Governor John Carney recommended significant increases in his FY24 Budget: over $10 million to increase child care rates, family eligibility, pre-K, and for children with special needs. These initial steps will continue to stabilize the foundation and support children and families for the high-quality system we aspire to long-term. 

Although the governor’s budget outlines strong initial steps to stabilize child care so they can begin to serve more families, there are significant challenges that will require long-term commitments: 

• Workforce. According to a Early Learning Needs Assessment by the Delaware Office of Early Learning, the early learning workforce has decreased by 12.6 percent in the last five years. Fifty-eight percent of programs reported that their inability to hire and retain staff was the primary reason for classroom closures, and 53 percent reported at least one classroom closed.  The consensus has been that low wages  and lack of benefits continue to be the biggest barrier to hiring staff.  
• Cost for Families:  In a recent survey of hundreds of parents and caregivers, 50 percent said child care is their biggest monthly expense, with a majority, 81 percent, said child care expenses are holding their family back from improving their situation in at least one way, including taking a job or increasing hours at work, going back to school, or buying a home. In a recent fact sheet highlighting affordability, data show that child care, per child, costs 20 percent of the median income in Delaware. Even those who qualify for public assistance can expect to pay 10 percent of their family income on care.

 

“Our experience with finding child care has been a series of epic failures. We were put on numerous waitlists for centers in our area—most with a year-plus waiting list and insanely expensive.” -Delaware parent

 

• Access to Publicly Funded Care: Access has decreased to only one in seven children served through public funding, which means 85 percent of children do not have access to public early care and education —and children are only young once. They need and deserve access to formal care and education so they can engage in critical early learning developmental opportunities.  And, this access has decreased in recent years despite funding remaining stable.  
• Availability of Care: If they can afford care, long waiting lists continue to plague caregivers seeking child care, with more pronounced challenges in Kent and Sussex counties. Among caregiver respondents, 71 percent looked into two or more options for their child—and more than a third (37 percent) were placed on a waitlist. child care, compared to 16 percent of children in New Castle County. A recent fact sheet on child care accessibility noted that waiting lists are as high as 1,500 families and years long in some cases.   
• Advocates have outlined areas where the General Assembly—especially the Joint Finance Committee—can build on the Governor’s Budget to address these issues for families and children.

 

Contact members of the Joint Finance Committee to ask them to build on the governor’s budget here or here.  

These efforts have demonstrated strong collaboration and alignment with the Delaware Early Childhood Council Strategic Plan.

As three prominent state leaders wrote this week: “If we are going to build the workforce of tomorrow, we must pass policies that better support workers and their families today.”

Sens. Kyle Evans Gay and Sarah McBride and Lieutenant Governor Bethany Hall-Long were among the lawmakers who helped champion recent policies like paid family and medical leave for thousands of working Delawareans and investments in early childhood education.

“As we continue our transition into a post-pandemic economy, it has perhaps never been clearer that the strength of our state depends on the health and welfare of our workforce,” they wrote. “Delaware made substantial investments in working families over the last two years, particularly the young families whose skills and talents will help us to attract major employers in the decades ahead.”

We should celebrate that progress—and keep going.

The reality for Delaware parents seeking care remains bleak in many parts of the state. Only one in seven children under age five are covered by state funding, which goes to child care programs through Purchase of Care subsidies and to school districts for special education. As providers have said for years, state funding covers only a fraction of their costs to provide high-quality care.

Parents are already expected to pay around 20 percent of a median family income per child for child care—more than some college tuitions. Even before the pandemic, Delaware parents reported that the cost of child care prevents them from taking jobs, getting training, and buying houses. Last year, one in three jobseekers turned down jobs because they could not find affordable child care. And the proprietors and educators running the centers aren’t faring much better. Ninety-six percent of Delaware child care centers reported workforce shortages in the last year.

Delaware’s crisis even hit the national airwaves this fall, with an article from Hechinger Report featuring two local providers.

As Hechinger explains, nearly 90,000 people left the child care industry between February 2020 and August 2022, with another 2,000 leaving between August and September this year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The reason? Providers can only afford to pay workers around minimum wage, with limited benefits.

“We can’t compete with McDonalds offering $15 to $17 an hour to start out,” Toni Dickerson, a resource and referral administrator for Sussex Preschools, told Hechinger. “Pre-Covid we were more worried about getting qualified staff. Now, we’re just trying to get staff.”

Sean Toner of Beach Babies Child Care, which runs four centers across Delaware, told reporter Jackie Mader the waitlist for a spot at one of his centers has ballooned to 1,500 kids. “It was never like this,” he said. “There’s not enough child care in this area to serve the need.”

Advocates are calling for increased state investments to help providers pay their workers and cover the cost of care, statewide and for more families.

The budget ask for next year’s state budget (July 2023-June 2024) is $40 million in state support for Purchase of Care (subsidized child care provided to families who qualify through the Department of Health and Social Services). This would:

• Cover child care providers costs to meet state requirements, like minimum wage and health and safety standards. Several other states have committed to this or are moving in this direction.
• Pay a statewide rate (equivalent in all counties): Kent and Sussex County child care programs currently receive 40 percent less than those in New Castle County—while they face the same costs for staff and supplies. Sixteen states use a statewide rate.
• Increase eligibility for families to 300 percent of the Federal Poverty Level to offset minimum wage increases and to keep up with regional neighbors who are all above Delaware—and especially Maryland and New York, which set their rates at 300 percent.
• Increase Purchase of Care rates for centers serving children with special education needs. Currently, centers serving special needs children receive no additional funds while some receive around five percent more. Other states fund significantly more, with 10 states setting a percentage between five and 50 percent, five states setting a dollar amount ($1-14 dollars per day) and others handling this on a case-by-case basis.

 

Again, Delaware has made some progress. Last session, the Delaware Department of Education committed to invest in the workforce through bonuses and legislation. Advocates hope to see more of that in the coming year, along with expanded funding for programs serving special needs children.

As the three state lawmakers wrote, “…change will only come when we, as elected leaders, set out a bold vision and prioritize families. We’re committed to this work and to making Delaware the best place to raise kids.”

Get Involved

• Encourage Governor Carney to invest in child care and pre-K
• Speak up at the Office of Management and Budget hearings on November 17 (Department of Education) and 18 (Department of Health and Social Services)
• If you are a parent of a child under at fivein Delaware, please take this short survey—and encourage others to do so!

Delaware’s Joint Finance Committee has voted to add $20.07 million to Delaware’s Purchase of Care program in Fiscal Year 2023—a substantial increase in funding. They added to the governor’s proposed increase—both to increase the rates paid to child care providers by 15 percent, and to include a $1.1 million “door opener” to fund enrollment growth. That means as more families enroll in POC, the state budget will grow to be sure they are served. These funds will be ongoing, in the operating budget, rather than contingent or one-time, as has been provided previously.  

Advocates including First State Pre-K and deaeyc worked alongside legislators to catalyze the largest increase in recent decades—in concert with parents, educators, and voters who have been calling on the state to address the growing crisis for families, employers, and long-term state needs.  

[What is Purchase of Care? Find out more here.] 

What Will This Mean? 

Providers will be paid for children that are eligible for subsidized child care at 85 percent of the 75th percentile of the 2021 Market Rate Study beginning July 1, 2022 (this is an increase from 70 percent of the 75th percentile). According to a recent cost estimation report conducted by DSS, the state pays only a percentage of the actual cost to provide the state requirements—and much less than the true cost of care.  

These increases will mean continued care for the 12,000 families currently enrolled in POC.  

For providers who accept POC, this funding will allow them to keep up with rising minimum wage, and—we hope—offer more slots to families, especially those with infants. The investment will allow providers to pay better salaries to employees, helping to reduce turnover and provide stability for children and families. 

It could also enable more providers to accept POC families.  

What Happens Next? 

The Joint Finance Committee reviewed and voted on funding priorities for the fiscal 2023 operating budget in late May. Legislative budget staff will write the final budget bill by June 22, which must be approved by the entire General Assembly by June 30.  

Advocates have seen the governor and General Assembly continuing to prioritize early learning this year—including action this session to provide workers with one-time bonuses and bills to support the workforce.  

However, Delaware’s work is far from over. We know that POC rates should reflect at least the federal benchmark, an investment we think will take at least $40 million in the budget this year—and long term, the true cost of care. Advocacy will continue on for:  

• increasing the state’s rates over time 
• increasing eligibility for families who don’t qualify for POC, but still can’t afford child care—just this year, with inflation and minimum wage increases, many families are not eligible since eligibility is still capped at 185 percent of the federal poverty limit, which is below qualifying levels for Head Start and SNAP 
• equity of rates across county lines, as Kent and Sussex providers are reimbursed at 40 percent less per child than New Castle County 
• increase funding to support fair wages for the workforce 

 

As a reminder, Delaware voters of all background support increased investments for early learning. 

Teacher shortages in Delaware are nothing new. For years, public schools have struggled to attract harder-to-find science, math, and foreign language teachers, and recently those shortages have even reached traditionally sought-after areas like elementary education and social studies.

In addition to addressing educator compensation, preparation, and retention, Delaware lawmakers are looking inside their own borders through “Grow Our Own” efforts to attract more locals to the profession starting in high school.

Recruitment, Retention, and Diversity Opportunities

• One quarter of Delaware’s public school educators and paraprofessionals will be eligible to retire in the next five years – and the size of Delaware’s teacher workforce is expected to grow by 6% over the next ten years.
• Only 18% of the educator workforce identifies as a race other than white compared to 58% of the student population
• Delaware’s preparation programs currently only prepare about half of Delaware’s novice educators

 

In recent years, 14 states have enacted “Grow Your Own” policies—28 have a GYO-focused policy, and 18 fund some type of GYO program. These include: funding allocations to support scholarships, incentive programs for districts and educator preparation programs to develop programs, support for certification and licensure, and recruitment initiatives.

As part of the settlement of Delawareans for Educational Opportunity v Carney, the high-stakes education funding lawsuit that settled in 2020, the state committed to adding $4 million to the budget beginning in Fiscal Year 2023 “to enhance recruitment and retention in high-needs schools.” And in 2020, the Redding Consortium Educator Work Group recommended Grow Your Own programming to support recruiting efforts and related education professionals, community members, parents, and other representatives of the school population.

House Bill 430, recently introduced by Rep. Kim Williams, provides a framework for the state Department of Education to invest in district- and charter-led Grow Your Own initiatives. The bill codifies the use of state funds and how those can support district efforts to train, stay connected with, and eventually hire their own graduates.

Priorities in the framework include educator diversity, recruiting from within the school community, supporting candidates to navigate postsecondary education and certification/licensure, and partnerships with institutions of higher education. Districts and charters will be asked to assess their retention initiatives and how they customize support for new teachers – those who have been trained traditionally and those who have been part of a Grow Your Own and/or Year-Long Teacher Residency.

Funds can be used to start up new programs, staff and grow current programs, change hiring policies and practices, and support teacher candidates. And, the state can allocate funds to catalyze new initiatives including establishing “earn and learn” models such as apprenticeship for educator candidates, which has been done recently in other states.

We applaud the work of the General Assembly to build on the establishment of a state framework for year-long teacher residencies last year by extending the work to advance Grow Your Own efforts in Delaware.