Local working families face challenges obtaining quality, affordable childcare in San Diego County as the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the dwindling number of licensed childcare options.
The San Diego Foundation released two reports last month that demonstrated the continued challenges of working parents in their search for affordable childcare. The compiled data was a part of The San Diego Foundation’s Early Childhood Initiative, dedicated to increasing access to affordable and quality early care for children in San Diego to strengthen families and support a competitive regional workforce.
The report found that the annual cost of care for one infant in a licensed childcare center in San Diego costs over $19,000; care for two children (one infant and one preschooler) costs over $33,000 annually. Additionally, families with two young children (one infant and one preschooler) spend a median of 40 percent of their income on childcare.
After surveying 900 childcare providers in the county, researchers found that 93 percent of providers had difficulty hiring qualified staff. The report found that childcare availability was concentrated in areas of the county as some of the wealthiest zip codes had enough childcare spots and others with little to no available licensed care.
Currently, all public elementary schools must offer a transitional kindergarten program for children who turn four years old in the fall, though the programs vary depending on the school site. According to “San Diego County Childcare Landscape: An Analysis of the Supply and Demand,” conducted by the Nonprofit Institute at the University of San Diego on behalf of The San Diego Foundation”, 7,517 children were enrolled in transitional kindergarten in the 2020/21 school year.
California is rolling out a Universal Transitional Kindergarten Program (UTK) beginning in 2022-23. According to researchers, it will be a phased approach that expands on an annual basis until it is available to all of the state’s four-year-old children by the 2025-26 school year. Although this program aims to fill gaps in child care for four-year-old children, there are some concerns about how it will impact both families and childcare providers.
“A reduction in the number of four-year-old children enrolled in licensed childcare will significantly reduce revenue for childcare providers. Without an alternative form of revenue, childcare providers will be forced to increase their rates, further cost-burdening families,” the report reads.
Another report, “Workforce, Childcare & Change: Understanding the Needs of Working Parents in the San Diego Region,” compiled surveys and interviews of over 850 local parents in English and Spanish, nearly half of the respondents had a child aged 0 to 5. Researchers found that 92 percent considered safe, reliable childcare crucial to their ability to work, but 76 percent of respondents said finding affordable childcare was an issue in their area. Finding childcare for the entire day was an issue for 68 percent of respondents.
Single parents often experienced negative work-related impacts during the pandemic, such as shifting their schedule to care, decreased hours, or job loss, according to the report.
Visit workforce.sdfoundation.org to view research, which includes employer recommendations and insight from childcare providers.
