OPINION: Florida has too many ‘child care deserts’
By: Robert Buesing
Herald-Tribune – Published 7:02 a.m. ET Dec. 13, 2021
I frequently hear from working parents with young children who share their hopes and concerns for their kids. A top concern for these parents is having the freedom to achieve fulfilling careers.
In order to do so, however, their children must receive quality care while they work. But the current child care crisis in Florida is making finding quality care extremely difficult.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened an already struggling child care sector. And these struggles hurt our economy. Simply put, child care in Florida is too scarce and too expensive.
Nearly 40% of Floridians live in child care “deserts” where there are at least three times as many children as there are available certified child care slots. Even when parents are able to find quality child care for their children, it can be prohibitively expensive, particularly for low-income families. This is especially true for infant and toddler care in Florida; in our state, the cost of center-based care exceeds that of average in-state college tuition.
A report released by national business leader group ReadyNation found that insufficient childcare for infants and toddlers alone costs the U.S. economy $57 billion per year. The impact estimate for Florida, based on GDP share, is $2.9 billion – and these were the figures pre-pandemic.
A lack of access to high-quality child care doesn’t just impact working parents right now – it will also cause huge losses for future generations of workers. Decades of research show that young children experience unique brain growth during the first few years of life. During this critical time, children need to be in environments that foster development to avoid educational deficits and health issues that could affect their future paths toward success.
To help solve the child care crisis, federal policymakers should increase Child Care and Development Block Grant funding to help lower-income parents afford child care while holding jobs that can lead to long-term family self-sufficiency.
To address child care deserts, direct grants should be made to child care providers to provide care where and when parents need it. Federal lawmakers should also make permanent the expanded Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, which is set to expire at the end of the year. This tax credit helps working families afford care by allowing them to set aside more of their pre-tax income for child care expenditures.
Solving this child care crisis will also require a partnership between the federal government and business leaders in Florida. By expanding and updating the Employer Provided Child Care Tax Credit, Congress can help employers provide high-quality child care or give child care tuition subsidies to their employees.
Working families need access to high-quality child care now so that parents can succeed in the workforce today, and their children can succeed in whatever paths they choose tomorrow.
Robert Buesing is a senior member of the Trenam Law firm in Tampa. He is also a member of ReadyNation, a national group that advocates for improving our workforce by investing in children, youths and families. Hecan be reached at rbuesing@trenam.com
