OPINION: The Alaska Legislature can prevent child care collapse — if it acts this year

Imagine this: You recently gave birth. It’s time to go back to work, but you still haven’t found child care. Maybe you are a single mom, or maybe you cannot afford housing, food and insurance on one partner’s salary.

Or this: You have been cutting corners to afford child care. Now, due to increased costs, rates are going up 30%. You can’t afford more for child care, yet there is also no way you could afford to not work.

Or this: Your child care center has had rolling “room closures” due to staff shortages, causing you to miss 10 days of work in the past two months. Now, your center is closing. You have called around, and cannot find another spot for your child. You are going to have to quit your job, but then you will not have enough income to sustain your family.

Child care in Alaska is in crisis, and the crisis is about to get worse. Most of the state is a “child care desert.” Many communities have no licensed child care at all. Existing centers have wait lists that are impossibly long. Rapidly rising labor and supply costs are compounding the problem.

Between 2021 and 2023, child care centers in Alaska received more than $50 million in federal, local and nonprofit grant funds. These grants allowed centers to stay open and not significantly increase tuition, even as costs rose. The last phase of these grants was in early 2023. No additional funding is anticipated.

Between rising costs and the expiration of emergency federal funds, child care in Alaska faces a fiscal cliff this year. In today’s economy, retaining staff has required wage increases of about 30% over just the past year. Without outside funding, this equates to rate increases of several hundred dollars. The current price of child care is already around $1,000 a month, and increases will price out many families. But centers that don’t raise wages will not have enough staff to stay open.

This is a personal disaster for many families with young kids and is also an economic disaster for the state. Without reliable and affordable child care, no economic sector can operate at full capacity. A 2021 US Chamber of Commerce study found that Alaska’s economy already loses $165 million every year due to insufficient child care.

To help address this problem, the governor recently established a new statewide child care task force. Alongside local programs such as Anchorage’s recently-passed Proposition 14, we can expect to see innovative ideas over the next few years. While we wait, the child care sector needs financial help now.

Two potential parts of the solution are currently working their way through the Legislature.

The first is part of the proposed operating budget that would increase the existing Child Care Grant Program to $15 million, a tenfold increase. This program gives money to licensed providers based on the number of children they serve. The increase was included in the Senate’s version of the budget but not the House version. If included in the final negotiated budget, it will make a huge difference in the financial situation for child care centers, making it possible to raise wages enough to retain workers without completely pricing parents out.

The second is a proposed change to state statute (HB 89) that would expand the number of families receiving state child care subsidies and increase the subsidy level to better reflect costs. HB 89 advanced out of committee unanimously on May 1 and is waiting for a full House Finance Committee hearing. With child care prices already high and inflation affecting family budgets, this bill is key to helping low- and middle-income families keep the care they need (so parents can keep working).

In order to keep strong families and a strong economy, child care options in Alaska need to be strengthened, not weakened. Increasing the Child Care Grant Program and passing HB 89 are both critically important. Community members — now is the time to call your legislators to let them know how critical child care is to our state’s well-being. Legislators — please support and pass HB 89 and the $15 million increase to Child Care Grant program.

Nora Matell is a teacher and single mom of a toddler and infant in Anchorage.

Rev. Emily Carroll is Lead Pastor of First United Methodist Church Anchorage, as well as the mom of a two-year old.

Neisha Jones is a talent strategy consultant and parent of a vibrant 6-year-old daughter in Anchorage.

Brianna Allen, from Homer, is a mother of two, employed in arts administration.

Rachel Lord is a self-employed parent of two kids in Homer.

Tiffany Hall is a nonprofit executive director and single mother of a 3-year-old in Anchorage.

Jessica Simonsen is an Anchorage business owner and mother of four daughters, ages 7, 4, 2, and 7 months.

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