Many Rhode Islanders are understandably focused on a key piece of our state’s physical infrastructure, the Washington Bridge, since a portion has been closed for months, creating frustrating disruptions in many people’s daily commutes to work.

Another piece of our state’s critical infrastructure that is essential to working families and our economy is also facing significant stresses: Our child-care infrastructure, which also requires ongoing investments to address. Just like roads and bridges, child care allows Rhode Island families to get to work. When high-quality, affordable child care is not available, it forces Rhode Island families, particularly women, to reduce the hours they work, or leave the workforce altogether to care for their young children. This has real impacts: On families, employers and businesses, and Rhode Island’s economy.

Still recovering from the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rhode Island’s child-care sector remains in distress. Many child-care providers are having to absorb higher costs due to inflation, while also dealing with an early educator staffing crisis. In 2022, the median wage for Rhode Island’s child care-educators was just $13.97/hour, less than fast-food and retail workers. As a result of this low pay, many skilled and experienced child-care educators are leaving the field for higher paying jobs in other sectors.

When a child care-worker leaves the sector and cannot be replaced, it often forces providers to close classrooms or reduce enrollment in existing classrooms to meet educator-to-child staff-ratio requirements. When a classroom closes or reduces enrollment, it creates even longer waitlists for Rhode Island families who are desperately looking for quality child-care options that engage their child and help them get to work. Indeed, it is not uncommon for child-care programs to have more than 100 families on a waitlist.

At the same time that providers and child-care educators are facing these challenges, too many Rhode Island families are struggling to afford the cost of child care. According to Child Care Aware, the average cost of child care in Rhode Island is more than $13,000 per year. That equals 13 percent of family income for married Rhode Island couples, and a whopping 42 percent of family income for a single parent. According to a national benchmark, families should spend no more than 7 percent of income on child care.

Fortunately, Rhode Island leaders including Governor Dan McKee, Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, and the General Assembly have been investing in our child-care infrastructure to keep the system from collapsing. These investments have included increased rates for child-care providers, wage supplements and bonuses for child-care educators, increased funding for Head Start and Early Head Start classrooms, and expanded eligibility for the state’s Child Care Assistance Program.

One example of an innovative investment is a new Child Care for Child Care Educators pilot program included in the FY 2024 state budget. The program provides low-cost child care for child-care workers who have young children themselves, but who previously could not afford the cost of child care, forcing them to leave the workforce. Thanks to this pilot, more than 390 child-care educators are enrolled in the program and are able to stay in the child-care jobs that they love.

Several of these investments were made with federal pandemic funds that are expiring in 2024, yet the underlying challenges facing the child-care sector remain. That is why it is critical for our leaders to sustain and expand these investments in this year’s state budget.

Specifically, the General Assembly should:

• Reauthorize funding and expand eligibility for the Child Care for Child Care Educators pilot;
• Continue the Child Care WAGE$ program, which provides wage supplements for experienced, highly qualified early educators;
• Continue retention bonuses for child-care educators to prevent the loss of staff, and the closure of more classrooms.
• Increase eligibility for the Child Care Assistance Program, so more Rhode Island families can pay for affordable, quality child care;
• Continue to invest in Rhode Island’s early education system, including Head Start, Early Head Start, and pre-K classrooms.

Making these investments in our state’s care infrastructure are just as important as investments in our roads and bridges. They will provide quality learning opportunities for our young children, get our families to work, benefit Rhode Island employers, and strengthen our state’s economy.

Put simply, child care is essential. Let’s make sure that infrastructure is solid and there to support our working families.

Lisa Hildebrand is executive director of the Rhode Island Association for the Education of Young Children, and Khadija Lewis Khan is director of Beautiful Beginnings Child Care in Providence.