Taking Steps to Understand the Child Care Market in Washington

Headlines have been running coast-to-coast about the rising cost of child care. Parents all across Washington are feeling the burden. If we are going to find solutions to this issue as a state, we need to have a clear picture of the problem.  A few big questions for DEL to explore: how much does it really cost to run a child care in this state, and what does this mean for the rates child cares are charging families?

DEL is gathering tuition rate and operating cost information from licensed providers in order to be a more effective advocate for improvements in the early childhood education market. The Cost of Quality project and Market Rate Survey are opportunities for providers to share their input about their experiences in the child care market. 

Invitation emails started going out last week to approximately 350 centers to take part in a survey that asks about the costs of operating a center and investments in quality. The survey will run through July 2017 with a report due out this fall. For in-home family child care providers, DEL plans on launching a survey next summer.

In addition, the Market Rate Survey is getting a makeover this year. Look for a trimmer simplified survey of child care rates coming this fall. We will include all licensed providers this year and will gather the same information from both centers and family homes. 

Want to learn more? Visit our research page to view past Market Rate Surveys, and keep an eye out there for future information about this work!

National group reports on the cost of child care

The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) recently published its 2011 report on national trends in the cost of child care. Before we discuss that, here’s some background:

NACCRRA is the parent organization for more than 600 state and local Child Care Resource and Referral Networks (CCR&Rs), which help parents find child care. Here in Washington, we at DEL partner with the Washington State Child Care Resource & Referral Network to help families find the right child care arrangement for their children. We also partner with the Network to support child care providers in improving quality, through our Quality Rating and Improvement System.

 

The NACCRRA report presents 2010 data about what parents pay for full-time child care in the United States. The information is split out by several categories, including by region, by age of children being cared for and by child care facility versus family child care homes.

Some highlights of the report’s findings:

• Child care costs increased 1.9 percent in centers and 1.8 percent in family child care homes from 2009 to 2010.
• In 40 states, the average annual cost of center-based care for an infant exceeded 10 percent of the state’s median income for a two-parent family.
• In 36 states, the average annual cost for center-based care for an infant was higher than a year’s tuition and related fees at a four-year public college.
• The 10 least affordable states for child care were Massachusetts, New York, Hawaii, Colorado, Minnesota, the District of Columbia, Oregon, Illinois, Montana and Pennsylvania.
• In Washington, the average annual costs for centers range from $4,650 to $11,450 and for family care homes from $3,800 to $8,650.

The report makes recommendations to help families pay for child care, to improve the quality of care through additional provider training and inspections, and to help CCR&Rs assist providers in becoming licensed.

Related links:

• Parents and the High Cost of Child Care: 2011 Update full report
• NACCRRA’s recommendations
• How the states rank