford care,” says Dela Cruz. “While the City continues to do its part to support this critical sector, it’s clear that additional foundational funding is needed at the state and federal levels.”
Advocates claim that even with some childcare subsidy programs in place that are designed to provide low-income families with access to childcare so they can work or go to school, there is a growing need for similar programs to support working-class families as well, and many believe that they will make a difference at the ballot box for many races in the upcoming election.
“We know that voters will fill out their ballots this November with childcare top of their mind because we asked them, and the polling found that a staggering 82% of Washington voters considered childcare funding a top priority,” says Roxana Norouzi Executive Director of OneAmerica, a political organization that organizes and builds relationships with immigrants in Washington.
With strong polling at their side, the coalition believes that they have the leverage that they need to make sure that access to affordable and quality childcare is an issue that receives a lot of attention along the campaign.
“We look forward to that work ahead with our partners, and building a childcare majority in Olympia that will deliver the solutions that voters are calling for,” says Norouzi.
