Holding pattern

Although Americans talk about valuing children, child care has long been a low priority. Real gains have been made in Rhode Island, but the progress is imperiled by a money crunch

by Kathleen Hughes

Kathy Schneider

At 1 o'clock on a Wednesday afternoon, 40 preschoolers are napping on cots, divided between two classrooms at the Joslin Community Center in the Olneyville section of Providence. When we tiptoe through, a few heads pop up, a few eyes blink open, while others are completely motionless, breathing softly, lost in sleep. Upstairs, the laughter and scrambling feet of 30 elementary school kids sounds like a pack of hyenas. There are 10 to 20 more kids downstairs in the basement, I'm told, but they're quieter. Most of the care for these 80 or so kids is state-subsidized, and the waitlist, executive director Giua Sanchez-Seaman says, is long and constant.

This lengthy waitlist reflects the dearth of good child care both locally and nationally. But it also reflects the improved affordability of care in Rhode Island -- which means more people are signing up for it, instead of relying on their friends and relatives, or leaving their children home alone. Because of a landmark program called Starting RIght, which launched in 1998, Rhode Island child care providers are reimbursed for subsidized care at a higher rate than in most states, and this means Sanchez-Seaman can attract better, more committed staffers, and consider expanding. And since Starting RIght subsidizes, on a sliding scale, families who earn up to 225 percent of poverty -- $38,000 for a family of four -- more kids can come to Joslin.

Child care is a current point of focus for state and federal agencies because of the flood of need prompted by welfare-to-work reform and, of course, the increasing number of mothers who have joined the work force over the last few decades. But it's also getting more attention because of statistics and research that indicate a crisis in the availability, affordability, and quality of care, particularly for low-income parents.

In 1999, for example, there were only 78 statewide child care slots for every 100 children who needed them, regardless of income, according to figures from the US Census Bureau and the Rhode Island Department of Human Services. Nationally, child care accounts for between six and 33 percent of a working family's expenses -- the second largest expense after housing. Quality, however, is the most profound shortcoming. In 1995, a University of Colorado at Denver study found that 86 percent of child care centers studied provided poor to mediocre care relative to development and school readiness; and 40 percent of infant and toddler care was judged dangerous and potentially detrimental to development. In contrast, when child care is good, University of North Carolina researchers found in 1999, the recipients outperform their poorly looked after counterparts on cognitive tests, and in job and academic successes, well into adulthood.

Starting RIght makes a large commitment to taking on the prevalent flaws of child care and has built momentum for broad change. The program's hallmarks include offering health insurance to providers of home day care for state-subsidized children; reimbursement rates that are 25 percent higher than those in other states for the care of subsidized children; and high eligibility levels for subsidies, which means that Rhode Island is the only state in the nation where child care is truly an entitlement. It's no wonder that Working Mother and Parents magazines recognized the state in 1999 as a leader on child care policies and programs. In his annual address earlier that year -- a year after Starting RIght's launch -- Governor Lincoln Almond emphasized education and early childhood care, proclaiming, "Opportunity knocks, and this governor is committed to answering the call."

Now, flash forward two years, factor in an economic slowdown and a state department of human services (DHS) budget crisis, due partially to the state's other landmark and generous social program, RItecare -- which provides free health insurance for children and low-income parents -- and Rhode Island's commitment to Starting RIght seems to be wavering. Although $5 million was supposed to be spent this fiscal year to expand Starting RIght's embryonic early education and social services program, known as the comprehensive services network, only $1.9 million was allocated, and the remaining $3.1 million was deferred to fiscal 2002. And instead of raising the eligibility threshold as planned this year, from 225 percent of poverty to 250 percent, the level was frozen at 225 percent -- a distinction that will hurt thousands of families on the brink of poverty.

In the next year or so, DHS may be forced to choose between funding the comprehensive service network, which mimics the well-regarded federal Head Start program and helps the poorest children, and maintaining the current 225 percent eligibility standard -- forget about the once-intended increase to 250 percent. If the comprehensive services network is funded, eligibility might actually be rolled back to 200 percent, a possibility that looms ever larger given the recently revealed $20 million gap over the estimated costs of RItecare. Is opportunity still knocking, Governor Almond?

If George W. Bush, who campaigned on a platform of "compassionate conservatism," doesn't live up to his rhetoric about education and children, he certainly won't be the first American politician to fail in such a manner, nor would Almond. We love to talk about how precious children are in this country, whether the subject is health, reading skills, equal opportunity, or McDonald's Happy Meals. The problem is, we so rarely follow through, to any significant degree.

State spending on child care in Rhode Island climbed over $59 million last year -- nearly five times what was spent in 1995. And yet, the plan was never to stop here. Child care in this state will no doubt be better than it was, but it will remain quite a distance from the goal of having all children starting school ready -- developmentally, socially and emotionally -- to learn. Stopping here, in short, would keep a vast number of children in all too familiar mediocre waters.

GROWING THE child care system in Rhode Island has been difficult and slow because numerous fundamental issues of quality needed to be addressed before expansion made sense. As Joyce Butler of Providence, vice president of the Washington, DC-based lobbying group USA Child Care, explains, "If child care is considered poor to mediocre in significant proportions, why do we want to buy more of that?"

Quality improvements are also tricky given that child care occurs in so many different settings, especially in Rhode Island, where extended family networks and small businesses are prominent, says Elizabeth Burke Bryant, executive director of Rhode Island Kids Count, a children's policy organization. But one consensus among legislators and advocates seems to be that improving child care staff -- their qualifications, training, wages, and benefits -- is the key to improving the care itself. "Quality is about the people you have teaching in those centers," says Bryant.

On a national basis, hourly wages for child care workers average $6.70, compared to $19.85 for kindergarten teachers; $11.55 for bus drivers; and $7.06 for parking lot attendants, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. More than two-thirds of full-time child care workers' incomes fall below the poverty line. In 1990, the National Child Care Staffing Study found that only 18 percent of child care centers offered health insurance to workers. It's no real surprise, then, that the annual turnover rate for workers in these jobs was around 32 percent -- four times as high as the rate reported by all other companies in 1992, says the Kids Count fact book. The Washington, DC-based Center for the Childcare Workforce estimates the rate has since climbed closer to 40 percent.

Now, consider the education of these workers: only 21.5 percent of child care providers, home- or center-based, have completed college; and 22 percent haven't completed high school. All in all, the picture that emerges of the average child care center is a place staffed by long-term temps, with little training or education, who are working a poorly paid job without benefits.

How did we get here?

Consider the beginnings of child care. According to state Senator June Gibbs (R-Middletown), working mothers in the '70s had little or no alternative to leaving children at movie theaters in downtown Providence during the workday. As home and center-based care evolved, the emphasis has been "care" rather than "education." Indeed, the vitality of a day care environment for young children that is not just nurturing, but regimented and developmentally stimulating, has only been scientifically proven in the last decade. This helps to explain why child care is still perceived as glorified babysitting, and how we pay our day care providers little more than the girl next door who occasionally watches the kids.

To improve this situation, first and foremost, money is needed to pay for higher wages and benefits, including better training, accreditation, and professional networks.

Very little of this is apt to come from parents, who already pay up to $10,000 a year for full-time, unsubsidized care. This money, then, is sought in the form of rate increases, or the amount that states pay to day care providers to take care of subsidized children. According to Butler, who is also a founding member of the Providence-based Public Policy Coalition for Children, one of the country's first child care advocacy coalitions, there is very often a gross disparity, sometimes nearly 50 percent, between the cost of providing child care and what the state pays for it. In Washington, DC, she says, this is known as "the dirty little secret of child care." But not for long, if Butler and US Senator Jack Reed have their way.

Reed and USA Child Care have been working since August 1999 to pass the Child Care Quality Incentive Act, a $300 million incentive bill that would give funds only to those states that increase child care reimbursement rates. Since the bill would give states flexibility in getting the money and using it, it falls within traditional Republican mores, as well as the conventional structure of states, rather than the federal government, regulating child care. The bill -- which could direct $2 million to Rhode Island -- directly addresses quality, Reed says, by trying to increase reimbursement rates. The chances of the bill passing, he says, are, "Getting better every day . . . the work Joyce Butler and Kerry Moser [executive director of the Catholic Charities Office of Child Care] have done so far has created a buzz. People are saying, `You're right about rates.' "

Child care was also among former President Clinton's late-in-the-game efforts, as he authorized $817 million in new money for the Child Care and Development Block Grants, bringing total funding to $2 billion; increased Head Start funds by $932 million, to a total of $6.2 billion; and doubled the budget for the 21st-century community learning centers project, to $846 million, which will increase the number of much-needed before- and after-school programs.

It remains to be seen, of course, whether the Bush administration's much-touted education plans will acknowledge in a similar way the importance of federal dollars for early childhood care and education.

Kim Maine

IN RHODE ISLAND, the Starting RIght-mandated reimbursement rate increase has already made a difference for the Sunshine Early Child Care Center in North Kingstown, which recently expanded the number of available slots, from 101 to 165. "I planned what I planned because of Starting RIght," says owner and director Kim Maine, noting that the state program has also enabled her staffers to attend more state-sponsored training and development conferences. "The workshops are very affordable," Maine says. "And professional development, as part of quality, has been a high focus in Starting RIght. We're trying to be a leader [in quality]."

Parents of Sunshine students notice this. Melissa Alviti, whose son has been there since he was eight weeks old, likes the fact that Sunshine has a permanent, on-site nursing staff, but she focuses more on the teachers, who have a clear, consistent curriculum. "The teachers impressed me the most," she says.

Beyond organizing professional training workshops, Childspan -- a collaboration between the state departments of human services and education -- encourages and assists with the accreditation of centers by professional associations, such as the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), or the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC). Standards for accreditation, with an additional focus on curriculum and staff qualifications, are far more stringent than what the state requires -- mainly cleanliness, safety, and space -- to receive a child care license. In the realm of home day care, providers need only be over 18; in good physical and mental health; with evidence of experience or training in caring for young children; and a minimum of 10 hours of additional training every two years. NAFCC, by contrast, requires 75 credit hours of academic work in child development and sends a "validator" to spend a day at homes seeking accreditation. Of 973 child care homes in the state, only about 12 are NAFCC-accredited, and 15 more applications are pending.

Kathy Schneider, president of the Family Child Care Homes of Rhode Island, cares for nine children every week in her home in North Providence, which was accredited four years ago. "If you found out your child's school wasn't accredited, you wouldn't want him or her there," Schneider says. "[Accreditation] is proving to the parent that you believe you're doing the best you can possibly do for their child."

More school-aged and off-hours care is also needed. Although almost 1000 more preschoolers received child care last year, the number of elementary and middle school programs remained essentially flat. Furthermore, most day care centers are exactly that -- day care. For parents who work unconventional shifts, fewer than four percent of state-subsidized centers are open at night, and only seven percent on weekends.

Finally, any new program has its wrinkles to iron out. A Starting RIght-subsidized client at Sunshine child care in North Kingstown, Gretchen Stanton pays $19 a week for full-time care for her three year-old son. Yet when she was out of work and home for nine weeks because of a hysterectomy, DHS said that meant she -- sick or not -- could care for her child, and her subsidies lapsed. Stanton is back at work now, trying to renew the subsidy, even though she'd lose it again in May when she gets an hourly raise of 75 cents, putting her beyond the 225 percent of poverty threshold. Then, when her weekly rates at Sunshine rise from $19 to $140, she'll still pay (on top of about $75 a week on rent and $70 on food). "It's a beautiful school," Stanton says. "I'm trying to see if they'll keep him until high school!"

Day Care Justice Co-op

STARTING RIGHT and its national accolades can be credited to the cooperation of politicians, advocates, and the state department of human services "We've really been partners," says Mary Ann Finamore, current director of the Public Policy Coalition for Children. Credit is also due to the Day Care Justice Co-op, a group of home day care providers, and a former subcommittee of the activist group Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE), whose members could barely get the state to pay them on time in 1991, yet continued to work 50 to 60 hours a week, for less than $2.38 an hour. They decided to try and win better state support and targeted health insurance benefits. In 1993, after two years' work, they won the backing of then-state Representative Nancy Benoit (D-Woonsocket). The health insurance measure finally passed in 1996. "The legislation of health insurance for child care workers is absolutely historic, a first in the country," Butler says. Starting RIght, with its own landmark measures and an expansion of health insurance benefits to providers, passed one year later.

"The biggest challenge now," says Bryant, "Is to keep the momentum and not become complacent." Unfortunately, this challenge might be greater than Bryant conveys.

Serious threats to Starting RIght include the national economic downturn and DHS budget problems, caused most directly by the sheer ramp-up in five years of state spending on child care, from $12 to $59 million, plus the state's other landmark social program, RItecare, which offers free health insurance for Rhode Island children and low-income parents. Even though RItecare was pulled from fiscal disaster last June, the reforms left the program $10 million over budget for fiscal 2000, and thus a large animal in the limited pen of DHS funds.

Nancy Benoit

Despite new measures to contain RItecare costs for the current fiscal year, including a deferral of Starting RIght monies and subsidy increases, next year's DHS budget could still face dire straits, since DHS director Christine Ferguson estimates RItecare is $2 million under budget, while the legislative budget office asserts that the program will be $19 million over budget. Such a disparity seems to imperil not just the expected payment to Starting RIght of the $3.1 million in deferred comprehensive services funds, and the deferred increase in subsidy eligibility, but also the reimbursement rate increase due in 2002.

Ferguson is nonchalant about last year's deferrals, emphasizing that the comprehensive services network was not ready to receive the money at the time. "We couldn't have spent the whole $5 million if we had it," she says. Still, Ferguson acknowledges the general precariousness of additional money for Starting RIght. "When you have a billion dollar budget and must answer questions about priorities [among such groups as the elderly, the disabled, and kids], it's tough," she says. "In a contracting economy, these discussions are much more acrimonious than in an expanding economy."

As part of Starting RIght, state payments for subsidized child care are supposed to remain at 75 percent of the market rate. Last summer, there was a legislative attempt to remove a mandated biannual review of such costs, and instead, make the increase a contingency item for the legislative budget office to decide. If such a mandate is removed, however, the rate increase becomes a political football, and centers such as Sunshine will face more difficulty in planning improvements, since they won't be able to reasonably project their income. Or, worse, centers could be forced to restrict the enrollment of subsidized children because the state pays too little for their care. Last summer's proposed change was defeated, but advocates expect another battle this year.

Simply put, "It's not good all the way around," says Judy Victor, executive director of the Day Care Justice Co-op.

More than just the slowing economy and the expense of RItecare darken Starting RIght's outlook, however. There's also the loss of child care's major champion in the State House for the last 15 years, former Representative Benoit, a teacher at St. Raphael's Academy in Pawtucket, who decided not to seek re-election last year. Before sponsoring Starting RIght and the Day Care Co-op's health insurance bill, Benoit, a former director of a Head Start center, was credited with forming in 1986 the state's permanent legislative commission on child care. Senator June Gibbs, who is replacing Benoit as chair of the child care committee, says, "I have big feet, but I'm not sure they're big enough to fill Nancy's shoes."

ALTHOUGH THE MORASS of politics and the state of the economy have huge ramifications for child care, perhaps the view that will rise above it all, and a view that's hard to discount, is that children, whether you have them or not, are society's collective responsibility. As put by Patricia Nolin of Options for Working Parents, a child care resource and referral service at the Providence Chamber of Commerce, children are our future. "Child care is important not only for employees [who are parents] and the quality of their work," Nolin says, "but also for the future workforce," given the studies about the significance of early care and education.

It may seem as basic as the wheel, yet educators, scientists, parents, and advocates have only begun to agree on the absolute vitality of nurturing, stimulating, and challenging environments, often via child care, for preschool and school-aged children -- and the irrevocable development lags that can occur without such environments. Nearly 100 years passed between the opening of the first kindergarten in this country and the more or less universal availability of public kindergarten. We cannot afford for sufficient amounts of good, affordable child care to take as long, especially in this highly technical society -- where educational advantage, which begins at an early age -- is everything.

Kathleen Hughes can be reached at khughes[a]phx.com.