A new report says childcare shortages could be addressed through a combination of measures to support families with subsidies and support providers to navigate currently difficult bureaucratic processes. Special committee report Published by the Alaska Department of Health.
Recommendations to expand child care options announced in task force’s second and final report Establishment That’s what Gov. Mike Dunleavy said last year. The Governor’s Task Force Report on Child Care, released Dec. 27, follows an earlier report released last year.
Overall, they include: 56 recommendations For action.
“The proposed recommendations not only address pressing challenges, but also serve both working parents who need reliable, safe care and the licensed facilities that provide that care,” said Secretary of State Heidi Hedberg. It is also a roadmap for resilient infrastructure.” the Ministry of Health said in a statement. “Removing barriers and supporting the child care workforce, especially in rural areas, are areas where we hope to see long-term improvements as a result of this important work.”
Businesses cite the lack and cost of childcare as an issue. Big workforce challenges. The problem worsened after the coronavirus pandemic, when Alaska lost 10% of its licensed child care workers, state officials said.
Dunleavy created a special committee as follows: I refused Last year, we launched a policy to support additional funding in the state budget for child care.
a study The research conducted by the McKinley Research Group that guided the task force revealed a number of findings. gap The amount between the actual costs a family incurs and the subsidy they receive can range from less than $100 per month to several hundred dollars per month, depending on the type of child care they receive.
It also revealed cost differences based on geography. For example, the study found that monthly preschool costs per child in Anchorage averaged $1,186, compared to $1,749 in northern Alaska.
Leah Van Kirk, the department’s health policy adviser, said applying geographic cost-of-living adjustments to parental income is recommended to address affordability issues. The cost of living is higher in rural Alaska than in urban areas, and a report from the McKinley Research Group shows that child care costs are particularly high in rural areas.
Geographic cost adjustments are currently applied to subsidies paid for child care costs, but not to the income levels used to determine eligibility for the subsidy.
“Your income would have been considered the same whether you lived in Bethel or Anchorage,” Van Kirk said. The new report “recommends that we be aware that the cost of living differs in some rural areas of the state where the cost of living is known to be higher.”
Another recommendation focuses on making childcare jobs more attractive. “If a parent works in a foster care facility, they may qualify for a subsidy for their child to attend a foster care facility,” Van Kirk said.
Van Kirk said some of the key information the study uncovered was about the cost differences between child care provided at home and childcare centers.
“One of the things that has been confirmed for us is that for child care providers, having a home-based licensed child care center is a stronger business model and is more affordable,” Van Kirk said. he said. “The cost of providing care is lower,” so home childcare could be encouraged, especially in rural areas, she said.
Still, the task force’s report says there are several potential cost-saving solutions that leverage the center. One recommendation is to consider the possibility of providing child care in school or district buildings. Mr Van Kirk said spaces such as empty classrooms could be evaluated for use by providers looking to open new childcare centres, which would reduce costs and increase the feasibility of the service. He said it was possible.
“We know that facility costs are definitely one of the biggest costs for childcare workers, in addition to staffing,” she says.
The Anchorage School District is already struggling with both employee recruitment and declining enrollment. We are considering building such a system. Care for school staff may be provided in school buildings, the district said.
The task force also recommended that states consider creating a so-called tri-share system, where the government, employers and parents share costs. The system is pioneered in Michigan It has since been adopted by other states.
Other recommendations focus on streamlining the process of licensing child care providers and hiring child care workers. Some solutions leverage the latest technology. For example, potential worker safety screenings required the creation of physical fingerprint images to be mailed to law enforcement agencies for use in background checks. Van Kirk said the state just acquired a digital fingerprinting device using American Rescue Plan Act funding to speed up a currently lengthy process that could delay hiring staff. That’s what it means.
The Ministry of Health has already taken action on some of the recommendations in the two reports. Van Kirk said the acquisition of digital fingerprinting devices is one example. The department is also developing an online child care information system to help streamline licensing, hiring, family notification, and other bureaucratic processes.
Some action is being taken in the form of new regulations.
new one set of regulations The law, which went into effect on October 9, allows designated childcare workers to take charge of childcare facilities when their managers are off-site.
another new set of regulationsA proposal to “lower the hurdles for hiring childcare workers” was announced on October 9th, with the aim of lowering the hurdles for hiring childcare workers by expanding qualifications. Public comments were mixed, with some people agreeing with the idea and others expressing concerns about unlicensed childcare workers.
Additionally, Congress passed it earlier this year. Senate Bill 189expands the eligibility of families to receive subsidies and provides tax benefits to employers who invest in child care. These provisions were originally included in House Bill 89, which passed through that committee, but were ultimately merged into the broader Senate bill.
