Are we approaching a crisis or are we already there? Four stories in the Herald over the past six months point to a lack of affordable day care in Durango and the region, a dearth of spots for kids and an inability to recruit and retain teachers.
Lower-income, working families and parents in school are increasingly feeling the pinch. They must choose between work or school and paying more for child care – if they can even get in. According to the “Kids Count in Colorado” report released in April, across La Plata County, there are only enough slots for 40 percent of children who could be enrolled in child care. Most early childhood education centers are full and have wait lists. River Mist preschool is working to expand to meet the demand, but that is years and many hundreds of thousands of dollars away.
There is also a bit of a catch-22 going on with wages – both with what parents make and can afford to pay and what covers a center’s costs. Low worker wages, starting at $9.50 per hour at the Roberta Shirley Center, partly stem from that double bind and contribute to the high turnover and shortage among teachers. Of course, the high cost of living for prospective teachers does too.
But as parents delay educational training and work opportunities, or abandon them altogether, individuals’ and families’ ability to get ahead, along with our community’s economic productivity, is affected and in the short-term is not going to get any better soon.
Shortened hours at child care centers, such that the Robert Shirley Center instituted this month and Durango School District 9-R’s Kids’ Camp announced last week it is considering, limits some parents to part-time jobs or staying at home all-together. Parents are choosing between paying more for child care, working less or not at all.
Low-income families have some access to programs that are subsidized, but those funds are limited and not guaranteed into the future. They are critically important though because free and subsidized child care allows parents to start working. Middle-income families struggle the most because they don’t qualify for any type of financial assistance, and the cost of child care, especially private, is very expensive – anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000 per child per month, equal to a second mortgage for some, and is unaffordable or just not worth it to work and be away from their kids.
What can be done? The El Pomar Foundation’s Southwest Regional Council took on early childhood education as an issue several years ago by investing in a five-county region Early Childhood Education Coordinator. They were tasked to work in partnership with the La Plata, Montezuma/Dolores, Archuleta and San Juan counties early childhood councils to increase collaboration and make resources available to increase the number of slots available.
With uncertain local outcomes and the reality that this is not an issue limited to our region, El Pomar has turned its attention to its San Juan Regional Council and the communities of Montrose, Gunnison and Telluride to address the problem.
Unfortunately, we cannot wait the 12-18 months it is going to take to find out what they learn. We must renew local efforts to address the issue for the future of our kids, parents and communities.
