“Part of my job is managing a team of coaches who go out into childcare programs. We coach them on curricula and offer them resources, training, and support to help them maintain their license and secure funding to serve families utilizing Publicly Funded Child Care. The higher rating a program receives from the state, the more funding they get to support their bottom line. 

But even with this funding, there’s a high turnover rate for teachers because facilities can’t afford to pay their workers more. Right now, programs are struggling with enrollment. There’s a lot of families who are not using childcare, even if they have partial support, because they don’t make enough to cover the cost. 

I was in that position several years ago. I had one child in preschool and was pregnant with my second. I knew I couldn’t afford to pay for both of them to be in childcare, even though I was doing the work that I love. I had to stay home for a little bit until my oldest went to school, and I got lonely. I missed adult interaction. My value was my family, which was beautiful, and I loved it, but I needed something outside of that. And so did my son. 

I’ll be honest, I have my master’s in special education, but by staying home with my kids, they didn’t get the social-emotional development they needed. I would go outside with them and take them to play dates. But it’s not the same. You can always see that sending children to a quality educational program helps them build that social-emotional aspect so that they thrive when they get to elementary school.

“The systemic issues in childcare will persist. There will always be problems, but they’ll change, they always do, and we’ll adjust to meet the needs those changes create. Parents are finding ways to return to the office. So, things could look very different in just six months. And we’re ready. We’re out there working with the teachers. And we’re here to help as much as possible.” 

– Marie Miller is the Step Up To Quality Program Coordinator for Action for Children, which offers free support to childcare centers across Central Ohio.