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New plan will help keep state-funded child care centers afloat for summer months, but shortage looms in fall

Hartford Courant - 6/16/2020

With funding that kept child care centers open during the coronavirus pandemic now drying up, state officials announced a temporary two-month assistance plan Monday that will pay providers up to $1,800 per child.

“We don’t know what things will look like in September and we wanted to make sure July and August were covered,” said Beth Bye, commissioner of the state’s Office of Early Childhood. “We will learn a lot about supply and demand and we can use summer enrollments as a guide.”

The state is estimating that Connecticut could be short by as many as 20,000 child care slots this fall.

In a one-hour webinar with state-funded child care providers Monday morning, Bye laid out the state’s plans to subsidize them for July and August between $1,500 and $1,800 per child. With many providers struggling to survive, Bye said it was still too early to announce plans for the fall.

The state is facing a child care crisis as more people return to work and the state short thousands of slots. Less than 15 percent of the child care facilities that were licensed and open before the pandemic are available now. While some are planning to reopen this summer, they will do so with far fewer children per teacher because of new public health guidelines limiting 10 children per class or teacher.

Connecticut helps fund 410 child care centers across the state or roughly 29 percent of the total number of facilities. Most of them serve low income families and are affiliated with non-profits or schools.

The state is encouraging providers to explore different hours, perhaps making full day classes only seven hours instead of 10. In order to get state funding providers must show that they are prioritizing slots for families whose household income is at or below 75% of the state median income.

Several providers on Monday’s webinar asked Bye if she anticipated the guidelines will be eased somewhat and the class size will be increased.

Bye said child care centers are difficult to assess for public health officials -- much of the time is spent indoors in a common space and young children don’t understand social distancing.

“I could see the state go to 12 or maybe 15 per class at some point but I don’t see it going to 20 anytime soon,” Bye said.

Bye said the centers that have remained open during the pandemic have done an outstanding job of protecting the students and the staff.

“We are going to be cautious because we don’t want an outbreak in a child care center and so far we haven’t had many cases,” Bye said. “We haven’t had more than three or four cases total and the most that did was maybe close one class for 14 days.”

In a recent state survey of child care providers, the two biggest issues were uncertainty about whether parents will bring children back and how to make up for lost revenues due to smaller class sizes.

Most facilities will only be able to handle half of the capacity that they did pre-COVID-19. Several child care providers said they also are unsure if they will lose staff. Some said older workers who have been with them for years are already indicating they likely won’t return to work post-pandemic.

It’s also unclear how many parents will choose to continue to work from home or who will decide not to risk child care outside of their own home. Bye said a recent study in Connecticut showed about 65% of the parents surveyed would be uncomfortable or simply wouldn’t send their child to pre-school or after school care now.

“These are very anxious times. Providers are concerned, staffs are concerned and parents are concerned,” Bye said. “One thing we have learned is how important child care is for our economy and our workforce.”

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