Stuck between high fees and low wages, how much money will it take to fix PA child care staffing crisis?

Diane Barber, executive director of the Pennsylvania Child Care Association, called the expanded tax credit “a wonderful thing for families.” But she and other child care advocates and experts said it doesn’t fix the staffing issues providers face.

“While we can reduce the costs for families, it only helps if they can actually find some place for their children to go,” Barber told Spotlight PA.

What the governor is proposing

State funding for two major child care line items has already increased, partially making up for a decline in federal revenue, according to a March report from the state’s Independent Fiscal Office. But overall funding is still down from the height it reached during the pandemic.

And the report noted uncertainties remain for the industry, including whether providers can maintain the wages they increased during the pandemic.

Shapiro’s administration has highlighted how one relatively small increase in his budget proposal — $96,000 in state funds — would allow the state to leverage $62 million in federal funds to increase reimbursement rates for providers in the state’s subsidized child care program. The new rates would be at a federally recommended benchmark, the administration has said.

“We’re very hopeful that this is something that is included in the final budget,” Secretary of Human Services Valerie Arkoosh said during a state Senate budget hearing in March. “It will be extremely important to these child care providers. It will allow them to increase salaries if they wish. It will put more money in their budgets and money they can count on.”

But child care advocates say the proposed higher rates aren’t enough. Barber of the Pennsylvania Child Care Association told Spotlight PA the money for higher reimbursement rates will help providers keep their “lights on, but it’s not going to be able to empower programs to increase staff salaries substantially or to provide benefits.”

The administration has declined to say whether it supports the $284 million proposal from advocates. Department of Human Services spokesperson Brandon Cwalina told Spotlight PA the administration is “happy to work with the General Assembly to review and consider specific proposals that invest in child care.”

But he said the administration anticipates raising reimbursement rates “will create a more stable business environment for child care providers and ensure equal access to child care services,” and that both reimbursement rates and child care worker pay have increased in recent years.

Child care workers would also benefit from the governor’s proposed minimum wage increase to $15 an hour, Arkoosh told lawmakers. And she said the budget plan includes additional funding to help child care providers reach that level should lawmakers raise the minimum wage.

Representatives for the party caucuses in the state legislature expressed support for child care. But they did not commit to a specific funding level.

Stefano, of the Early Childhood Education Caucus, said he wants to see more investment in child care and early education beyond what the governor has proposed. But he said there are unknowns, including how much money lawmakers will decide to spend on K-12 education.

Another co-chair of the caucus, state Sen. Judy Schwank (D., Berks), said she supports the $284 million proposal from advocates.

“Will we get all of it? I’m not so sure,” Schwank told Spotlight PA. “But I’d sure like to see something.”

So would Zelinsky at the Doodle Bug.

“If there was something that would take a little bit of stress off of me, it would be different because I can’t imagine my life doing anything else,” she said. “I would take every one of these kids home with me. That’s what makes me stay.”

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds the powerful to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania.