Due to rising costs and state investments that don’t keep pace, the child care industry is in peril, and nearly half of local providers are turning families away. Families who rely on the Purchase of Care (POC) subsidy can’t find care because their voucher only reimburses about 50 percent of the costs of child care. Subsequently, about 30 percent fewer families are benefiting from the program now than in previous years–at a time when families critically need child care to be able to engage in the workforce during a global pandemic.

Families are finding more and more that this crisis is untenable. Here are just a few examples Delaware families shared with advocates in their own words:

The state must invest more in Purchase of Care to ensure families can find the care they need. While budgets are being decided, families lose out. Tell the members of the Joint Finance Committee that you support increased funding in Purchase of Care.

For years, Delaware families have struggled to find affordable, quality child care. Of the approximately 60,000 children in Delaware from zero to five, only a small portion are being served by state-supported programs. The result? Only about half of Delaware children enter kindergarten with a preschool experience. Research shows that children with a strong preschool start do better in K-12, in areas like third grade reading, graduation rates, and reduction in special education services.

Today, Delaware is in a full-fledged child care crisis. Why? Continued underinvestements from the state.

Delaware child care providers are partially subsidized by the state through an investment called Purchase of Care (POC). While providers’ costs rise from year to year (not to mention during a pandemic), the state continues to invest roughly the same amount. The result of child care costs increasing and fewer child care providers overall is that families can’t find child care. And to complicate matters even further, with fewer providers accepting POC because it doesn’t cover the cost of care, fewer children getting the solid start that they need. It is time for the state to support our teachers, our families and our children.

Click here to learn what advocates are saying about the issue.

. . .

Sources for graphic:

• State investment:
  • https://www.dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/dss/files/2021DECostofCare_PreliminaryReportTables.pdf
  • https://www.dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/dss/files/2021DelawareChildCareMarketRateSurvey.pdf
• Cost increases: From direct provider feedback
• Fewer served: https://files.ctctusercontent.com/f6736190301/323224bb-e94b-463f-a82c-e7df79051001.pdf?rdr=true

School board elections are tomorrow, May 11. We shared with you last month why they are so important. The next important step is making a plan to vote tomorrow.

Decide if you’re going to vote before work or during your lunch break. Find out which polling place works for you. Double check before leaving. Click here to find out more from our partners at First State Educate about the candidates running and where to vote. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Elections are one critical way to engage with our local communities, but there are many other ways to become informed citizen of our state, our country, and our world. This week in Delaware, while school board elections are happening, our state general assembly will also be meeting to discuss and vote on bills about topics ranging from this very topic of civic engagement for our students to teacher residencies to paid family medical leave. Now is the time to get involved: Click here learn more about your representatives, when committees meet, and how to participate in hearings.

Today is a great day to get involved.

In the landscape of elections, school boards often find themselves relegated to the background, with less engagement than the more expensive, better-advertised political campaigns. But school board elections are one of the most critical ways for citizens to inform community-level decisions, including the allocation of resources and dollars. Bottom line, Delaware voters: save the date to vote in school board elections on May 11, 2021.

It’s not hyperbole to say that every single vote matters in these contests. Very few eligible voters cast ballots in school board elections. No candidate received more than 492 votes (and most received way less) since 2009.  The average number of votes received by a school board candidate in an election from 2009-2019 was a measly 200. That number represents about three percent of eligible voters in Delaware’s smallest district, Delmar. The school board in Delmar, however, was responsible for administering its share of the approximately $2.27 billion that Delaware spends on public education every year. We can do better.

Turnout might be higher if residents knew the important decisions school boards render in their own backyards. COVID-19 shone a bright light on the very real effects school board elections have on our communities. The pandemic sparked conversations about inequity in funding, achievement gaps, and a crisis in early childhood education. School boards play a role in each of those conversations. Being an informed voter in school board elections means weighing in on:

• How the district budget is developed and implemented
• The hiring and evaluation of district superintendents
• Building standards and upkeep
• The health of students, teachers, and staff
• School safety
• Curriculum design
• Access to technology
• The annual school calendar and length of school days
• Structural inequity

Voting in school board elections holds school board members accountable to their constituents, which can number in the tens of thousands of local teachers, families, and citizens. Click here to learn about the 12 contested races for school board seats that will appear on ballots in May (another eight seat races are uncontested), to find polling locations, and absentee ballot information.

To participate in these elections, you must be at least 18 years old, be a citizen of Delaware and the U.S., and live in the school district where the election is taking place. You don’t need to be a registered voter to participate in a school board election.

With 12 seats up for grabs, voters would be wise to do their research. These elections will inform the direction and quality of public education for our youngest residents. Let’s treat them with the same level of gravity and respect we give to other local and national elections. The consequences are equally, if not more, important.

On May 11, 2021, polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Decisions are made by those who show up.