[Senate Hearing 117-182]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                      S. Hrg. 117-182

                      SUPPORTING CHILDREN, WORKERS
                     AND FAMILIES BY STRENGTHENING
                      AMERICA'S CHILD CARE SECTOR

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                                 OF THE

                    COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION,
                          LABOR, AND PENSIONS

                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                                   ON

 EXAMINING SUPPORTING CHILDREN, WORKERS AND FAMILIES BY STRENGTHENING 
                      AMERICA'S CHILD CARE SECTOR

                               __________

                             APRIL 27, 2021

                               __________

 Printed for the use of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
                                Pensions
                                
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]                                


        Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
        
                               __________

                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE                    
46-762 PDF                 WASHINGTON : 2022                     
          
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
       
          COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS

                    PATTY MURRAY, Washington, Chair
BERNIE SANDERS (I), Vermont          RICHARD BURR, North Carolina, 
ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., Pennsylvania       Ranking Member
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin             RAND PAUL, M.D., Kentucky
CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut   SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
TIM KAINE, Virginia                  BILL CASSIDY, M.D., Louisiana
MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire         LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska
TINA SMITH, Minnesota                MIKE BRAUN, Indiana
JACKY ROSEN, Nevada                  ROGER MARSHALL, M.D., Kansas
BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico            TIM SCOTT, South Carolina
JOHN HICKENLOOPER, Colorado          MITT ROMNEY, Utah
                                     TOMMY TUBERVILLE, Alabama
                                     JERRY MORAN, Kansas

                     Evan T. Schatz, Staff Director
               David P. Cleary, Republican Staff Director
                  John Righter, Deputy Staff Director
                           
                           
                           C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              

                               STATEMENTS

                        TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2021

                                                                   Page

                           Committee Members

Murray, Hon. Patty, Chair, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 
  and Pensions, Opening statement................................     1
Burr, Hon. Richard, Ranking Member, a U.S. Senator from the State 
  of North Carolina, Opening statement...........................     3

                               Witnesses

Jones-Taylor, Myra, Dr., Chief Policy Officer, Zero to Three, 
  Washington, DC.................................................     6
    Prepared statement...........................................     8
    Summary statement............................................    13
Perry, Susan Gale, Chief Deputy Secretary, North Carolina 
  Department of Health and Human Services, Raleigh, NC...........    14
    Prepared statement...........................................    16
    Summary statement............................................    27
Dasja, Reed, Parent, New Orleans, LA.............................    27
    Prepared statement...........................................    29
    Summary statement............................................    30
Khan, Khadija Lewis, Executive Director, Beautiful Beginnings 
  Child Care Center, Providence, RI..............................    31
    Prepared statement...........................................    33

                         QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Response by Myra Jones-Taylor to questions of:
    Senator Murray...............................................    54
    Senator Lujan................................................    55
    Senator Rosen................................................    56
Response by Susan Gale Perry to questions of:
    Senator Rosen................................................    57
Response by Kadija Lewis Khan to questions of:
    Senator Lujan................................................    59
    Senator Rosen................................................    60

 
                      SUPPORTING CHILDREN, WORKERS
                     AND FAMILIES BY STRENGTHENING
                      AMERICA'S CHILD CARE SECTOR

                              ----------                              


                        Tuesday, April 27, 2021

                                       U.S. Senate,
       Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:02 a.m., in 
room 216, Hart Senate Office Building, Hon. Patty Murray, Chair 
of the Committee, presiding.
    Present: Senators Murray [presiding], Casey, Baldwin, 
Kaine, Hassan, Smith, Rosen, Lujan, Hickenlooper, Burr, 
Collins, Cassidy, Braun, and Scott.

                  OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR MURRAY

    The Chair. Good morning. The Senate Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions Committee will please come to order. Today 
we are holding a hearing on our Nation's childcare crisis. 
Ranking Member Burr and I will each have an opening statement 
and then we will introduce today's witnesses. After the 
witnesses give their testimony, Senators will each have five 
minutes for a round of questions. And before we begin, as 
always, I want to work through the COVID-19 safety protocols in 
place.
    We will follow the advice of the Attending Physician and 
the Sergeant-at-Arms in conducting this hearing. We are all 
very grateful to our Clerks and everyone who has worked hard to 
get this set up and to help everyone stay healthy and safe. 
Committee Members are seated at least six feet apart and some 
Senators are participating by video conference. And while we 
are unable to have the hearing fully open to the public or 
media for in-person attendance yet, live video is available on 
our Committee website at help.senate.gov. And if you are in 
need of accommodations, including closed captioning, you can 
reach out to the Committee or the Office of Congressional 
Accessibility Services.
    I would also like to thank Senator Burr for working with me 
in a bipartisan way to hold this HELP Committee's first 
childcare hearing in years. This is long overdue. I know this 
issue is important to Senator Burr and every Member of this 
Committee given its impact on so many families and workers. I 
look forward to more conversations about what this Committee 
and the Senate can do to address the childcare needs of 
millions of families. We are here today for people like Patty 
Lou. She is a mother from South Seattle that I spoke with last 
week. Early last year, Patty got her dream job. Then the 
pandemic hit, her childcare provider closed, and her employer 
laid her off because she had to work fewer hours in order to 
care for her kids. Unfortunately, her story is not unique, not 
even close. Dasja Reed is here today as a witness to share her 
own story of childcare challenges.
    Millions of parents have lost hours, wages, and jobs during 
this pandemic because they cannot get quality, affordable, 
accessible childcare. Studies show that childcare was the 
primary reason people left the workforce during this pandemic. 
This problem has been worse for working moms. Nearly half were 
forced to take unpaid leave to care for their children, and one 
in 10 quit their jobs due to this pandemic, a majority of whom 
cited childcare as the reason. And the numbers are even worse 
for women who are paid low income, women who work part time 
jobs, and women of color. And at the same time, this pandemic 
has highlighted how important childcare is to build an economy 
that works for working families.
    It has also devastated the childcare sector by jeopardizing 
childcare for 4.5 million children, closing more than 20,000 
childcare centers and forcing one fifth of childcare workers 
out of work. This loss has been deeply damaging to the families 
who rely on these providers, childcare workers, the vast 
majority of whom are women, and businesses who are losing 
employees who can't find or afford childcare. It is especially 
hard on communities of color as half of childcare businesses 
are minority owned and nearly half of childcare workers are 
women of color. I have been speaking with childcare providers 
throughout this pandemic about the support that they need to 
keep their doors open, and it is clear that COVID-19 has made 
things harder. But make no mistake, childcare was in crisis 
before this pandemic.
    One mom in Washington State spoke about reaching out to 20 
to 30 childcare providers over 5 years, switching providers 
three different times and driving 45 minutes both ways to get 
childcare for her daughter so she could go to work. And for 
many families, even that is not an option. Over half of our 
country lives in a childcare desert or a community with an 
undersupply of licensed childcare options. And for families 
with low incomes, families of color, and rural families, 
childcare is even less available. In Washington State, there 
are over 50,000 children under age five across Benton, 
Columbia, Franklin, Grant, Kittitas, Walla Walla, and Yakima 
counties. But even before the pandemic, childcare was only 
available for less than half of those kids. And even if 
families have a childcare provider within reach, it is often 
far too expensive. In DC and 29 states, childcare costs more 
than in-state college tuition, including in Washington State, 
where the average yearly cost for childcare is nearly $15,000. 
For families with low incomes, childcare costs over a third of 
their income.
    While families are paying too much of their incomes for 
childcare, childcare workers are being paid far too little. 
These workers are doing the incredibly important job of caring 
for and educating children, so parents are able to go to work 
and provide for their families, but only making, on average, 
$11.00 an hour and they rarely have any benefits. We talk about 
crumbling infrastructure when it comes to roads and bridges, 
but we have never really had childcare infrastructure in the 
first place in this country, which has cost our Nation $57 
billion in lost revenue, productivity, and wages each year. It 
costs parents who have to forego careers and job opportunities 
or struggle to put food on the table because they can't afford 
the childcare they need to find a job.
    It especially costs parents of children with disabilities 
and women of color who are much more likely to be unable to 
look for a higher paying job because they can't find or afford 
childcare. And it costs our children who miss out on high 
quality, early education that can help them grow and thrive. 
With costs so high, we cannot afford inaction. This issue is 
personal to me. I know what it is like to have a sick child and 
have to talk with your husband or partner about who will miss 
work to watch the kids. I know what it is like to work at an 
early education program. Early childhood programs are part of 
what I first--what got me into politics in the first place, to 
save a co-op preschool program that helped families like mine. 
It is why I worked in a bipartisan way to secure the biggest 
ever increase in Federal childcare funding in 2018.
    It is why during COVID I fought to secure over $50 billion 
in funding for childcare to make sure our childcare sector can 
survive the pandemic, keep hundreds of thousands of providers 
who serve millions of children from closure, and help almost 1 
million families across the country afford quality childcare. 
And it is why I am continuing to fight to pass my Child Care 
for Working Families Act, which will ensure childcare is 
affordable for working families. It will expand access to 
preschool programs for all three-and four-year-olds and improve 
the supply and quality of care for all children and increase 
compensation and provide training for childcare workers. This 
legislation will jumpstart our economy by creating 770,000 new 
childcare jobs, helping 1.6 million parents, primarily mothers, 
go back to work and lifting 1 million families out of poverty. 
Because the reality is, childcare is a critical part of our 
infrastructure.
    We have 21.5 million workers who have a child under the age 
of six. They need the basics to be able to do their jobs. And 
the basic does mean bridges and roads, but they absolutely also 
mean childcare. Ask any mom, ask any parent, ask Dasja Reed or 
Patty Lou and they will tell you, a road won't do you much good 
if you can't find safe childcare for your kid. If we are going 
to rebuild from this crisis stronger and fairer, if we are 
going to build an economy that truly works for working 
families, we can't do it without childcare for every working 
family. With that, I will recognize Ranking Member Burr for his 
opening remarks.

                   OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR BURR

    Senator Burr. Well, good morning, Chair Murray. I thank you 
for working with me on this hearing. I am glad that we are 
coming together today in a bipartisan effort to discuss the 
crucial role childcare plays in our economy. Bottom line, 
Americans can't wait in the can't work if they don't have safe, 
reliable care for their family. I hope, rather than partisan 
reconciliation processes, that you and I can listen to each 
other's ideas and work together on meaningful solutions in 
legislative form that stabilizes and strengthens childcare and 
respects and honors parent choice in the care of their young 
children.
    I remain committed to seeking workable bipartisan solutions 
on childcare. Beginning with my partnership on this Committee 
with Senator Mikulski, we passed significant health and safety 
reforms to the Child Care and Development Block Grant program 
in 2014, a program that had gone almost two decades without 
reauthorization. And for the last few Congresses, Senator King 
and I have been working on the Pack Act, a bipartisan, 
bicameral proposal to make childcare more affordable for 
families. I look forward to hearing the experiences from our 
witnesses today, and I thank you for being here to offer us 
ideas for building a better childcare program that works for 
parents, children, providers, and employers.
    I want to first highlight and think childcare providers is 
the one education sector that has never abandoned working 
parents and their kids during COVID. Childcare understood, even 
in a pandemic, many jobs can't be done remotely and that 
parents have to have a safe and reliable place to leave their 
children so they can work. To maintain stable employment or 
participate in an education or training program, parents with 
young children absolutely have to have childcare. Breakdowns in 
childcare result in parents leaving work early, being late to 
work, missing a shift or a full day of work, and being 
distracted while at work. This leads not just to workers 
missing out on income and promotions, but incredibly lost 
productivity for employers. While COVID stay at home orders 
forced Americans to work from home, nurses, EMT, firefighters, 
grocery store clerks, and all other essential workers had to be 
on time each day and every day and not distracted. Childcare 
understood this.
    Throughout the entire pandemic, childcare stayed opened to 
care for the children of other essential workers. For almost a 
year before schools and their unions even got around to 
figuring out childcare implementation, they implemented 
numerous enhanced health and safety protocols that by and 
large, even in the absence of vaccines, kept children safe and 
staff safe. And when K through 12 closed its doors to students, 
childcare, in addition to caring for children birth to five, 
opened up for the school-aged children who needed a safe and 
supportive place to do their online learning. A key lesson 
learned from COVID-19 is that K through 12 has a great deal to 
learn from the childcare industry. Staying open during the 
pandemic has come at a huge financial cost to providers. Even 
before the pandemic, providers operated on a razor thin margin. 
Additional staff and supplies to implement health and safety 
protocols on top of recurring fixed cost and in an environment 
of significantly reduced enrollment, ensured that everyday 
childcare remained open. It was operating well into the red.
    In the last year, in three different bills, Congress has 
provided approximately $50 billion in emergency childcare 
funding to stabilize providers financially so that as parents 
return to work, childcare is available to them. As of today, we 
have limited to no insight from HHS as to how states plan to 
use the majority of these dollars and what effect these dollars 
are having on providers being open and parents being able to 
find and afford reliable care that meets their needs. As we 
look to build a stronger childcare sector for the future, I 
think understanding how this incredible influx of new dollars 
is being used is absolutely crucial to policymakers.
    We also need to understand how the flexibilities given to 
states to support both parents and providers during the 
pandemic might best be continued on an ongoing basis. We need 
to continue to allow states to more quickly respond to the 
unique needs that they see on the ground rather than waiting 
for a national emergency or the hopes of a reauthorization 
happening on time. Most critical, however, is that we 
understand what parents--that we understand parents wants and 
needs for childcare going forward. I cannot say enough, 
parents' choice and flexibility are paramount. Nothing is more 
personal than the choice a parent makes of who will take care 
of their infant, toddler, or four-year-old. Because children 
develop on different timelines, parents may prefer one type of 
provider for one child and another type of provider for another 
child. And we need options for parents to meet their schedules.
    One size fits all does not work in child care. Parents, not 
Government, know their children best. Whatever we do in 
childcare policy, we must respect and support parents' choices. 
Additionally, it is essential we understand any unintended 
consequences of good meaning, but poorly through thought, 
through policy ideas that may drive up childcare cost and make 
it more difficult for providers to operate and enter the field 
or make it even harder to attract and retain a qualified 
workforce. There is just one example of potential unintended 
consequences is a poorly designed universal kindergarten 
program.
    Pushing four-year-olds out of developmentally supportive 
community childcare programs and into an already poorly 
performing K through 12 system runs the risk of disrespecting 
the wants of parents, significantly driving up the cost of 
already expensive infant and toddler care, and setting young 
children back in their social, emotional, and academic growth. 
We presently have a rich and diverse mix delivery system for 
childcare and early education in this country. Centers, 
family--child care homes, for profit, nonprofit, religious, 
large, small.
    As we look to improve access, affordability, and quality in 
childcare and stabilizing better support of a labor intensive, 
thin margin industry, we must do so in ways that buildup the 
things we have right, respecting parents' choices in the care 
of their young children through a rich and diverse mix delivery 
system. I hope today is a start and not the end of a bipartisan 
conversation on how to make childcare better for America's 
working families.
    I look forward to working with our witnesses, with Chair 
Murray, and more importantly, all the Committee Members on an 
issue critical for working parents and for their children. I 
thank the Chair. I thank our witnesses. I yield back.
    The Chair. Thank you very much, Senator Burr. And thank you 
to all of our witnesses for being here today. I will join with 
Senator Burr to introduce our witnesses. And I will start with 
Dr. Myra Jones-Taylor. Dr. Jones-Taylor is the Chief Policy 
Officer at the ZERO TO THREE, where she works to promote 
policies supporting healthy child development for infants and 
toddlers, and the former commissioner of early childhood for 
Connecticut, where she led the state agency responsible for 
early care and education, home visiting, early intervention, 
and childcare licensing. Welcome, Dr. Jones-Taylor. Thank you 
for joining us today. And I will turn it over to Senator Burr 
to introduce Susan Gale Perry.
    Senator Burr. Thank you, Madam Chair. I am pleased to 
welcome Susan Gale Perry to our hearing today. Ms. Perry is the 
Chief Deputy Secretary for Opportunity and Well-being at the 
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Susan 
provides leadership, senior leadership to North Carolina DHHS, 
which has 17,000 employees, an annual budget of $20 billion, 
serving as home to Medicaid, public and mental health, state 
operated hospitals, economic, adult, child welfare services, 
and early childhood education.
    Susan has a full plate. Susan has several decades of 
experience leading complex early childhood and human services 
systems at the local, state, and national level. She previously 
served as Executive Director for the Delaware Office of Early 
Learning, Founding Executive for the North Carolina Early 
Childhood Foundation, Senior Director of the North Carolina 
Smart Start, and Deputy Executive Director at Child Care Aware 
of America. Susan, welcome. I look forward to your testimony.
    The Chair. Thank you. Ms. Perry, welcome. We are very glad 
to have you with us today. Next, I would like to introduce 
Dasja Reed. Ms. Reed is a single mother with a two-year-old son 
from New Orleans, Louisiana, who understands personally why 
today's topic is so important. Ms. Reed was forced to leave her 
job during the pandemic due to the closure of her son's 
childcare program last March.
    Welcome, Ms. Reed, and thank you for joining us today to 
speak about your experience. Next, I would like to introduce 
Ms. Khadija Louis Khan. Ms. Khan has served as Executive 
Director of Beautiful Beginnings Child Care Center in 
Providence, Rhode Island, for over two decades. Welcome to you 
as well, Ms. Khan. Thank you for joining us. We will now begin 
our testimony. And Dr. Jones-Taylor, we will begin with you. 
You may begin your opening statement.

 STATEMENT OF MYRA JONES-TAYLOR, CHIEF POLICY OFFICER, ZERO TO 
                     THREE, WASHINGTON, DC

    Dr. Jones-Taylor. Thank you. Good morning, Chair Murray, 
Ranking Member Burr, and other distinguished Members of the 
Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. My 
name is Myra Jones-Taylor, and I am the Chief Policy Officer at 
ZERO TO THREE, the leading national nonprofit that has worked 
for more than four decades to ensure that babies, toddlers, and 
their families have the resources and support they need to 
thrive. I am incredibly grateful to be here testifying before 
the Committee today about the long-standing childcare 
challenges this country has faced and the impact of those 
challenges on families, early childhood professionals, and the 
healthy development of young children.
    It is especially good to be back here. Senator Burr, I 
remember testifying many years ago after the reauthorization of 
CCDBG with you and Senator Mikulski. So, thank you for having 
me back. After the past year, we have all been acutely aware of 
COVID-19's impact on childcare, but childcare before the 
pandemic was already in crisis, summarized by one word 
unaffordable. Unaffordable for families where cost was often a 
barrier to finding care, and neighborhoods determine the 
quality and range of care available. Over half of Americans 
live in childcare deserts with too few licensed places for the 
young children who live there.
    Before the pandemic, we heard stories like that of two 
parents whose income was just over the limit to receive the 
subsidy through CCDBG, and the cheapest quality care they were 
able to find cost one and a half times their monthly rent. And 
so instead they had to put their infant in care with unsafe 
childcare ratios, stacked child ratios in order to be able to 
support their families and work. Unaffordable for early 
childhood educators, where wages average less than $12 an hour 
and many must turn to public assistance, and inequities abound. 
Within a workforce disproportionately made up of women of 
color, those women are paid less than the average, making $0.78 
cents less than their white counterparts per hour.
    Dedicated early childhood educators often are forced to 
leave the profession they love. One such educator told us she 
left because even with a master's degree and 10 years of 
experience, she made less than $30,000 a year, and her monthly 
take home pay equaled the cost of her own two children's care. 
Unaffordable for our children, whose brain development is 
shaped by the relationships they form from families--the 
relationships they form. And too many young children, 
especially from families from low incomes and children of 
color, lack consistent access to quality care that facilitates 
early learning.
    Finally, it is unaffordable for our economy, which loses 
$57 billion dollars a year in lost wages, work productivity, 
economic activity, and tax revenue because of insufficient 
childcare. Women disproportionally bear the brunt of our 
Nation's childcare crisis and drops in their workforce 
participation could have long term effects on our economy. The 
situation arises because it is simply impossible for the free 
market to ensure all families that need it have access to 
quality childcare, that compensates providers as the 
professional or educators they are.
    Our investments are nowhere near what they need to be to 
support a stable, robust system. Parents can't afford to pay 
more, and childcare providers can't afford to be paid in less. 
Yet in almost every state, childcare subsidies are too low for 
families to choose high quality care or for providers to pay 
their staff competitively and invest in quality. The CCDBG 
assists only one in seven eligible children, and we know the 
eligibility levels are far lower than the actual need, 
especially when you consider that only 4.2 percent of babies 
and families with low and moderate income who could also really 
use the support, actually receive subsidies. As a Nation, we 
have a long way to go. COVID-19 simply exposed the system's 
fragility.
    Both providers and families have been on a never-ending 
rollercoaster this past year, with providers struggling to stay 
afloat and parents grappling with childcare closures and their 
own shifting needs. This upheaval has affected the current 
supply and challenges the ability to build for the future. 
Funds provided for COVID relief, particularly the $50 billion 
since December 2020, which we are so grateful, will stabilize 
the industry for providers and families and even lay some 
critical foundations. But whether we build a strong childcare 
system all of us need depends on the direction of our national 
policy, what we do today.
    We need comprehensive action from Congressional leaders to 
shape a stronger, more resilient future for childcare funding 
as a public good. And this system should ensure that all 
children can receive high quality care that supports their 
healthy development, families have options for high quality 
settings that best meet their needs and the needs of their 
children, all families who need help paying for childcare have 
the financial support they need, and early childhood 
professionals receive the support, resources, and care 
compensation they need to provide high quality care.
    Beyond the macroeconomic impacts of COVID-19 on the 
childcare system and the economy, I think it is also critical 
to raise the trauma of the pandemic has left in its wake. 
Recent research has shown not only heightened mental health 
concerns for children and families, but also a doubling in 
places, tripling of rates of depression among childcare 
providers and elevated levels of stress, especially among 
providers of color. Fortunately, there is now solid data 
showing that early childhood mental health consultation is not 
only effective in supporting children, parents, and providers, 
but it is also very cost efficient. The evidence is clear.
    It is past time to invest in childcare as the public good 
we know it is and build a stronger, more equitable system for 
current and future generations. We all benefit when we give our 
children the best possible start in life. I thank you for the 
opportunity to testify today and I look forward to your 
questions. Thank you.
    [The prepared statement of Dr. Jones-Taylor follows:]
                prepared statement of myra jones-taylor
    Good morning Chair Murray, Ranking Member Burr, and other 
distinguished Members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions.

    My name is Myra Jones-Taylor and I am the Chief Policy Officer at 
ZERO TO THREE, the leading national nonprofit working to ensure that 
babies, toddlers and their families have the resources and support they 
need to thrive. For more than four decades, ZERO TO THREE has worked to 
translate the science of early childhood development into resources, 
tools, and responsive policies for millions of parents, professionals 
and policymakers.

    I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to testify before the 
Committee today about the longstanding child care challenges this 
country has faced and the impact of those challenges on families, early 
childhood professionals, and the healthy development of the children 
together they both nurture and care for. In addition to highlighting 
the structural challenges that have existed in the child care system, 
both pre-COVID and during the ongoing pandemic crisis--I look forward 
to sharing our vision for the stronger, more equitable, and more 
resilient child care system that this Committee can play a key role in 
shaping for current and future generations.
                The Status Quo of Child Care in the U.S.
    Much attention over the past year has been focused, justifiably, on 
the devastating impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the child care 
sector. While this is a critically important story, that I will touch 
on in more detail later in my testimony, the narrative around the 
pandemic obscures the fact that for far too many families, children and 
early educators, child care was already in a crisis state long before 
March of last year. As we work together to apply the lessons learned in 
the pandemic and build a stronger, more resilient child care system for 
the future, we have to clearly understand these long-standing 
challenges.

    If I had to summarize our child care status quo prior to the 
pandemic in one word it would be ``unaffordable.''

    Our child care status quo was unaffordable for families. Even for 
those who were fortunate enough to find care in their communities that 
met their needs and those of their children, the cost of care is too 
often an insurmountable barrier to access. One family who shared their 
story with us talked about beginning their child care search during the 
early stages of pregnancy--and contacting more than 30 providers who 
did not take infants or had waiting lists up to 2 years. Another 
family, making just over the limit to receive a subsidy through CCDBG 
shared that the cheapest care they were able to find cost 1.5 times 
their monthly rent, and that they had to put their infant in care with 
unsafe staff-child ratios in order to be able to work to support their 
family financially. According to research by the Center for American 
Progress, over half of Americans live in communities considered child 
care deserts--where there are more than three times as many children 
under 5 as there are licensed child care slots. \1\ Center-based care 
for infants and toddlers costs more than in-state tuition and fees at a 
public four-year college in 30 states and the District of Columbia 
\2\--and those costs hit families earlier in the careers, who 
frequently earn less money and fewer savings built up.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\  Malik, R., Hamm, K., Schocet, L., Novoa, C., Workman, S., and 
Jessen-Howard, S. (2018). America's Child Care Deserts in 2018. Center 
for American Progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/early-
childhood/reports/2018/12/06/461643/americas-child-care-deserts-2018/.
    \2\  Child Care Aware of America. (2020). The US and the High Cost 
of Child Care. https://www.childcareaware.org/our-issues/research/the-
us-and-the-high-price-of-child-care-2019/.

    Our child care status quo was unaffordable for the early education 
professionals who make up the child care workforce--a workforce that is 
disproportionately made up of women of color. One early educator who 
shared her story with us told us that even with a master's degree and 
10 years of experience, she made less than $30,000 a year--eventually 
having to leave a job she loved when the cost of her own two children's 
care equaled her monthly take-home pay. She reflected that when she was 
in high school, she was told she could be anything she wanted to be, 
and that it was a shame in the richest country in the world, she 
couldn't be the two things she wanted to be the most at the same time--
a preschool teacher and a mother. On average, child care providers make 
less than $12 per hour, and providers of color and those serving 
infants and toddlers make even less. As a country, we compensate our 
early educators so poorly that over half are enrolled in at least one 
of the EITC, Medicaid or CHIP, SNAP, or TANF. \3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\  Center for the Study of Child Care Employment. (2018). Early 
Childhood Workforce Index 2018. https://cscce.berkeley.edu/wp-content/
uploads/2018/06/2018-Index-Executive-Summary.pdf.

    Our child care status quo was unaffordable for our children, whose 
development is being rapidly shaped in the earliest years of their 
lives. As infants and toddlers interact with their environments and 
caregivers during the earliest years, their brains are making more than 
one million neural connections every second--building a foundation for 
all future development and learning. \4\ The health of this foundation 
is shaped by the relationships children have with their caregivers, and 
given that 62 percent of mothers with children under three were in the 
workforce prior to the pandemic, \5\ the quality of child care 
environments plays a critical role in supporting this foundational 
brain development. High-quality care supports children's early 
learning, cognitive and language development, social and emotional 
development, and later school achievement--but unfortunately our child 
care status quo leaves too many young children, especially for children 
from families with low-income and children of color, without consistent 
access to quality care. \6\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\  Harvard University Center on the Developing Child. In Brief: 
The Science of Early Childhood Development. https://
developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/inbrief-science-of-ecd/.
    \5\  U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2019). Employment status of 
mothers with own children under 3 years old by single year of age of 
youngest child and marital status, 2017-2018 annual averages. https://
www.bls.gov/news.release/famee.t06.htm.
    \6\  National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. (2000). 
From neurons to neighborhoods: The science of early childhood 
development. J.P. Schonkoff and D.A. Phillips, Eds, Board on Children, 
Youth and Families; Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and 
Education. National Academy Press.

    Finally, our child care status quo was unaffordable for our broader 
economy. When you add up wages, work productivity, economic activity 
and tax revenue lost due to insufficient access to child care it comes 
out to approximately $57 billion each year. \7\ As conversations in 
Washington turn toward long-term investments and job creation, our 
leaders must consider the foundational importance of child care in 
ensuring those investments reach their maximum potential.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \7\  Ready Nation, Council for a Strong America. (2019). Want to 
Grow the Economy? Fix the Child Care Crisis. https://
www.strongnation.org/articles/780-want-to-grow-the-economy-fix-the-
child-care-crisis.

    As we talk about these significant challenges that faced the child 
care sector even before the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to focus 
on why our current system was so unaffordable for parents, early 
educators, children, and our broader economy. The answer to that 
question is not particularly complicated, but it does demand a stronger 
policy response than we have historically been willing to offer as a 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nation.

    Simply put, it is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible for the 
free market to ensure that all families who need it have access to 
quality child care that compensates providers like the professional 
early educators they are. As a simple, illustrative example, I ask you 
to consider the staffing needed to operate a typical infant classroom.

    The Federal Government recommends, and the majority of states' 
basic licensing standards reflect, that for children under 12 months, 
one trained adult should care for no more than 4 infants, and that 2 
trained adults should always be present in a classroom of 6-8 infants. 
\8\ These staff-child ratio and recommendations not only serve to keep 
young children safe and healthy in care settings, but also facilitate 
increased opportunities for age-appropriate activities and responsive 
caregiving critical to supporting children's healthy development.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \8\  Child Care.Gov. (2020). Ratios and Group Sizes.

    At these low staff-child ratios, which again are critical for 
keeping children safe and supporting their healthy development, the 
existing child care system largely relies on private-paying parents to 
fully cover the cost of staffing, physical operating space, food and 
supplies, and insurance. Some states allow for higher staff-child 
ratios and increase ratios and group sizes after age one. \9\ And while 
providers can and do manage to survive on thin margins by subsidizing 
some of the added costs of serving infants by operating more classrooms 
for older children, who can be served with higher staff-child ratios, 
the underlying mathematical impossibility of keeping care affordable 
for families with infants and toddlers while ensuring fair compensation 
for providers remains the same.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \9\  Hains, D. and Neuenswander, A. (2021). The State of Child Care 
for Babies: The Need to do Better for our Youngest Children. https://
www.zerotothree.org/resources/3924-the-state-of-child-care-for-babies-
the-need-to-do-better-for-our-youngest-children?utm-medium=email&utm-
source=email-link&utm-content=resources-03162021&utm-campaign=policy-
center.

    The Federal Government does provide some support for the child care 
system, largely in the form of child care subsidies for families 
through the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG). And these 
supports can make a world of a difference for families who are 
fortunate enough to receive them. Unfortunately, even with a much 
needed, bipartisan increase in funding for the program in 2018--CCDBG 
falls far short of meeting the needs of even the limited population of 
children who are eligible. Just 1 in 7 federally-eligible children--
those with incomes below the 85th percentile of their state's median 
income--received a subsidy through CCDBG in 2017, the latest year for 
which data were available. \10\ Of the broader universe of low-and 
moderate-income families with infants and toddlers who could benefit 
from access to a subsidy if they were eligible, just 4.2 percent have 
access to them, according to the latest data from ZERO TO THREE's State 
of Babies Yearbook. \11\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \10\  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the 
Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. (2020). Estimates of 
child care eligibility and receipt for fiscal year 2017. https://
aspe.hhs.gov/system/files/pdf/264341/CY2017-Child-Care-Subsidy-
Eligibility.pdf.
    \11\  ZERO TO THREE. (2021). State of Babies Yearbook 2021. https:/
/stateofbabies.org/.

    It is also important to note that the value of child care subsidies 
is insufficient in almost every state to offer eligible families the 
opportunity to choose high quality care for their children, or to offer 
providers enough funding to pay their staff competitively and invest in 
quality. Just 4 states set their reimbursement rates for child care 
assistance at or above the 75th percentile of current market rates in 
2019. \12\ And those market rates do not even take in to account the 
actual costs of providing high quality care, including providing fair 
compensation to early educators.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \12\  Schulman, K. (2019). Early Progress: State Child Care 
Assistance Policies 2019. National Women's Law Center. https://nwlc-
ciw49tixgw5lbab.stackpathdns.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/NWLC-State-
Child-Care-Assistance-Policies-2019-final.pdf.

    Ultimately, before the pandemic, our child care system could be 
characterized as failing families, providers, children, and our broader 
economic infrastructure. The market has clearly failed in this case to 
create an adequate supply of affordable care for families or fair 
compensation for providers, and absent sufficient public support, this 
failure has forced parents and providers to subsidize the system with 
high costs and unlivable wages. While there was welcome, widespread 
acknowledgement from members of both parties about the need to fix 
these challenges, even prior to the pandemic, it unfortunately took the 
COVID-19 crisis to throw into sharp relief just how fragile and 
vulnerable this status quo had left our child care sector.
                    Impact of COVID-19 on Child Care
    The fragility of our child care system was brought into sharp focus 
at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, as many providers 
closed under public health orders at the onset of the pandemic, only to 
re-open in conditions that made the already razor-thin margins they 
operated under before untenable.

    Higher costs due to the need to provide PPE for staff and lower 
ratios and group sizes to mitigate the spread, combined with reduced 
income from enrollments to drive many providers to closure. For those 
that remained open, or re-opened, they often did so at great personal 
sacrifice. The State of Babies Yearbook: 2021 shows a roller coaster of 
trends in parental use of care and preferences during the pandemic, 
adding to difficulties for providers to stabilize. \13\ A December 
survey from the National Association for the Education of Young 
Children reported that more than half of centers surveyed were losing 
money every day they remained open--and many providers accrued personal 
debt or drew down on their own personal savings to remain open to serve 
working families in their communities. \14\ By January of this year--
more than 1 in 6 child care jobs had been lost, according to the Bureau 
of Labor Statistics, threatening efforts to support a strong economic 
recovery. \15\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \13\  Id at xi.
    \14\  National Association for the Education of Young Children. 
(2020). Am I Next? Sacrificing to Stay Open, Child Care Providers Face 
a Bleak Future Without Relief. https://www.naeyc.org/sites/default/
files/globally-shared/downloads/PDFs/our-work/public-policy-advocacy/
naeyc-policy-crisis-coronavirus-december-survey-data.pdf.
    \15\  Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2021). The Employment 
Situation--January 2021. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/
empsit-02052021.pdf.

    The losses to the child care sector during the pandemic were felt 
across the broader economy--for no group more than women. A survey from 
the Chamber of Commerce released last December revealed that 6 percent 
of working parents had left the workforce entirely as of last October, 
with child care challenges being cited as the primary reason for doing 
so. Of those surveyed, women were nearly twice as likely as men to have 
declined a new job opportunity during the pandemic and more than four 
times as likely to have left the workforce altogether. \16\ While 
women's workforce participation numbers overall have recovered slightly 
since their nadir in December, the critical fact remains that access to 
child care access is essential to ensuring parents can participate 
equally in the workforce.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \16\  U.S. Chamber of Commerce. (2020). The Importance of Childcare 
to U.S. Families and Businesses. https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/
press-release/importance-childcare-us-families-and-businesses.

    Beyond the macro-level impacts of COVID-19 on the child care system 
and the economy, I think it is also critical to raise here, the 
traumatic individual impact the pandemic has had on individuals. The 
COVID-19 pandemic has heightened stress and mental health needs for 
young children, families, communities, and the child care providers who 
serve them, especially among people of color. \17\ Recent research has 
shown not only heightened mental health concerns for children and 
families, but also a doubling or tripling of rates of depression among 
child care providers and elevated stress levels, especially among child 
care providers of color. \18\ The stressors are from COVID-19 itself 
(e.g., illness, hospitalization, loss), economic impact (e.g., loss of 
jobs, loss of child care, uncertain viability of the child care 
industry), increased racism-motivated aggression (e.g., racist violence 
and rhetoric), and more. Previous research has shown that as either 
child/family stress or child care provider stress increases, so 
increases preschool and child care expulsions and other forms of 
exclusions, which have historically impacted all subgroups of young 
children yet also been very racially disproportionate. \19\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \17\  Gilliam, W.S., Malik, A.A., Shafiq, M., Klotz, M., Reyes, C., 
Humphries, J.E., Murray, T., Elharake, J.A., Wilkinson, D., & Omer, 
S.B. (2021). COVID-19 transmission in US child care programs. 
Pediatrics, 147(1). doi: 10.1542/peds.2020-031971; e2020031971.
    \18\  Shafiq, M., et al. (2021). Mental health of child care 
providers during COVID-19. Manuscript in preparation, Yale University.
    \19\  Gilliam, W. and Shahar, G. (2006). Preschool and Child Care 
Expulsion and Suspension: Rates and Predictors in One State. https://
medicine.yale.edu/childstudy/zigler/publications/
Gilliam%20and%20Shahar%20-
percent202006%20Preschool%20and%20Child%20Care%20Expulsion%20and%20Suspe
nsion-percent20Rates%20and%20Predictors%20in%20One%20State-251491-5379-
v3.pdf.

    Fortunately, there is now solid data showing that early childhood 
mental health consultation (ECMHC) is not only highly effective, but is 
also very cost efficient to sustain. Statewide random-controlled trials 
in both Connecticut (2016) \20\ and Ohio (2021) \21\ have shown that 
ECMHC interventions can improve the mental health of young children in 
as little of 2-3 months of intervention, including not only the target 
children who promoted the request for mental health supports but also 
the bystander children in the classroom. Additional information 
suggests that ECMHC improves parent provider communication \22\ and 
provider stress levels and burnout, \23\ areas of heightened concern, 
while also increasing overall equity of interactions in child care 
programs receiving this support. \24\ Of course, long-term, sustained 
investments are needed to scale up access to early childhood mental 
health consultation to the broader range of programs that could benefit 
from it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \20\  Gilliam, W., Maupin, A., and Reyes, C. (2016). Early 
Childhood Mental Health Consultation: Results of a statewide Random-
Controlled Evaluation. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27566116/.
    \21\  Reyes, C. and Gilliam, W. (2021) Addressing challenging 
behaviors in challenging environments: Findings from Ohio's early 
childhood mental health consultation system. https://
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33762032/.
    \22\  Reyes, C.R., Gilliam, W.S., Grossman-Kahn, S., & Drucker, G. 
(2018). Parent perspectives on exclusionary discipline practices in 
preschool. Report submitted to the New York City Department of Health & 
Mental Hygiene. New Haven, CT: Yale Child Study Center, School of 
Medicine.
    \23\  Hepburn, K.S., Perry, D.F., Shivers, E.M., & Gilliam, W.S. 
(2013). Early childhood mental health consultation as an evidence-based 
practice: Where does it stand? Zero to Three, 33(5), 10-19.
    \24\  Spielberger, J., Burkhardt, T., Winje, C., Pacheco-Applegate, 
A., Gitlow, E., Carreon, E., Huang, L., Herriott, A., & Kakuyama-
Villaber, R. (2021). Evaluation of the Illinois Model of Infant and 
Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Pilot. Chicago, IL: Chapin 
Hall at the University of Chicago.

    In the midst of highlighting the severe challenges the pandemic has 
posed for children, families, and providers, I do want to take a moment 
here to thank the Members of this Committee, and our broader 
Congressional leadership, for recognizing the critical role child care 
and responding boldly to address the worst of the COVID-inflected child 
care crisis, including by providing $3.5 billion to the sector in the 
CARES Act, $10 billion in the Coronavirus Relief and Relief 
Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA), and $39 billion in the 
American Rescue Plan. These funds have and will continue to provide 
much needed relief to providers who have either stayed open during the 
pandemic or been forced to close due to the crisis, as well as much 
needed relief to families who need help paying for and accessing care. 
These funds were much needed to stabilize the sector, children, and 
families from the worst impacts of the pandemic, including by 
supporting increased access to mental health supports for children 
feeling emotional distress from the pandemic. However, they were not 
designed to be, nor are they sufficient to make the long-term, lasting 
changes to the pre-pandemic status quo that failed too many parents, 
children, and providers.
                      What's Next for Child Care?
    If the child care system could be categorized as resting on a 
faulty, unstable foundation prior to the pandemic, then COVID-19 was an 
earthquake that revealed its fragility and shattered that foundation. 
As we now work to rebuild and strengthen the child care sector as we 
hopefully come out of the pandemic and return to normal, it would be 
irresponsible and short-sighted for us to return to the pre-pandemic 
status quo for child care, which left too many parents, providers, and 
children behind. Instead, we must look to rebuild a stronger foundation 
for the child care system, acknowledging its role as an essential 
public good to maintain our economy, and built on principles of equity 
for parents and providers and designed around an understanding of the 
critical role child care plays in shaping children's development.

    For far too long, we have allowed our fragile child care system to 
be subsidized on the backs of unaffordable high costs for parents, and 
unlivable, low wages for providers. For no other age group than our 
youngest children, during their years of most rapid brain development, 
do we expect most parents to take the lead in shouldering the full cost 
of education and care. Neither parents nor providers have the capacity 
to bear any additional burden for shouldering the weight of the 
system--it is past time for our policymakers to invest in child care as 
the public good it is.

    In this moment, we need comprehensive action from our congressional 
leaders to shape a stronger, more resilient future for child care. Such 
a system should ensure that all children can receive high-quality care 
that supports their healthy development. It should ensure families have 
access to their choice of high-quality care settings that best meets 
their needs and the needs of their children--including by proactively 
building a supply of quality care in communities where one doesn't 
exist. It should ensure that all families who need help paying for 
child care have the financial support they need to afford quality 
care--HHS sets 7 percent of family income as the Federal benchmark for 
affordable child care. \25\ And it should ensure that early childhood 
professionals in all settings receive the support, resources, and fair 
compensation they need to both provide high quality care, including 
supporting providers' and children's mental health while avoiding 
exclusionary discipline practices that disproportionately affect Black 
children.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \25\  Federal Register, Vol. 81, No. 190. (2016). https://
www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-09-30/pdf/2016-22986.pdf.

    I wish I could tell you that this type of system could be done on 
the cheap through finding new efficiencies or tinkering around the 
edges. But I would be lying if I said that. Additional tax credits 
might help lower the cost of care for some families, but do nothing to 
create a greater supply of high-quality care. And in a system where 
cost is largely driven by low staff-child ratios that are needed to 
protect children's health and safety and support their development, 
there is no way to achieve cost savings through deregulation without 
especially harming infants and toddlers. While such an investment might 
be expensive, as I have already mentioned, the cost of doing nothing 
and returning to the status quo is unaffordable for our families, our 
educators and our economy. And importantly, the expense of supporting 
families' access to high quality early childhood opportunities can be 
more than recouped through the long term gains children and families 
make as a result of those investments. Economists have found the annual 
return on investment for high quality early childhood programs is a 
high as 13 percent over the course of a child's life; \26\ and a recent 
report from the National Women's Law Center and Columbia University 
found that expanding access to affordable, high quality child care for 
all who need it would increase the lifetime earnings for women with two 
children by approximately $94,000, with Black and Latina women 
benefiting the most. \27\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \26\  Garcia, J.L., Heckman, J. Leaf, D.E., and Prados, M.J. 
(2019). Quantifying the Life-cycle benefits of an influential early 
childhood program. https://heckmanequation.org/www.assets/2017/01/
w23479.pdf.
    \27\  Hartley, R., Chaudry, A., Boteach, M., Mitchell, E., and 
Menefee, K. (2021). National Women's Law Center and Columbia University 
Center on Poverty and Social Policy. A Lifetime's Worth of Benefits: 
The Effects of Affordable, High-quality Child Care on Family Income, 
the Gender Earnings Gap, and Women's Retirement Security. https://
nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/A-Lifetimes-Worth-of-Benefits-
Compliant.pdf.

    The evidence is clear, it is past time we invest in child care as 
the public good we know it is, and build a stronger, more equitable 
system for current and future generations. We all benefit when we give 
our children the best possible start in life. I thank you for the 
opportunity to testify today and I look forward to taking your 
questions.
                                 ______
                                 
                [summary statement of myra jones-taylor]
          Child care before the pandemic was already in crisis, 
        summarized by one word: unaffordable--

                Y  For families, where cost was often a barrier to 
                finding care and neighborhoods determined the level of 
                care available. Over half of Americans live in ``child 
                care deserts'' with too few regulated places for the 
                number of young children living there.

                Y  For early childhood educators, whose low wages mean 
                many must turn to public assistance. Inequities abound, 
                within a workforce disproportionately made up of women 
                of color, those women are paid less than the average, 
                as are infant-toddler teachers also are paid less, even 
                with credentials similar to preschool teachers.

                Y  For our children, whose brain development is shaped 
                by their environment, regardless of what we as adults 
                label it. Too many young children, especially from 
                families with low-income and children of color, lack 
                consistent access to quality care.

                Y  For our economy, where wages, work productivity, 
                economic activity and tax revenue lost due to 
                insufficient access to child care adds up to about $57 
                billion each year.

          Almost impossible for free market to ensure all 
        families who need it have access to quality child care that 
        compensates providers as the professional early educators they 
        are.

                Y  CCDBG falls far short of meeting the needs of even 
                the limited population of children who are eligible, 
                serving just 1 in 7.

                Y  The value of child care subsidies is insufficient in 
                almost every state for families to choose high quality 
                care, or for providers to pay their staff competitively 
                and invest in quality.

          COVID-19 exposed the system's fragility.

                Y  Many providers closed at the pandemic's onset, re-
                opening in conditions making already razor-thin margins 
                untenable.

                Y  A NAEYC survey found more than half of centers 
                surveyed lost money every day, often accruing personal 
                debt or drawing down personal savings to remain open.

                Y  Funds provided for COVID relief, particularly $50 
                billion since December 2020, will stabilize the 
                industry for providers and families, while helping 
                build foundations for critical services such as early 
                childhood mental health support.

          What's next for child care? We need comprehensive 
        action from congressional leaders to shape a stronger, more 
        resilient future for child care funded as a public good. This 
        system ensures:

                Y  All children can receive high-quality care that 
                supports their healthy development.

                Y  Families have options for high-quality care settings 
                that best meet their needs and the needs of their 
                children--including by proactively building a supply of 
                quality care in communities where one doesn't exist.

                Y  All families who need help paying for child care 
                have the financial support they need to afford quality 
                care--HHS sets 7 percent of family income as the 
                benchmark.

                Y  Early childhood professionals in all settings 
                receive the support, resources, and fair compensation 
                they need to provide high quality care.
                                 ______
                                 
    The Chair. Thank you very much, Dr. Jones-Taylor.
    We will turn to Ms. Perry.

 STATEMENT OF SUSAN GALE PERRY, CHIEF DEPUTY SECRETARY, NORTH 
 CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, RALEIGH, NC

    Ms. Perry. Good morning and thank you, Chair Murray, 
Ranking Member Burr, and Members of the Committee for the 
opportunity to testify today. This pandemic has shined a 
spotlight on childcare's essential and at the same time blown 
apart the already weak foundation that has kept it standing. 
Yes, high quality, affordable childcare is the bedrock of our 
economy. It allows parents to go to work, employers to hire and 
retain workers, and children to receive nurturing care and 
education. That is essential not just for their success, but 
our Nation's success and well-being as well.
    North Carolina's childcare programs are able to stay open 
throughout the pandemic because we took early and aggressive 
action to protect our school system. We provided guidance, 
access to childcare, health consultance, and delivered personal 
protective equipment. We established a hotline for essential 
workers in need of care, covered parents' subsidy co-pays, and 
set up an emergency childcare program for essential workers. We 
stabilized childcare businesses with operational grants and 
childcare subsidy and pre-K maintenance payments. And finally, 
we incentivized the workforce to remain on the job by offering 
bonus payments for staff, a mental health hotline, and a 
vaccine outreach and appointment scheduling service.
    More strategies are now underway thanks to significant 
Federal investment. We are grateful for the continued 
leadership and support of the President and Congress as a 
result of these efforts. I am proud to report that as of April, 
over 97 percent of childcare programs are open in our state and 
we have not lost capacity yet. Still, there is no doubt the 
pandemic has taken a significant toll on our childcare 
businesses. Vacancy rates have been as high as 80 percent in 
childcare. Providers report that they would not be able to 
operate for more than two months without the state's financial 
assistance. In the meantime, their staff are leaving for better 
paying retail jobs. These challenges, while exacerbated by 
COVID-19, are not new. For decades, parents, childcare 
providers, and policymakers have recognized the fiscal 
underpinning for our Nation's childcare system is flawed, 
resulting in high costs for families, programs that operate on 
the thinnest of margins, and poverty wages for childcare 
workers, more than 50 percent of whom are women of color in our 
state.
    What can we do about it? I offer three things. First, we 
must give families the flexible, affordable, quality options 
they want and need. The reality is that work has been changing 
for some time and the childcare system has not shifted. To meet 
the changing needs, we can give families better options by 
rebuilding the supply of family childcare, helping programs 
adapt to the changing needs of working parents, promoting a 
mixed delivery system for pre-K, and supporting families that 
want to stay at home with their children. Second, we must fix 
childcare financing and prioritize the early childhood 
workforce while we do it. The childcare business model is 
broken. It operates on a payment system that unrealistically 
requires every state seat to be filled at all times and still 
doesn't work because the cost to produce the service exceeds 
most parents' ability to pay.
    We can take steps to fix financing and build a strong 
workforce at the same time by expanding childcare subsidies and 
requiring states to pay at current market rates and 
establishing a dedicated funding stream for supply side 
investments tied to workforce education and compensation. 
Funding the demand side alone won't stabilize and sustain 
childcare. We need a dedicated funding stream that programs can 
count on and in return are held accountable for quality 
standards and better educated and compensated staff. Finally, 
we need to invest in the people and technology that support our 
childcare programs and workforce.
    Building any kind of infrastructure takes many different 
roles. Building a bridge doesn't just take the steel and 
masonry contractors, it takes engineers, inspectors, and 
others. Services like childcare resource and referral programs 
who can connect families to care options, and health programs 
with business management support, and state data systems and 
technology solutions that hold our system accountable for 
outcomes are critical components of a healthy childcare system.
    The stakes are just too high not to seize this moment to 
build stronger. Achievement gaps show up early as 18 months and 
persist throughout school. And the science is irrefutable that 
early experiences lay the foundation for all future learning. 
It is time for our childcare policies and financing to catch up 
to the brain science and mounting evidence of what we know 
works for children, families, employers, and our Nation's 
economy and well-being. Thank you.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Perry follows:]
                 prepared statement of susan gale perry
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
                                 ______
                                 
                [summary statement of susan gale perry]
    The pandemic has shined a spotlight on child care's essential role 
in our Nation's security and economic infrastructure. Child care 
programs across the country kept their doors open and their teachers 
stayed on the job even through the most treacherous moments of the 
pandemic--when little was known about COVID or how to slow the spread, 
personal protective equipment was scarce, and programs had no idea how 
they would be able to keep the lights on and make payroll. Less 
visible, but equally critical: children of essential workers benefited 
from maintaining a daily routine and having access to safe and 
nurturing environments with access to healthy foods and daily learning 
activities.

    North Carolina's child care system was able to continue to operate 
throughout the pandemic because we took early and aggressive action to 
protect and stabilize child care programs and incentivize the workforce 
to stay on the job. Major strategies to stabilize child care for 
essential workers and child care businesses include: (1) Ensuring 
health and safety of children and staff by providing easy-to-use 
guidance, access to child care health consultants statewide and 
delivering personal protective equipment; (2) Providing access to 
affordable child care for families by establishing a hotline for 
essential workers in need of child care, covering parent co-pays for 
families receiving child care subsidies, establishing an emergency 
child care program for essential workers earning less than 300 percent 
of Federal poverty and providing scholarships for school-age children 
to attend out-of-school programs during school closures; (3) Supporting 
child care programs so they could remain open with low attendance and 
revenues by providing operational grants and paying child care subsidy 
and NC Pre-K based on pre-pandemic enrollment; (4) Incentivizing the 
workforce to remain on the job by offering bonus payments for staff, a 
mental health hotline, and a vaccine outreach and appointment 
scheduling service.

    Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the pandemic has taken a 
significant toll on child care programs and the workforce--further 
weakening an already fragile system built on a market-based business 
model that doesn't work because the cost to produce the service is more 
than most parents can afford. We can use lessons learned during the 
pandemic to build a strong foundation for the future of child care and 
our Nation's economic prosperity and well-being. We must: (1) Give 
families real choices by rebuilding the supply of family child care, 
supporting all child care programs with business training and shared 
services, promoting a mixed-delivery model for Pre-K, strengthening and 
protecting quality and supporting families that stay home with their 
children; (2) Prioritize the early childhood workforce by creating a 
dedicated funding stream for improving workforce compensation and 
benefits, funding the full cost of attendance in degree programs in 
early childhood and incentivizing institutes of higher education to 
establish career pathway programs for the early childhood workforce; 
(3) Fix child care financing by expanding child care subsidies and 
establishing a dedicated funding stream for market-side investments 
tied to workforce education and compensation.
                                 ______
                                 
    The Chair. Thank you, Ms. Perry.
    We will turn to Ms. Reed.

        STATEMENT OF DASJA REED, PARENT, NEW ORLEANS, LA

    Ms. Reed. Chair Murray, Ranking Member Burr, and the 
Members of the Committee for inviting me to share my child's 
story with you. My name is Dasja Reed. My two-year-old son 
Jared and I live in New Orleans. I work a full-time job for the 
city of New Orleans, and I am a full-time student pursuing a 
degree in early childhood education, and I am a first-time mom. 
I gave birth to Jared in the fall of 2018. As a city employee, 
I had eight weeks off on maternity leave.
    I learned quickly that healing from complications relating 
to childbirth, looking for childcare, adjusting to life with 
the baby, and doing it all alone was a lot to take on in just 
eight weeks. Due to physical complications, I was forced to 
take off an additional eight weeks from my job which was 
unpaid. This created lots of stress and hardship. I am grateful 
for the support system I had, but it was not enough. Being a 
new parent is hard and there is so much to learn in what seems 
to be such little time. Just a few months after delivering my 
son, I started looking for childcare that would meet all our 
needs in my area. I found that most childcare range from $500 
to $1,000 a month.
    In addition to unexpected expenses that go along with being 
a new parent, childcare worker would consume more than 50 
percent of my monthly earned income. The adjustment was 
difficult, and I ended up having to settle for a childcare 
program that I could barely afford rather than my first choice. 
The childcare program that was--my first choice, it was a great 
quality program. Most of the teachers had a college education. 
The building was much cleaner. They had a great curriculum and 
a good communication system with families. There was a teaching 
assistant in the classroom, and overall, it was much safer. 
Safety was very much on my mind when I was looking for 
childcare. My first-choice program had a four to one ratio, 
which made me feel more comfortable. But the program I had to 
go with was a much higher ratio teacher to child. After paying 
for childcare assistance, when Jared was six months old, I was 
told that was not enough funding available and it took more 
than two months for me to be approved.
    Over those ten months, I paid full price for childcare and 
struggled to keep my household afloat and pay other bills. With 
childcare taking up such a large portion of my income during 
that time, I also had to switch childcare a few times to find 
one that worked for my family and I. Then the pandemic hit. I 
had to leave my job at the city because my son's childcare 
closed, and work had not closed yet. At first I had to use my 
annual leave so that I could stay home with him. But then my 
leave ran out and my job shut down. We were furloughed until my 
department opened back up again, so I was out of work and not 
getting paid.
    Because I was not able to find a childcare for my son, I 
applied for remote jobs and was even offered a new position at 
the city last summer, but I had to turn it down because I had 
nowhere to take my son. To make ends meet, I stopped using my 
car to save on my car insurance, I held off on making payments 
on my Federal student loans, and I did my best to remain 
positive. I even started my own business, Precious Seeds, 
selling personalized educational materials for children to earn 
some income.
    Last September, I found a new childcare for Jared. I was 
scheduled to return to work during the phase three of New 
Orleans reopening, so it was a great time. Jared went from 
about three weeks--Jared went to the daycare for about three 
weeks before I found out that I was not eligible for childcare 
assistance. I had just started receiving--which I had just 
started receiving before the pandemic because I was not back at 
work yet. I was still trying to get my new business off the 
ground, and while I had a full course load, it was not enough 
credits to qualify for assistance.
    I could not afford the $740 monthly childcare fee without 
the childcare assistance, so Jared lost his spot at that 
daycare. Eventually they let folks come back to work, but by 
that time, Jared's childcare was permanently closed. This meant 
I could not go back to work until I found the new childcare 
provider. Finding childcare was even more challenging this time 
around. I spent dozen of hours last year looking for childcare. 
So many care providers were shut down permanently, and for the 
ones that were open, it was hard to go there for tours or they 
did not have as many seats available anymore. All the seats, 
all the slots were filled. I just wanted to get back to work 
and find a place that was a good fit for us. Just two months 
ago, I finally found a new childcare and Jared loves it. It has 
made such a difference in him and his development, and we are 
in a much better place now. We have a great childcare provider 
and childcare assistance.
    Before the pandemic, I was at work and stressed out, not 
feeling like my son was in a great place. Now, I am no longer 
stressed, and I can focus on work and school, and have a peace 
of mind. Being able to find an affordable quality care for 
Jared has been such a challenge. This is a developmentally 
important time for him. What happens in the first few years 
sets the tone for the rest of a child's life and I realized 
that even more having my son.
    Having quality care and childcare system consistently over 
the last two years would have made such a difference for us and 
I know it would mean a lot to other families too. There are so 
many families like mine across the country who are scrambling 
to make ends meet. We are juggling jobs, schools, and care for 
our children. We are keeping ourselves and our families 
healthy. We are raising the next generation. And we are doing 
our best. Now, we need Congress to do the same because the 
choices we make now will shape our country's future.
    I urge you to invest in the childcare system that Jared and 
I, and countless families across the country need. Thank you 
again for inviting me to share my story with you today. I look 
forward to answering your questions.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Reed follows:]
                    prepared statement of dasja reed
    Thank you, Chair Murray, Ranking Member Burr, and Members of the 
Committee for inviting me to share my child care story with you. My 
name is Dasja Reed. My two-year-old son Jarret and I live in New 
Orleans. I work full-time for the city of New Orleans. I am a full-time 
student pursuing a degree in early childhood education. And I am a 
first-time mom.

    I gave birth to Jarret in the fall of 2018. As a city employee, I 
had 8 weeks off for maternity leave. I learned quickly that healing 
from complications related to child birth, looking for child care, 
adjusting to new life with a baby, and doing it all alone was a lot to 
tackle in just 8 weeks. Due to physical complications, I was forced to 
take off an additional 8 weeks from my job which was unpaid. This 
created lots of stress and hardship. I am grateful for the support 
systems I had, but it was not enough. Being a new parent is hard and 
there is so much to learn in what seems to be such little time.

    Just a few months after delivering my baby, I started looking for a 
child care that would meet all our needs. In my area, I found that most 
child care ranged from $500 to $1,000 a month. In addition to 
unexpected expenses that go along with being a new parent, child care 
would consume more than 50 percent of my monthly earned income. The 
adjustment was difficult, and I ended up having to settle for a child 
care program that I could still barely afford rather than my first 
choice. The child care program that was my first choice was a great 
quality program. Most of the teachers had a college education. The 
building was cleaner. They had a great curriculum and good 
communication with families. There was a teaching assistant in the 
classroom. It was also much safer. Safety was very much on my mind when 
I was looking for a child care. My first-choice program had a 4 to 1 
ratio which made me feel more comfortable, but the program I had to go 
with was 7 to 1. After applying for child care assistance when Jarret 
was 6 months old, I was told that there was not enough funding 
available, and it took more than 10 months for me to be approved. Over 
those 10 months, I paid full price for child care and struggled to keep 
my household afloat and pay other bills with child care expenses taking 
up such a large portion of my income. During that time, I also had to 
switch child cares a few times to find one that worked.

    Then the pandemic hit. I had to leave my job with the city because 
my son's child care closed, and work had not closed yet. At first, I 
had to use my annual leave so that I could stay home with him. But then 
my leave ran out and my job shut down. We were furloughed until my 
department opened back up again. So, I was out of work and not getting 
paid, because I was not able to find a child care for my son. I applied 
for remote jobs and was even offered a new position with the city last 
summer but had to turn it down because I had nowhere to take my son. To 
make ends meet, I stopped using my car to save on insurance. I held off 
on making payments on my Federal student loans. I did my best to remain 
positive. I even started my own business, Precious Seeds, selling 
personalized educational materials for children to earn some income.

    Last September, I found a new child care for Jarret. I was 
scheduled to return to work during phase 3 of New Orleans' reopening so 
it was great timing. Jarret went for about 3 weeks before I found out 
that I was not eligible for the child care assistance I had just 
started receiving before the pandemic because I was not back at work 
yet. I was still trying to get my new business off the ground and while 
I had a full course load, it was not enough credit hours to qualify for 
assistance. I could not afford the $740 monthly child care fee without 
the child care assistance, so Jarret lost his spot.

    Eventually they let folks come back to work, but by that time 
Jarret's child care was permanently closed. This meant I could not go 
back to work until I could find a new child care provider. Finding 
child care was even more challenging this time around. I spent dozens 
of hours last year looking for child care. So many child care providers 
were shut down permanently. And for the ones that were open, it was 
hard to go there for tours or they did not have as many seats available 
anymore. All the slots were filled. I just wanted to get back to work 
and find a place that was a good fit for us.

    Just 2 months ago, I finally found a new child care and Jarret 
loves it. I have seen such a difference in him and his development, and 
we are in a much better place. We have a great child care provider and 
child care assistance. Before the pandemic, I was at work and stressed 
out; not feeling like my son was in a safe place. Now, I am not 
stressed, I can focus on work and school, and have peace of mind.

    Being able to find and afford quality care for Jarret has been such 
a challenge. This is a developmentally important time for him. What 
happens in the first few years sets the tone for the rest of a child's 
life. I realize that even more after having my son. Having quality care 
and child care assistance consistently over the last 2 years would have 
made such a difference for us. And I know it would mean a lot to other 
families, too. There are so many families like mine across the country. 
We are scrambling to make ends meet. We are juggling jobs, school, and 
care for our children. We are keeping ourselves and our families 
healthy. We are raising the next generation. And we are doing our best. 
Now we need Congress to do the same, because the choices we make now 
will shape our country's future. I urge you to invest in the child care 
system that Jarret and I, and countless families across the country, 
need.
                                 ______
                                 
                   [summary statement of dasja reed]
    My name is Dasja Reed. My two-year-old son Jarret and I live in New 
Orleans. I work full-time for the city of New Orleans. I am a full-time 
student pursuing a degree in early childhood education. And I am a 
first-time mom.

    I gave birth to Jarret in the fall of 2018. As a city employee, I 
had 8 weeks off for maternity leave. Due to physical complications, I 
was forced to take off an additional 8 weeks from my job which was 
unpaid. This created lots of stress and hardship. Being a new parent is 
hard and it is so much to learn in what seems to be such little time.

    Just a few months after delivering my baby, I started looking for a 
child care that would meet all our needs. In my area, I found that most 
child care ranged from $500 to $1,000 a month. In addition to, 
unexpected expenses that go along with being a new parent, child care 
would consume more than 50 percent of my monthly earned income. The 
adjustment was difficult, and I ended up having to settle for a child 
care program that I could still barely afford rather than my first 
choice.

    After applying for child care assistance when Jarret was 6 months 
old, I was told that there was not enough funding available, and it 
took more than 10 months for me to be approved. Over those 10 months, I 
paid full price for child care and struggled to keep my household 
afloat and pay other bills with child care expenses taking up such a 
large portion of my income.

    Then the pandemic hit. I had to leave my job with the city because 
my son's child care closed, and work had not closed yet. At first, I 
had to use my annual leave so that I could stay home with him. But then 
my leave ran out and my job shut down. We were furloughed until my 
department opened back up again. So, I was out of work and not getting 
paid, because I was not able to find a child care for my son. I applied 
for remote jobs and was even offered a new position with the city last 
summer but had to turn it down because I had nowhere to take my son.

    Last September, I found a new child care for Jarret. I was 
scheduled to return to work during phase 3 of New Orleans' reopening so 
it was great timing. Jarret went for about 3 weeks before I found out 
that I was not eligible for the child care assistance I had just 
started receiving before the pandemic because I was not back at work 
yet. Eventually they let folks come back to work, but by that time 
Jarret's child care was permanently closed.

    Just 2 months ago, I finally found a new child care and Jarret 
loves it. I have seen such a difference in him and his development, and 
we are in a much better place. We have a great child care provider and 
child care assistance. Before the pandemic, I was at work and stressed 
out; not feeling like my son was in a safe place. Now, I am not 
stressed, I can focus on work and school, and have peace of mind.

    Being able to find and afford quality care for Jarret has been such 
a challenge. This is a developmentally important time for him. Having 
quality care and child care assistance consistently over the last 2 
years would have made such a difference in our lives. I urge you to 
invest in the child care system that Jarret and I, and countless 
families across the country, need.
                                 ______
                                 
    The Chair. Thank you, Ms. Reed. And thank you so much for 
sharing your personal story. I have heard it the same, 
different sequences, but so, so much the same from so many 
parents. And thank you for speaking out for yourself and for so 
many of them today as well. Thank you.
    Now we will turn to Ms. Khan.

STATEMENT OF KHADIJA LEWIS KHAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BEAUTIFUL 
          BEGINNINGS CHILD CARE CENTER, PROVIDENCE, RI

    Ms. Khan. Thank you, Chair Murray, Ranking Member Burr, and 
distinguished Members of Congress for the opportunity to speak 
before you today about this important topic. For the last 21 
years, I have been the Executive Director of Beautiful 
Beginnings Child Care Center in Providence, Rhode Island.
    Our mission is to ensure that each child who attends our 
program receives a strong educational and social emotional 
foundation in their early years to prepare them for success in 
life and school. We are a four-star quality rated program 
through Bright Stars, which means we have committed to offering 
a safe environment that provides a high level of quality with 
educated and qualified staff. We have two sites between which 
infant, toddler, preschool, and state Pre-K classrooms are 
offered. We are an early head start childcare partnership site, 
and we are licensed for 158 children.
    Historically, 70 percent of the children across all of our 
programs receive some form of payment assistance for their care 
via the Department of Human Services or through state Pre-K. 
Prior to the pandemic, our staff of 39 primarily consisted of 
women of color. We always had a long waiting list which spoke 
to the need for access to high quality care. Yet I struggled 
like so many of my fellow childcare programs with the 
challenges of a system in which neither the parent fees nor 
subsidies cover the true cost of care in a way that allowed me 
to provide wages and benefits that reflected my staff's 
incredible and skillful work. Many of my staff members rely on 
programs such as SNAP benefits, rental and heating assistance 
programs to make ends meet.
    Prior to the pandemic, we were feeling the weight of 
decades of operating on shoestring budgets as part of an 
underfunded and under-resourced system. In 2008, Rhode Island 
reduced income eligibility for childcare, and we still have not 
restored it. Using the Federal affordability guideline of 7 
percent of a family's income, a Rhode Island family would have 
to earn $150,000 a year to be able to affordably pay for one 
three-year-old in a typical childcare center.
    It was already a difficult situation and then the pandemic 
began, causing decreased revenue and increased costs for 
cleaning supplies, PPE, and staffing. We closed at the 
beginning of the pandemic for several weeks. Thanks to Care's 
funding, the Rhode Island Department of Human Service was able 
to pay for enrollment rather than attendance during that time. 
We would have never survived the closure period without it. We 
have slowly reopened but are still not at full capacity. COVID 
has layered additional challenges onto teachers and staff who 
are already overburdened, underpaid, mentally and physically 
drained, and challenged by doing a job where they are 
considered essential yet so often treated as disposable. 
Childcare teachers are among the lowest paid workers in the 
Nation.
    In Rhode Island, the average wage for a childcare teacher 
is $12.00 an hour and the minimum wage is $11.50. Childcare 
educators' day to day interactions influence children's 
developing brain architecture. They are working with families 
through trauma, learning loss, and more. Disparities in 
development begin to emerge in infancy and widen over time 
without consistent, nurturing care that can be provided by 
effective, competent and prepared educators. As a sector, 
childcare is facing the most significant staffing challenges we 
have had as educators leave the field for higher paying jobs, 
not only leaving the field, but having to make the decision of 
whether to enter the field in the first place, when some high 
school graduates even earn more than them in entry level 
positions in different industries.
    It makes no short term or long-term sense for our Nation or 
states to put so little money into childcare that educators are 
paid such low wages and offered minimal benefits. Here are four 
things that I think would help make a difference. One, we need 
funding that covers the cost of care, which includes fair 
compensation for the essential work of our early childhood 
educators. Effective and qualified educators, including those 
working with babies, deserve pay parity with elementary school 
teachers. Two, it is important for more families to be able to 
get help--to get help and choose high quality childcare options 
that provide stability for them, their children, and for 
programs. Three, we must recognize that childcare and early 
learning cannot be separated.
    Childcare programs in centers and homes, just like schools, 
provide support for working families and provide support for 
children's positive growth and development. Four, I hope you 
will continue to include early childhood educators and program 
directors and being part of the solution, investing in ways 
that will work for those of us on the ground. Childcare is a 
lifeline to our families, and early childhood educators are 
essential.
    I urge you to support us by building on the relief that has 
allowed us to keep going and providing substantial and 
sustained investments to rebuild and strengthen childcare 
programs like mine. On behalf of all of us, I thank you for 
listening to my testimony, and look forward to your questions.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Khan follows:]
                prepared statement of khadija lewis khan
    Thank you, Chair Murray, Ranking Member Burr, and distinguished 
Members of the Committee for the opportunity to speak before you about 
this topic that is close to my heart: the importance of strengthening 
America's child care sector so we can support America's children, 
workers, and families.

    For the last 21 years I have been the executive director of 
Beautiful Beginnings Child Care Center in Providence, RI. Our mission 
is to ensure that each child who attends our program receives a strong 
educational and social-emotional foundation in their early years to 
prepare them for success in school and in life. We are a four-star 
quality rated program through Bright Stars, our state's quality rating 
and improvement system, which means we have committed to offering a 
safe environment that provides a high level of quality, with educated 
and qualified staff. I am happy to share that as a result of this work, 
we have become a trusted part of our community since we first opened 
our doors in 1999. Because of this work, I also have the pleasure of 
serving on the steering committee of RIght from the Start and as Board 
President for Rhode Island Association for the Education of Young 
Children.

    At our main site, Beautiful Beginnings offers infant, toddler, 
preschool and state Pre-K classrooms and is licensed for 140 children. 
We also operate one stand-alone Pre-K class at our local community 
college. Beautiful Beginnings is an Early Head Start-Child Care 
Partnership site and historically, 70 percent of the children in our 
program receive some form of payment assistance for their care, either 
through subsidies via our Department of Human Services or through Rhode 
Island State Pre-K.

    Prior to the pandemic, I had a staff of 39 women--primarily women 
from communities of color who reflect the diversity of our child 
population. Our 12 classrooms were at capacity, and we always had a 
long waiting list, which spoke to the need of families in our community 
for access to high-quality child care. Yet even with a program that was 
constantly in-demand, I struggled, like so many of my fellow child care 
programs, with the challenges of a system in which neither parent fees 
nor subsidies covered the cost of the care in a way that allowed me to 
provide wages and benefits that reflected my staff's incredible, 
skillful work. In Rhode Island, as in states across the Nation, the 
regular rates for the Child Care Assistance Program are too low to 
enable low-income families to have equal access to the market that 
middle income families have access to, and too low to do anything but 
keep teacher wages suppressed.

    Many of my staff members rely on programs such as SNAP benefits, 
rental and heating assistance programs to make ends meet. To be honest, 
it was not out of the ordinary for me to hear from one of my longtime 
staff members that their child, who recently graduated from high 
school, was making as much as they were at an entry-level job in any 
other industry.

    Even prior to the pandemic, we were feeling the weight of decades 
of operating on shoestring budgets as part of an underfunded and under 
resourced system. For example, back during the great recession in 2008, 
Rhode Island cut eligibility for child care and we have still not 
restored this access even though we know that almost every family in 
the state needs help paying for child care. Using the Federal 
affordability guideline of 7 percent of family income, a Rhode Island 
family would have to earn $150,000/year to be able to affordably pay 
for one three-year-old in a typical child care center--even one that 
only pays their teachers $12/hour (and our minimum wage is $11.50/
hour).

    It was already a difficult situation; and then, COVID hit. You all 
know the crisis we have faced as a result and NAEYC's surveys of the 
field have demonstrated this: decreased revenue and increased costs for 
cleaning supplies, PPE and staffing. At Beautiful Beginnings, in 
compliance with our Governor's public health emergency directive, we 
closed from March through June 2020. Thanks to CARES funding, Rhode 
Island Department of Human Services was able to pay for enrollment 
rather than attendance for those months. We would never have survived 
the closure period without it. We eventually reopened with 4 of our 12 
classrooms, and have slowly returned to having 11 open classrooms. With 
the assistance of relief funding, we were able to provide enhanced 
pandemic wages for 3 months to support staff members who were uneasy 
about returning with all of the unknowns of the pandemic. It also 
allowed us to dedicate a staff member exclusively to cleaning. An 
example of our additional cleaning is that now our playground spaces 
have to be sanitized 22 times daily between each group of children 
since our safety precautions mean separating small groups of children 
and keeping them in pods.

    Being an early childhood educator had its challenges before the 
pandemic, but COVID has layered additional challenges onto teachers and 
staff, who are overburdened, underpaid, mentally and physically 
drained, and challenged daily by doing a job where they are considered 
essential, yet so often treated as disposable. As a sector, child care 
is facing the most significant staffing challenge we've ever had, as 
educators leave the field to get higher paying jobs not just in the 
public schools, but in retail, warehouse distribution centers, and fast 
food. Child care teachers are among the lowest paid workers in the 
Nation. In Rhode Island the average wage for a child care teacher is 
$12.01/hour and the minimum wage is $11.50/hour. Because our country 
hasn't sufficiently funded necessary supports and fair compensation, 
our programs, families, and children feel the impact of current and 
future educators who have to make decisions to leave the field--or not 
to enter it at all. Directors are sharing stories of staffing 
nightmares every day, and I can tell you that our last classroom has 
not yet opened because I have been unable to hire a qualified early 
childhood educator to lead the classroom. This job is so much more than 
babysitting, so much more than simply keeping children safe. It 
requires supporting the children and families in our program, through 
trauma, learning loss, and more. Child care educators are responsible 
for day-to-day interactions that influence the developing brain 
architecture of children. Disparities in development begin to emerge in 
infancy and widen over time without consistent, nurturing care and 
high-quality learning opportunities that can be provided by effective, 
competent, prepared, and compensated educators.

    Child care relief funding is keeping many programs from going over 
the cliff, but we are still teetering on the edge. We don't want to go 
back to the crises and challenges of the past--we want to be part of 
the effort to build a child care system that will work for our 
children, our families, our staff, and the businesses in our community 
that rely on us. It makes no short or long term sense for our Nation 
and our states to put so little money into child care that educators 
are paid such low wages and offered minimal benefits. Here are four 
things that I think would make all the difference in the world:

        (1) We need funding that covers the cost of care, which 
        includes fair compensation for the skilled, valuable, and 
        essential work of our early childhood educators. Effective and 
        qualified educators, including those who work with babies, 
        deserve pay parity with elementary school teachers,

        (2) It is important for more families to be able to choose and 
        get help paying for high quality child care options that 
        provide stability for them, for their children, and for us,

        (3) We must recognize that child care and early learning cannot 
        be separated. I see every day how child care programs in 
        centers and homes--just like schools--provide support for 
        working families AND provide support for children's positive 
        growth and development.

        (4) Finally, I am so pleased to be here today, and I hope you 
        will continue to ask early childhood educators and program 
        directors to be part of the solution so that we can work with 
        you, to create investments in ways that will work for those of 
        us on the ground.

    Child care is a lifeline to our families and early childhood 
educators are essential. I urge you to support us by building on relief 
that has allowed us to keep going, and providing substantial and 
sustained investments to rebuild and strengthen child care programs 
like mine. On behalf of all of us, I thank you for listening to my 
story, and look forward to your questions.
                                 ______
                                 
    The Chair. Thank you very much, Ms. Khan. Thank you to all 
of our witnesses today for really excellent testimony. We will 
now begin a round of five-minute questions. And I ask all of 
our colleagues again to keep track of the clock and stay within 
those five minutes. Research shows that early childhood, where 
90 percent of brain growth happens by age five, is a critical 
period of brain development that really lays the foundation for 
future learning.
    As a former early educator myself, I know how important it 
is to make sure childcare is high quality to support healthy 
child development. Children need responsive teacher child 
interactions, and they need an engaging physical environment 
that supports exploration. So, Dr. Jones-Taylor, let me start 
with you and ask for you to talk with us about why it is 
important to make sure childcare is high quality to support 
children's development.
    Dr. Jones-Taylor. Thank you for your question. You are 
absolutely right. We know that in the first three years of 
life, for young children, one million new neural connections 
are formed. All of the--laying the foundation for all 
development and success you want to see in life, right. That 
doesn't happen on its own. It happens in the context of 
environments. It happens in the context of healthy 
relationships with parents. And when parents have to go to 
work, which we know 62 percent of all women with children aged 
three and under are in the workforce, we need to make sure that 
the providers who are entrusted with young children have the 
support that they need. There are enough of them to be able to 
do that, building that strong foundation, a strong attachment 
that happens between the caregiver and a young child. And that 
costs--that is labor intensive, right.
    We don't want to have more than one adult to four children, 
babies in particular. We know that is really the bare minimum, 
if you will, in terms of making sure that children stay safe, 
and those enriching experiences are available, that they are 
possible with those ratios. It is also important to think about 
the content and the experience of young children and making 
sure that they have these enriching, engaging opportunities to 
explore the world and play. And so, you want to have safe 
environments for them to do that. And that also costs money.
    But what we have done instead is assume that we can do this 
on the cheap and we have really shortchanged our children and 
our providers. And we are doing this in a way where parents are 
paying far more than they can, as I said earlier, and providers 
are getting paid to less. And this is something that we have to 
decide as a society. Are we willing to accept this any longer? 
We subsidize many things in this country. We subsidize 
agriculture because we value it.
    We subsidize even sports, profitable sports teams. But we 
don't subsidize to the appropriate levels what we need in terms 
of childcare so that children aren't shortchanged, parents 
aren't shortchanged, providers aren't shortchanged, and the 
economy isn't shortchanged. And so, we have an opportunity here 
to make our values match with the subsidies, with the supports 
that we are providing for children. And we cannot do this on 
the cheap and we don't want to. It would be to our future 
detriment if we were to do that.
    The Chair. I couldn't disagree with any of that. Really 
appreciate all that you just said. I think it is really 
important. And Ms. Reed, as a parent, what do you look for in a 
childcare program in terms of quality and safety?
    Ms. Reed. Thank you for the question. And the No. 1 thing 
that I always look for is the ratio--the ratio to the teacher. 
How many kids are in the classroom? I think that is so 
important because the teachers have a more one on one time with 
the children and, how many children are in the classroom. And 
if they have seven in there, right, you can't get those little 
things that a child may need, those little things that, you 
have to pay attention to, right.
    I just believe that the ratio is so important when it comes 
to safety, and how many kids are in the classroom, how many 
teachers are in the classroom with the children, and then, of 
course, just a clean environment, what the children have in a 
safe environment. You know, do they have things around the room 
that they can potentially put in their mouth that they can 
possibly choke on. Different things of that nature.
    Again, the quality for me is definitely--the quality and 
safety for me is definitely the ratio and how many children are 
in the classroom, if they have a teacher's assistant in the 
classroom, and again, just a clean environment for the 
children.
    The Chair. Yes, thank you. And we know early childhood 
educators do such critical work for healthy child development 
and support working families, keeping our economy going. 
Several of you mentioned the statistics about the low pay. And 
even before the pandemic hit, early childhood field really 
struggled to attract and retain high quality teachers. Ms. 
Khan, low wages for your early childhood workforce. How has 
that affected teachers in your program?
    Ms. Khan. Thank you for the question. So, in our program, 
we spend about 70 percent of our budget on wages and still the 
wages are not high enough to compensate them for the job that 
they really do. And it is not only wages, it is also benefits. 
Being able to have a retirement plan for teachers that stay in 
the field for many years, affordable health care through their 
employer has been something that we have struggled with.
    That means that our highly educated teachers are more 
likely to not see this as a career to stay in. It is more a job 
for the moment because they can't sacrifice their goals in life 
in order to stay in a job that they know is important and they 
love, because outside of the center they have their own goals 
of home ownership or--yes, and so it has been difficult.
    The Chair. It is hard to keep experienced childcare people 
in the field because they move on. So, I appreciate that so 
much. And I will turn it over to Senator Burr.
    Senator Burr. Thank you, Madam Chair. And let me say to all 
of you, welcome again. You might think why would the old guy at 
the dais be very concerned with childcare? Let me assure you, I 
am probably more concerned with who takes care of my 
grandchildren than I ever was and who took care of my children. 
So, I think as we grow older, we get more engaged and concerned 
with not only childcare, but education. So, I am going to turn 
to Ms. Perry and Ms. Khan just very quickly. You represent 
states. Have childcare--has a childcare workforce in your state 
had an opportunity to be vaccinated?
    Ms. Perry.
    Ms. Perry. Thank you, Senator Burr, for that question, and 
the answer is yes, absolutely. Childcare providers and teachers 
were among the first who were eligible for vaccines. And we did 
a significant amount to do outreach to our childcare workforce 
and actually connect them directly with vaccine appointments 
and scheduling. Our childcare resource and referral programs 
really helped us a lot. And we have worked very hard to get 
teachers vaccinated.
    Senator Burr. Ms. Khan.
    Ms. Khan. In Rhode Island, our Governor also prioritized 
vaccinating teachers and that included early educators and 
childcare centers. So, all of our teachers have had the 
opportunity to get vaccinated. We are very thankful for that.
    Senator Burr. Am I right to make the assumption neither one 
of those states mandates that childcare workers be vaccinated?
    Ms. Perry. Thank you, Senator. That is correct. North 
Carolina does not mandate vaccinations.
    Senator Burr. Ms. Khan.
    Ms. Khan. Rhode Island also does not.
    Senator Burr. I just raised this issue, and I am not 
suggesting that it should be, but when they leave childcare and 
they go to K through 12, it strikes me that K through 12 
requires students to be vaccinated before they go to school, 
but we are not having a debate on whether we require teachers 
to be vaccinated before they teach those students. And I think 
as we talk about the decision that parents make in childcare, 
that doesn't stop at pre-K. They still prefer to have some 
choices in education. They are concerned about their children's 
education.
    We are going through a period right now trying to decide 
what people don't take vaccines, how do they show up for the 
first and not the second? And to some degree, they either lack 
the confidence or they see two different systems. And I think 
when we get the K through 12, we all of sudden see a different 
system where we mandate for kids, but we don't mandate for 
teachers. And I think parents are going to wonder about that.
    I say that for you, they represent states. You can go back 
and raise that with your Governor, Ms. Perry. I already have. 
So, you will just be reinforcing what I did. Ms. Perry, let me 
just ask, what was your thought process in North Carolina as to 
why licensed childcare needed to remain open when many called 
for it to close?
    Ms. Perry. Thank you for that question, Senator Burr. It is 
really quite simple, because we had essential workers who 
needed to go to work and be on the job and they needed a safe, 
affordable, quality place for their children while they were 
doing that. North Carolina, like all states, needed grocery 
store workers and mail delivery folks and our health care 
workers first and foremost to be on the job. And they needed 
quality childcare for their children.
    We did make the decision early to keep childcare open and 
working very hard to make sure we had all the health and safety 
protocols in place to keep children and staff and families as 
safe as possible and slow the spread of COVID-19.
    Senator Burr. Thank you, Ms. Jones-Taylor, it is great to 
see you again. It has been too long. Why is parent choice so 
important for young children?
    Dr. Jones-Taylor. Thank you for that question. As you said 
parents know their children best. We all know our children 
better than anyone else. And we should have the ability to 
think of where our children will be best suited in terms of 
where they will feel comfortable in terms of language.
    If you are a bilingual family, having somebody who speaks 
your language may be really important to you. And so, we don't 
want to limit choice. And it is really important along those 
lines to make sure we have a mixed delivery system. That parent 
who decides that they would like their child to go to a public 
preschool program, public school, they have an option. And a 
parent who wants to send their child to a family, childcare 
neighbor or provider down the street, business owner down the 
street, that they also have that option.
    What we cannot skip on is quality. That wherever a parent 
decides to send their child, even if it is to their family 
member with whom they trust their child, that parent can be 
assured that the provider has the skills, has a safe 
environment, and has the knowledge and passion to make sure 
that child is getting everything they need to support their 
healthy development.
    Senator Burr. Thank you for that. My time has run out, but 
I do want to say to Ms. Reed, congratulations for having at 
least solved the immediate crisis, which is to provide 
childcare and one--and two, to be back at work. But I also want 
to commend you for in the midst of everything you were dealing 
with, you became an entrepreneur. And I wish you great success 
in whatever business you might have started up or might startup 
in the future. Thank you for being with us. Thank you, Madam 
Chair.
    The Chair. Thank you.
    We will turn to Senator Casey.
    Senator Casey. Chair Murray, thank you very much for having 
this hearing, both you and the Ranking Member. And I want to 
thank our witnesses for bringing not only their experience, 
their insight, but also their passion to these issues, and 
finally bringing their own personal stories. And Senator Burr 
just made reference to and I think we all were thinking when 
Ms. Reed was testifying, how deeply personal and real this is 
for so many Americans. This isn't some theoretical issue. This 
is real life. And we are grateful you are willing to bring your 
perspectives here.
    I will try to get to a question both for Dr. Jones-Taylor 
and Ms. Perry if I have enough time. But I wanted to start with 
some basic--and it is not just an assumption, it is a provable 
assertion, I believe, based upon the data we have seen over a 
generation now that when children learn more, they earn more. 
That connection between learning and earn, it is about as 
strong as any connection and public policy research. So, it is 
critical that childcare be of such a quality where children get 
that not just early care, but also early learning.
    Another connection I think that we haven't talked about 
enough is the connection between education and health care and 
the welfare of a child. And we know that in the pandemic when 
schools were closed, that was what was going down. We hoped it 
would be going in the other direction. Child abuse and neglect, 
for example, and neglect reporting was dropping while housing, 
the affordable housing and food insecurity were rising. So, 
both going in the wrong direction.
    This highlights the importance of ensuring that Federal 
policy addresses the needs of the whole child, including 
whether it is economic security, health, education, safety, 
nutrition, but also that we adopt a comprehensive approach to 
our recovery.
    Dr. Jones-Taylor, I wanted to ask you about two words, 
markers and barriers, both of which you are familiar with. How 
would you describe the markers of high quality, early childhood 
program, No. 1? And No. 2, what are some of the barriers to 
meeting that very high quality, but at scale, that we need 
across the nation?
    Dr. Jones-Taylor. Thank you for your question. So, we have 
heard some of them today, right. We know that staff ratios, 
child staff ratios are critical. We want to make sure that they 
are--that is appropriate, that the providers have the 
competencies to deliver on all of the brain science, all 
research, Susan spoke about that, which contributes to the 
healthy development of young children.
    We want to make sure that they have the training and 
support and resources, and if they choose to, opportunities to 
go to higher education and get a degree. We also want to make 
sure that the environment is safe and healthy. And you all did 
such great work with the reauthorization of CCDBG too back in 
2014 to make sure that we have raised those standards. We also 
know, however, that the barriers are also there.
    Making sure that states can afford things like background 
checks is something we have talked about before. That they have 
the support, they have the folks on the ground, as Susan said, 
to do the inspections and make sure that there is quality, that 
they are safe and stimulating environments for young children. 
Affordability, though, is the place I really want to land, 
which we have heard here today.
    We know childcare is out of reach for--high quality 
childcare is out of reach for far too many children. So cost is 
a barrier. The workforce is a barrier. We heard Ms. Khan talk 
about the fact that people are leaving not because they don't 
believe in this work, but because they cannot afford to stay.
    Senator Casey. Doctor, thanks very much, and I hope that we 
made some good progress in the rescue plans. I think we did on 
helping families pay for childcare with the childcare and 
dependent tax credit expansion, as well as the direct support 
tens of billions for providers. Last question for Ms. Perry. 
Center for American Progress tells us that more than 1.1 
million children under the age of six receive services for a 
disability.
    Unfortunately, the same report finds that parents of 
children with disabilities face greater challenges in accessing 
care and estimate that in all but six states, no more than 2 
percent, 2 percent of children who receive a childcare subsidy 
have a disability. How can we ensure that inclusive and 
enriching care is accessible and affordable for all families, 
including those who have a child with a disability?
    Ms. Perry. Thank you, sir, so much for that question, and I 
think you raise a very important point that often goes on 
untalked about, which is simply that our early intervention 
system has also been very under-resourced for many years. We 
know that young children do best in integrated settings with 
their typically developing peers.
    That means you need really significant resources to make 
sure that in those classrooms there is the kind of support, 
whether it is speech therapy or other kinds of support that 
need to happen in the classroom in an integrated setting. So, 
we need to do a lot more to build our early intervention 
workforce and the financial resources that are supporting it. 
You are absolutely right, sir.
    Senator Casey. Thanks very much. Thanks, Chair Murray.
    The Chair. Thank you.
    We will turn to Senator Collins.
    Senator Collins. Thank you, Madam Chair. During the past 
years, in the midst of the pandemic, the YMCA has really 
stepped up to the plate. They have provided additional 
childcare for essential workers. They extended their hours. 
They created academies for children to do their remote 
learning, ad wise. And they have been terrific. They have 
provided 17,000 children with childcare during the pandemic, 
which is truly extraordinary. But most of those YMCAs are 
located in the Central, Eastern and Southern parts of the State 
of Maine.
    I would--my question is going to be for Secretary Perry and 
Dr. Jones-Taylor. And that is last October, the Bipartisan 
Policy Center identified the supply and potential demand for 
childcare across the entire State of Maine. And what they found 
is in the Northern region, the area that I just mentioned, has 
very few, if any. They found that approximately 15 percent of 
the children under age five with parents in the workforce 
currently lack access to childcare. And by contrast, Maine's 
urban areas had a childcare gap of just 4 percent.
    In one of Maine's most rural communities, counties rather, 
nearly 40 percent of young children lack access to childcare. 
So, this is a major problem that has long concerned me, and I 
wondered if you could talk about, aside from funding 
constraints, what are the major barriers to childcare access in 
rural communities? And what strategies have you found to be 
effective for eliminating those barriers? Why don't we start 
with Dr. Jones-Taylor and then Secretary Perry?
    Dr. Jones-Taylor. Thank you, Senator Collins. Yes, 
nationally, we know that about 8 percent of infants and 
toddlers live in rural communities, but the State of Babies 
yearbook, which ZERO TO THREE just released, shows that in 
Maine, 38 percent of babies, infants and toddlers live in rural 
communities. We need to make sure that we have a system that 
supports all children wherever they are. And so, a few things.
    One, we need to make sure that parents have choice and 
thinking about family childcare as a integral part of our--the 
fabric of our childcare system, especially in rural 
communities, I think is really important. We know that is very 
strong, very strong evidence, and not just family childcare, 
but having staffed family childcare networks, evidence-based 
family childcare networks like what we have in Connecticut 
called All Our Kin, where you get the support, you get the 
training, you have all of that support so that providers are 
equipped with the information they need. So that is one that I 
would really encourage you in calls with rural populations to 
consider.
    Senator Collins. Thank you. Doctor, or Secretary Perry.
    Ms. Perry. Thank you, Senator. I would just build on what 
Dr. Jones-Taylor just said, and say, we know--North Carolina is 
largely rural. We, though, have been a very center-based state, 
focused heavily on center-based care. And I think what we need 
to do and what we see nationally is a very steep decline in the 
number of family childcare providers. And that is certainly 
true for North Carolina. And so, I think we do need to rebuild 
the supply of family childcare, because in rural communities, 
of course, families are spread out.
    There aren't as many of them. You are not going to get them 
all together in one place to be in a center-based setting. So 
those family childcare homes are going to be really critical. 
But those family childcare homes need a lot of support. They 
need shared services and business support, so they can focus 
their energy on being with the kids every day and doing the 
work that they know best.
    They need opportunities to network with each other and 
learn from each other and have remotely, accessible, 
professional development that they don't have to travel far 
for. So, I think there is a lot that we can do to rebuild 
family childcare, and we need to spend time doing that if we 
want to address some of the rural childcare challenges.
    Senator Collins. Thank you very much. Thank you all for 
being here with us.
    The Chair. Thank you.
    We will turn to Senator Baldwin.
    Senator Baldwin. Thank you, Madam Chair. I wanted to 
discuss another area where access to childcare is critically 
important, and that is in higher education. There are estimates 
that there are about 14 million student parents across the 
country, many of whom struggle to find the childcare they need 
to be able to participate in their academic programs.
    While there is a Department of Education program called 
Child Care Access, means parents in schools otherwise known as 
C-Campus, that program helps colleges and universities provide 
childcare services for low-income student parents. But it only 
assists a fraction of student parents, probably around 11,000, 
as estimated by the Institute for Women's Policy Research, and 
then again, out of 14 million estimated student parents who are 
needing childcare.
    Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened this 
issue because many universities and colleges temporarily or 
permanently closed their university based childcare programs. 
So, Dr. Jones-Taylor, what steps do you think that we ought to 
be contemplating in the Congress to tackle this issue of 
assisting student parents and helping to address their 
childcare needs while they are pursuing higher education?
    Dr. Jones-Taylor. Thank you for that question. We know that 
this is a common thing. I remember when I was doing my research 
years ago, I spoke with a parent who decided she had an 
opportunity to go to community college or get a job working at 
McDonald's, and she--well, she had a young child and she chose 
McDonald's because she could not get the subsidy to support her 
while she was getting her higher education, but she could while 
she was working at a low wage job.
    Making sure that families who are working and going to 
school or just going to school--just right, that is a lot while 
you are raising a child--that they have access to the subsidy 
is absolutely critical. And then, making sure that universities 
recognize that statistic you just offered, that so many of our 
parents--of our students are student parents and making sure 
that we have not only childcare programs that are available to 
them, but that we have offerings that support their needs and 
that they can afford to do it. So, subsidies a really big 
component of that and making sure that states take advantage of 
that is important.
    Senator Baldwin. I wanted to add on to that, because this 
Department of Education program and helping student parents 
pursue their education and meet their childcare needs is a sort 
of institution based childcare setting. During the COVID-19 
pandemic, as various workplaces have had to help their 
essential workers figure out childcare, have we seen any 
increase in workplace based childcare offerings or have we not 
seen any trends during this pandemic? And I would ask Secretary 
Perry as well as Dr. Jones-Taylor that question.
    Ms. Perry. Thank you for that question, Senator. I will 
jump in and start and say, no, we have not seen trends that 
would suggest more employer-based childcare. And I will say I 
think there is a question on the table about whether or not, 
for the long run, that is going to be a primary strategy, given 
that we know many workplaces are adapting the way they are 
approaching their workers and whether there are workers that 
need to be onsite every day full time and all day.
    I think as we are thinking about strategies to Dr. Jones-
Taylor's point, we do need to think about more parent choice 
options that allow them maybe to have care that is closer to 
their home than to their work. So, we have not seen that trend, 
and I think workplace childcare as general, pre-pandemic was 
also on the decline for precisely this kind of reason.
    Also, when you have work-based childcare, it does mean that 
you have a limited number of spaces available for your 
employees and largely only used by large employers who then 
have other employees who can't access it.
    Senator Baldwin. Thank you. Dr. Jones-Taylor.
    Dr. Jones-Taylor. Yes, thank you. And I would just say one 
thing that we have seen is that employer-based childcare is 
seen as a nice incentive to attract higher income, higher wage 
earners. But we need to think about the building childcare 
centers or making sure there is availability for parents to 
choose high quality childcare for our low wage employers.
    We are thinking about folks in high tech industries that 
you can think of a few maybe in Washington State that are 
incentivizing their workforce to come in and have these 
incredible childcare settings onsite or close by, but the 
actual people who are working in the factories, who are 
fulfilling orders, they don't have access to that. It is a--we 
need to right size that system. And so, I think that is 
something we should be thinking about again when it comes to 
choice.
    Senator Baldwin. Thank you.
    The Chair. Thank you very much.
    We will turn to Senator Cassidy.
    Senator Cassidy. Thank you, Madam Chair and Mr. Ranking 
Member, for having this hearing. And thank you to all the 
witnesses and a big shout out to Ms. Reed. Ms. Reed, I am a 
Senator from Louisiana, Bill Cassidy, and I am so proud to have 
you here. I can imagine when your son looks at the YouTube 
video of yourself, of you when he is 20 years old. Of course, 
he will already be proud of you, but he will be even prouder, 
if that is possible, the son for his mom, but thank you.
    Ms. Reed, I was aware of a childcare in Jefferson Parish, 
and for those not familiar with Jefferson Parish is a suburb of 
New Orleans, which had spaces open, but which the parents 
didn't want to bring their child in and because of fear over 
the pandemic. Now, did the city of New Orleans allow you to 
find a day care center out of Orleans Parish because there was 
capacity, but it may be too far out for you. I am just asking. 
I am totally just trying to understand.
    Ms. Reed. Yes, they do. I wasn't aware of one in Jefferson 
Parish. So, I am located in New Orleans East and that is 
typically where I search for a care provider, kind of in the 
perimeters of my job and home. So, I wasn't aware of one in 
Jefferson Parish, but just looking at the ones from in New 
Orleans East and Gentilly area, those were the primary areas 
that I focused on.
    Senator Cassidy. Now, thank you for that. And of course, it 
would have really put you out of sorts if unable to get 
childcare, if the daycare center had been completely closed, 
not just affordable, not just even spots open, but completely 
closed. Is that a fair statement?
    Ms. Reed. Yes, sir.
    Senator Cassidy. Yes. You know, one of my concerns about 
some of the proposals before us is that ultimately they would 
move these childcare centers into public schools. What we have 
seen is because of incredible influence by teachers unions, 
public schools are closed for in-person instruction, even 
though the Centers for Disease Control said that it was safe to 
go back to in-person instruction. What impact that would have 
upon a working mom, as it did a lot of working moms couldn't 
work because teacher unions were effectively forcing the 
shutdown of public-school systems.
    That is very concerning. Ms. Perry, it is my understanding 
that state regulations have an incredible impact upon 
increasing the cost of daycare without any sort of discernible 
improvement in outcomes. Staffing ratios, for example, of 
overly restrictive can lead to much higher cost. Again, without 
discernible increase in an outcome. Again, some of the 
proposals before us would have the Federal Government heavily 
involved in regulating what happens on the state level. I don't 
ever see a place where the Government's involvement, the 
Federal Government's involvement actually decreases cost.
    Would you have concerns about North Carolina having their 
staffing ratio dictated by somebody in Washington, DC?
    Ms. Perry. Thank you for that question, Senator. You know, 
I would say this, that regulations do need to focus on what 
matters most for children, and that is the quality of the 
people doing the care for the children every day, their 
capacity to deal with the challenges of managing a classroom of 
one-year olds who tend to bite each other and keeping them 
safe, managing through how you talk to 12 or 15 three-year-olds 
and get them ready for reading success. You can't skip steps 
in.
    Learning is sequential. So, there is a lot of things that 
have to be happening and those early years. So, I would say 
regulations are important to keep kids healthy and safe. And 
need to be focused on the things that matter most. I think 
there is always opportunities to revisit regulations and think 
about are we really focusing on the things that matter most. 
But I think they are important, and I think they keep children 
healthy, safe, and learning, which is what we want our children 
to be doing.
    Senator Cassidy. I am sorry I cut myself off, I am not sure 
if I am--can you still hear me?
    The Chair. We can hear you now.
    Senator Cassidy. Thank you. And how much time do I have?
    The Chair. You had 20 seconds, but we will let you go.
    Senator Cassidy. Oh, that is Okay. I will yield back. I am 
pressing buttons on my phone. I don't have any clue what is 
going on, so I better yield back----
    The Chair. In a year, he hasn't learned. He needs to go 
back to preschool.
    [Laugher.].
    The Chair. Thank you, Senator Cassidy.
    I will turn to Senator Kaine.
    Senator Kaine. Thank you, Chair Murray. And to the 
witnesses, what a treat to be with you. And in particular, I 
want to say to Ms. Reed and Ms. Khan, your stories about the 
challenge of the last year, Ms. Reed working, having a child, 
going to school, trying to afford good childcare in a pandemic, 
they really are the same kinds of things I am hearing all 
across the Commonwealth. And I am so glad you are a witness 
today and Ms. Khan. Thank you for your being on the front line 
and running a childcare program at one of the most challenging 
times in the history of these programs in our country. I am a 
proud dad of an early childhood educator, and I know very much 
it is not done for money. It is not done for fame or glory. It 
is done out of love for children.
    I know that is something that links all of you. There is a 
report recently by Third Way that indicates that inadequate 
childcare is the third most common reason now cited for people 
not yet able to go back to work this deep into the pandemic. 
Furloughs or closed businesses are the two top reasons. But not 
being able to find the right childcare at this time is a 
significant reason. And as I traveled around Virginia during 
the recess week we had around Easter, again and again and 
again, what employers were saying to me is, as they are 
starting to want to reopen, they are finding in their own 
employees the absence of affordable childcare in their 
communities is a huge obstacle.
    This notion that childcare is just about the child or just 
about the parent is wrong. It is really required to get the 
economy up and running, too, which means that there is a whole 
lot of reasons we should take this seriously. I guess I really 
have one concern and then a big picture question that I would 
love you to address if you want to. The concern I have is this, 
it just seems like we say, and I think we believe that the most 
important people to us are our kids and our parents, and yet 
the way we compensate folks who take care of our kids and the 
way we compensate so often people who take care of our parents 
would suggest that we are sort of lying when we say that, or at 
least the compensation levels don't match what we feel in our 
hearts about the need for high quality care. So often jobs 
caring for the youngest kids and jobs caring for the elderly, 
they are not compensated in a good way.
    That leads to turnover people who want to be in the 
profession to decide that they can't. And then that leads to 
care that isn't of a level that it should be. So, I think it is 
a funding issue. It is a salary issue, but it is probably kind 
of a cultural issue, even bigger than whatever Congressional 
policy would be. Do we really mean it when we say that our kids 
are important to us and that our parents and grandparents are 
important to us? And if we really mean it, then people could 
make careers in these fields, living wages and careers with 
benefits, and we are not yet there.
    We have got a lot of work to do. And I am glad to be on a 
Committee that is trying to figure out how to do it, so here is 
a big idea that I have that I am just going to throw out to 
you. And I love to hear what any of you say is kind of 
disruptive. I started in kindergarten in September 1963, and 
already by that time, the norm for compulsory education was 
kindergarten through 12th, age 5 to 18. We know a lot more 
about brain development today than we knew in 1963, a lot more. 
And yet the norm for compulsory education is still age 5 to 18, 
K through 12. What if we just decided as a society that we 
would adjust K to 12 and have it be for 4 to 17 year olds 
rather than 5 to 18 year olds? We would start compulsory 
education a year early.
    Then we take all the money we are using for early childhood 
education and put it into the birth to three rather than birth 
to four, thus basically bulking up the money that we spend on 
early childhood education from birth to three. I would argue 
that a public investment in a kid's life from age four to five 
produces a lot more bang for the buck than the public 
investment we make in a kid's life between 17 and 18. And most 
17-year-olds, frankly they could go to college or they could do 
a gap year.
    They could do volunteer work for a year before they decide 
what they want to do with their life. So, I have always 
wondered why somebody isn't pushing to change the educational 
paradigm that has been in place now for six decades based on 
the fact that we know much more about brain science than we 
used to. Many of you have a reaction to that. I am kind of late 
in my five minutes. But then, Chair, if you would, allow 
anybody want to tackle that.
    Dr. Jones-Taylor. I can start. Thank you for your question. 
I think all things are on the table. I think that is a really 
interesting proposal. I would obviously want to look into it 
more. What I will say is that as a society, we have really been 
pulling a fast one when it comes to childcare. We have pulled a 
fast one on children, parents, providers, and the economy.
    We tell children they are our future and how important it 
is to invest in them. And then we turn around and allow for 
policies that we know fly in the face of what science tells us, 
young children's need for healthy development. We are pulling a 
fast one on parents, especially women, when we say we want them 
in the workforce. How many bipartisan conversations that we had 
about women's attachment to the workforce and the main thing 
that will keep working mothers attached to the workforce, 
childcare.
    We tell them you are on your own when it comes to that. And 
we tell them expect to pay one and a half times your monthly 
rent to afford it and we are not going to help you or will help 
one in seven babies who are eligible for it. We are pulling a 
fast one on providers to say you do the most important work, 
thank you so much, and then offer them poverty wages and ask 
them to get degrees of higher education, and tell them we are 
not going to make it, we are not going to create supports for 
them to make that work. And then we are going to fast track the 
economy to think that we can do this on the cheap. We can have 
an unfunded system, a broken system, and think that the economy 
is really going to be where it should be.
    COVID came in and said, the jig is up, we cannot do this 
anymore. And so, we are at a place in history right now where 
we are writing this story and Congress has the ability to write 
yourselves in as the heroes to really say we are not going to 
let this happen. And you guys have done that already. Again, 
with the reauthorization of CCDBG and the regulations there 
were so smart. I really want to talk to Senator Cassidy's point 
that you guys were courageous, and you did the right thing.
    Senator Kaine. I am well over my time, but I really 
appreciate you starting the reflection back on my challenge. 
Thank you. Thank you, Chair Murray.
    The Chair. Thank you so much. And to all Senators and 
staff, we are going to be--a series of votes are going to be 
starting. Would any Senators please let us know if they wish to 
ask questions of this panel, so we make sure that you get your 
timing as quickly as possible.
    With that. I will turn it over to Senator Smith.
    Senator Smith. Thank you so much, Chair Murray and Ranking 
Member Burr. This is just a great, great panel and I am loving 
hearing all of you talk about this issue and in ways that I 
think families can really relate to. And I am just so struck by 
all the conversations I have had in Minnesota about how even 
before the pandemic, childcare was a huge struggle for 
families, the lack of access, the lack of affordability. And, 
in 2018, the childcare crisis was estimated to be costing our 
economy I think it is $57 billion a year.
    This is something that affects all of us and all families. 
In Minnesota, we estimate--the Minnesota Fed, Minneapolis Fed 
estimates that 11 percent of moms with young children have 
dropped out of the workforce during the pandemic, in part--in 
large part because of lack of access to childcare.
    I would like to turn to Ms. Reed, if I can, and looking for 
you on my screen there, you really describe the catch 22 that 
families are in right now. You have lack of access. It is too 
expensive. You are juggling all the time school and work, 
trying to figure out whether you are eligible or not for 
childcare. I mean, it sounds like it is--I don't even know how 
you do it. And all the time, your first thought is what is best 
for Jared. How are you going to make sure that he is getting 
what he needs and what can you do to make sure that is 
possible.
    I want to just start by asking you if you could, from your 
perspective, what would a highly functioning childcare system 
for you and Jared, what would it look like? Both, because you 
have talked some about quality, but in terms of access and 
affordability and, kind of what it would look like.
    Ms. Reed. Thank you for the question, Senator Smith. For 
me, it looks like a functioning--we have, like I said, a low 
ratio. Like lower--less kids in the classroom, which means the 
teacher has time and they can actually be able to pay attention 
to, and basically be able to meet the needs.
    Like I told you, there is developing at this age, so there 
are a lot of things that you might one plan in mind, but the 
minute, Johnny decides he doesn't want to do that, do you have 
the time and the attention to kind of maneuver through that 
with more kids in the classroom, right. So, I just truly 
believe that high quality first starts with less kids in the 
classroom.
    A curriculum. Like a lot of--just having a curriculum and 
having a plan of, what the kids are working on. Educate the 
teachers. Teachers, who actually know how to--who are educated 
and taught how to deal with certain issues in the classroom. 
So, I believe education is a big key, a major key as well.
    Again, just having that time to be able to actually work 
with the children one on one. This is the time where their 
brain is developing. This is the time that they need the most, 
where their minds are being shaped. So, I just believe that the 
more care that they get, the more time that they receive in the 
classroom, it really helps them for the rest of their life. And 
it starts at that age. It starts zero to three.
    I actually believe that quality looks like, of course, 
again, having less kids in the classroom and then educated 
teachers that are well trained to be able to help shape and 
develop the minds of the young children.
    Senator Smith. Yes. And you are--as you are talking about 
quality and the educators that are ready and prepared and have 
the curriculum and the place in order to provide great care, 
you also are talking some about having access to choices near 
where you live and work. Because you can't be driving, all over 
town or getting all over town to drop Jared off when you are 
trying to figure out, the logistics of life. And then you also 
are talking about affordability.
    Now, let me ask you about this. What if we had a system 
where you were--basically you were never going to have to pay 
more than 7 percent of your income for childcare. What would 
that mean to you? What difference would that make to you and 
your life?
    Ms. Reed. It would definitely be a huge difference in my 
life. I would do anything for my son to have quality care, even 
if it means going without--whatever it takes. So, to have that 
percentage dimmed down to that minimum, it would be a great 
help for my family, for my son and I, just being able to have a 
peace of mind, just to be able to go to work and not have to 
think about, Okay, well, we are going to pay the light bill or 
are we going to get food on the table. Or are we going to pay 
the cell phone bill or, am I going--simple things like that 
matters.
    Just being able to have relief of that would be phenomenal. 
It would be such a relief--it would be me actually being able 
to focus on my child when we get home right now, trying to 
figure this and worrying about that----
    Senator Smith. Constantly worrying about paying bills, 
because you are not going to--that money that you are not 
putting into childcare, you are going to be able to put into, 
rent and utilities and better food and gas for your car and 
insurance and so forth. So, Madam Chair, I am almost out of 
time, but I want to just point out to everybody, I think you 
may know this, that I am really proud to be working with 
Senator Murray and others on our Committee on the Child Care 
for Working Families Act. And that is what it would do. It 
would address systemically the challenges that we have in 
childcare.
    This is a hard problem to solve, but it is a solvable 
problem. And one of the things that it would do is to make sure 
that you would not be paying more than 7 percent of your income 
for childcare as long as your income is no more than 150 
percent of the median income in your state. So, I bet that 
would be the case for you, Ms. Reed, and it would be the case 
for many, many, many people in Minnesota.
    I think this is exactly the kind of solution that we need 
in order to address this problem of childcare, which is a 
solvable problem if we just put our minds to it. Thank you, 
Madam Chair.
    The Chair. Thank you so much.
    Senator Rosen.
    Senator Rosen. Well, thank you, Chair Murray and Ranking 
Member Burr. Thank you really for holding this important 
hearing. It affects so many and of course, our most vulnerable, 
our children. And thank you to our witnesses for all that you 
do and participating today. But, I want to talk about a 
nonprofit childcare and SBA loans. And, we have been discussing 
today and as Senator Smith has just so eloquently told us, 
millions of American families have difficulty affording 
childcare and shortages in availability, costs that are out of 
reach. It is a growing problem. It has been exacerbated by the 
pandemic.
    Some childcare providers, they are at risk of permanent 
closure. We have to think creatively and urgently to help 
families across this country about our solutions. So currently 
only for-profit childcare providers have full access to all of 
the Small Business Administration loan products, while 
nonprofit providers only have access to the SBA's micro-loan 
program. That is capped at $50,000. This blocks access for 
capital for nonprofit childcare providers to establish care 
facilities or even expand the ones they have.
    To address this problem, I introduced the Small Business 
Child Care Investment Act. It is bipartisan legislation that 
would allow qualified nonprofit small business childcare 
providers access to the same SBA loans, so that they can 
provide quality, affordable childcare everywhere that they can. 
So, Ms. Khan, as the Executive Director of a nonprofit 
childcare center, can you talk about the financial challenges 
that are unique to nonprofit, please?
    Ms. Khan. Thank you, Senator Rosen, for the question, and 
thank you for supporting legislation that allows for more loans 
for childcare centers, especially nonprofits. I would say 
access to capital is a big problem with childcare centers in 
general. Because the budgets are on such a small margin, a lot 
of traditional banks do not want to invest in childcare. So, we 
have to go to different financial institutions to get support. 
So, access to more loan products with the SBA would be helpful.
    I think in general though, we need to make sure that we are 
also supporting the long-term strategy to make sure centers 
have the finances that they need to be able to operate in a way 
that makes sense. So, I really appreciate all of the stimulus 
funds that have gone into childcare, and I hope we can do 
something that is more permanent, so we have a permanent 
solution to our problems in early education. Thank you.
    Senator Rosen. I want to ask Dr. Jones-Taylor, could you 
also talk about what improving access to capital for nonprofit 
childcare centers, what it would do to assist with stability, 
upgrades to facilities, expansions, and what it really gives to 
the communities that they serve? How is it going to uplift the 
families that is going to serve right there where they live?
    Dr. Jones-Taylor. Thank you for your question. We know that 
53 percent of centers, just to underscore some of what you have 
already said, 53 percent of centers and 25 percent of family 
childcare providers applied for a PPP loan. And in a follow-up 
survey, just half of those were surveyed, who applied were 
actually approved because of what Ms. Khan said, the challenges 
there with relationships to banking and the risk that banks 
saw. So, this is very interesting to think about.
    We know that if you actually have a system that is there in 
good times and bad, that is important for childcare. Senator 
Burr mentioned K to 12 and that was a system that stayed open 
in the midst, or at least educators were able to receive their 
paychecks, and we weren't worried about the collapse of the 
public K-12 system because it is treated as a system. We are in 
a real crisis where the true threat of collapse of childcare is 
not some fantasy or some doomsday fantasy. It is truly 
something that we are concerned about.
    Being able to stabilize the system and make sure that we 
actually fund it so that when we hit a crisis, it will be there 
afterward, is actually critical. We need to shift the way we 
think about this and treat it as a system and an infrastructure 
that is.
    Senator Rosen. Thank you. I know I don't have much time 
left, so I will take this off the record, but I just want to 
put a marker down because I am worried about the mental health 
challenges for children. They have been rising because of the 
pandemic. It compounds the trauma for our foster children, our 
homeless children, and children who may have experienced 
violence or other things in their home during the pandemic.
    We need to have robust trauma informed training for our 
early childhood educators as well. And I know my time has 
expired, so I will be glad to take those off the record. But I 
just want to know--let you know that is coming. Thank you so 
much again for everything you do. I yield back, Madam Chair.
    The Chair. Thank you.
    Senator Braun.
    Senator Braun. Thank you, Madam Chair. This will be for all 
witnesses here, and I am going to cite what I think in general, 
not only childcare, I think, which has been kind of revealed as 
we have dealt with the COVID saga, but I have wrestled with 
health care in general, describing it as a system that we spend 
so much money on and delivers such poor results, whether your 
health care is being paid for by the Government or through 
private health insurance. And childcare is kind of a subset of 
it. It doesn't fall into any of that kind of coverage.
    But I think we are at a really pivotal point when it comes 
to health care in general, childcare. Can we reform the system 
as it currently exists, which seems to be cluttered with so 
many restrictions, impediments to free markets and the 
enterprise side of it, and where it begs then for Government to 
get more involved?
    Love to hear your opinion on the state of the health care 
system, childcare specifically, and do we need more Government, 
or do we need to get Government out of the way to let 
entrepreneurs and more grassroots solutions address the issues? 
Anyone can start.
    Dr. Jones-Taylor. I will take a quick stab at it and then 
we can go on. I will be brief. We have that right now. We have 
incredible ingenuity into the childcare system out of 
necessity. We have family childcare providers who are opening 
up because they love this work, because it is so important 
despite all of the barriers and challenges we have talked 
about. So, we have given the free market a go at the childcare 
system, and it has failed. It has fundamentally failed the 
childcare system and families and the economy, because you 
cannot do this with--you need to make sure that this is--this 
is a labor intensive, highly skilled endeavor on the part of 
professionals. They need to be compensated accordingly.
    Parents cannot afford that. As I said earlier, we subsidize 
a lot of things in this country that we have placed value on. 
We need to show that we value this work and truly stop asking 
parents and providers to do this on the fly and to be 
innovative. We have tried that. It is not working. COVID has 
shown that.
    Let's continue to allow for innovation. We don't want to 
stave that off, but we need a true Government investment in 
this work.
    Senator Braun. Thank you.
    Ms. Perry.
    Ms. Perry. Thank you, Senator, and I am happy to build on 
that. What I would say is that our Secretary of the Department 
of Health and Human Services says that we want to buy health 
and not health services. And I think what we all want to buy is 
childcare that actually delivers on healthy development, 
learning, and well-being for all children and a support for 
working families so they can be on the job and focused on the 
job every day. And to do that, I do think that Government has a 
role.
    I think this pandemic has showed that our public health 
infrastructure needed significant investment to meet the 
challenges of a historic pandemic. And I think the same is true 
for childcare. I think the Government has a role in building 
roads and bridges that we all use, and I think the Government 
has a role in supporting high quality childcare for working 
families in this country, so that our economy--so that people 
can get work and our economy can be working for all of us.
    Senator Braun. Ms. Reed.
    Ms. Reed. Thank you for the question, and I strongly do 
believe that Government should step in at this time. I believe 
that entrepreneurs and families have extended themselves as 
much as we can give, as much as entrepreneurs can give in that 
realm, and I believe that it would help out tremendously if the 
Government stepped in and helped fund it with those particular 
issues.
    Senator Braun. Ms. Khan.
    Ms. Khan. I think that parents are already extended as far 
as they can be, and it is not enough for us to provide 
competent staff members adequate compensation. For example, a 
preschool parent that is paying $200 a week for care, that 
covers about 50 hours of care a week, and that is a little over 
$3.00 an hour per child in the classroom. So, when you look 
at--it looks like it is a lot for families and it is a lot in a 
family budget, but when it comes to the childcare center and 
what the childcare center has to work with, it is very low--it 
is a very low amount for us to cover our needs and create a 
system that is stable for our families and our youngest 
children. So, we need--we do need intervention.
    Senator Braun. Thank you. And I think you all stated fairly 
clearly that the health care system across the spectrum, 
especially in childcare, is broken. And I think it is an 
invitation to those out there that want to reform it that the 
need is there. And my belief is that it is a combination of 
trying to galvanize the private sector to do a better job, but 
there is frustration that a lot is left begging. And I think 
you all reflect that.
    The Chair. Thank you. And I will have to let all my 
Committee Members know we have two votes occurring. So, I am 
going to ask all Senators to limit the--we have three left, 
Hassan, Lujan, and Hickenlooper. If you can limit it to 4 
minutes and we will submit questions for the record. And I will 
begin with Senator Hassan.
    Senator Hassan. Well, thank you very much, Senator Murray 
and Ranking Member Burr, and thank you to our witnesses for 
being here today. I also just want to thank Chair Murray for 
reintroducing the Child Care for Working Families Act, a 
comprehensive plan. I am glad to support, and I think, as we 
all know, COVID-19 has really highlighted the importance of 
childcare, the need for our country to do better, and it has 
also highlighted the importance in particular of caregivers.
    A question to Dr. Jones-Taylor. We have an opportunity to 
better target resources so that childcare workers who are often 
women of color receive the training that they need and receive 
the pay and benefits that they need to support their own 
families. Dr. Jones-Taylor, what do you think we need to do to 
recruit, retain, and support the childcare workforce?
    Dr. Jones-Taylor. Thank you for your question. You know, we 
need to have decent wages. I think we have heard this across 
the board, certainly from Ms. Khan, how difficult it is to 
recruit and retain staff who are seen as professionals when 
they are being paid less than $12.00 an hour, when their bosses 
can't provide--directors cannot provide health care and they 
can get that elsewhere.
    Really shoring up the system in a way that invests in our 
workforce, and really stop paying lip service to this idea that 
they are valued, and then turning around and doing everything 
that shows counter to that to that idea. I am sure Ms. Khan can 
speak more on that, but it is very important that we put our 
money where our mouth is.
    Senator Hassan. Well, thank you. I want to move on to a 
different question, but I will follow-up with Ms. Khan on the 
record. To Ms. Perry, early intervention can help improve the 
health and educational trajectory of children who experience 
disabilities and developmental delays through appropriate and 
timely therapy and support. Over the past year, occupational 
therapists, physical therapists, and speech pathologists were 
not able to see as many children for hands on therapy as they 
usually do now.
    Now, as therapy visits return to pre-COVID levels, many 
providers have observed significant delays among young 
children, including crawling and walking later, heightened 
anxiety and fear, and in some cases, less strength and 
endurance. Ms. Perry, have you seen these issues and how do you 
think childcare providers can best address these concerns, 
including connecting families with screening, counseling, and 
other services?
    Ms. Perry. Thank you for that question, Senator. And I 
think the truth is there is still a lot that we still have yet 
to learn about learning loss, some of the other things that we 
have spoken to about the impact on child abuse and neglect, 
because reporting has been suppressed, because schools have 
been closed and they are primary reporters. And when we think 
about learning loss, we are often thinking about it in 
relationship to being in school.
    But I think you are pointing out just really children's 
development, even in their youngest years, and the need for a 
really more intensive early intervention supports. I spoke to 
this earlier, I do think our early intervention system has been 
under-resourced for some time. We do need more support services 
that can push into integrated childcare settings and really 
provide those kinds of one on one, individualized supports that 
these young children need, and also support their families in 
helping their children develop to the fullest potential.
    Senator Hassan. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
    The Chair. Senator Hickenlooper.
    Senator Hickenlooper. Yes, thank you, Chair Murray, and 
really appreciate the testimony today. Dr. Jones-Taylor, you 
mentioned the story in your testimony that caught my attention. 
I was elected Mayor of Denver in 2003, my first elected office, 
and we began a two-and-a-half-year process of--we had over 100 
civic leaders from various backgrounds involved in an early 
childhood education effort. And we eventually went to the 
ballot in 2006. I think Denver was the first city in the 
country to make sure that we had high quality early childhood 
education for every four-year-old.
    Dr. Jones, you described something that caught my attention 
in the sense that it was an early educator who had a master's 
degree, 10 years' experience, but ultimately had to leave the 
workforce because she made less than $30,000 a year and her own 
family's childcare exceeded her take-home pay.
    I am concerned that we are going to have an exodus of 
childcare professionals from the industry, which is just going 
to exacerbate the existing problems. But we are also going to 
have trouble recruiting, encouraging folks to enter the early 
education field. So, Dr. Jones-Taylor and Ms. Khan or whoever, 
what do you see as the most pressing need that we should 
address now to make sure that we can bolster the early 
childhood education workforce?
    Dr. Jones-Taylor. Thank you for your question, Senator. And 
unfortunately, your fears have already come to pass in many 
ways. Early on in the pandemic, we lost 350,000 childcare 
providers to the system who were--left the system. And only 
half of those have come back. We also know that we have lost an 
estimated one in six childcare jobs in this country as a result 
of the pandemic. Stabilization funds, the coverage that 
Congress put in place those--this is incredibly important to 
make sure that we shore up the system so that it will remain, 
it will be intact when the economy gets back going. And the 
economy will not be back going unless we have the support for 
providers.
    Ms. Khan. Thank you for your question. I definitely agree 
with Dr. Jones-Taylor. The stabilization funds have helped us 
continue to operate with lower enrollment and same overhead 
costs and actually more staff and PPE costs. But we also need 
to have a long-term solution so that your fears do not really 
come to pass in more of a way than they already have, because 
after this period is over--our system was in trouble before 
this period started and this just exacerbated it with COVID-19.
    We need a long-term solution in order to attract and retain 
highly qualified educators. We also need low-cost educational 
opportunities for people who are already in the field to 
continue to progress in their knowledge and skills and obtain 
their degrees.
    Senator Hickenlooper. Great. Thank you both. Just real 
quickly, and I guess Ms. Perry you could answer this, the vast 
majority of childcare providers in Colorado and in this country 
are small businesses, generally, less than 10 employees, tight 
margins. And yet only 7 percent of the childcare providers were 
estimated to have received small business support through the 
PPP.
    Now many states are using CARES Act funds to provide grants 
to keep providers afloat. Those efforts were bolstered by the 
American Rescue Plan. But how did North Carolina use these 
resources to support childcare providers in your state? And, 
how can we better connect childcare providers to the resources 
available to them?
    Ms. Perry. Thank you for that question, Senator. Yes, North 
Carolina did use some of its Federal funds specifically for 
stabilization grants to childcare programs. We pushed those 
grants out very quickly and aligned them to the size of the 
childcare program to get them for programs that were serving 
higher percentages of infants and toddlers, the number of 
children on childcare subsidy, and quality level because it 
costs more to produce higher quality care.
    We have certainly used a significant portion of our funding 
for grants and some other things we did for childcare programs 
who support their childcare workers with teacher bonuses and a 
mental health hotline and a vaccine scheduling service to help 
them get vaccinated. So, we have used all of our resources to 
the fullest extent possible. We need every tool in the toolbox.
    Certainly, business loans are a way to get working capital, 
although I would say, as you pointed out, sir, most small 
childcare businesses operate on such thin margins that loans 
will be challenging for childcare businesses to manage.
    Senator Hickenlooper. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. I 
yield my time.
    The Chair. Thank you so much. Senator Burr, do you have any 
additional questions? Okay, thank you so much. And to all of 
our Senators who had questions, they weren't able to make it, 
we will leave time for that in the record. And Dr. Jones-
Taylor, I will ask for a question, not for an answer from you, 
because we do have votes, but I would like to find out why 
there is a funding gap in childcare where parents pay more than 
they can afford, and educators earn poverty level wages. So, if 
you could submit that in writing, I would really like to help 
make sure we all understand it.
    With that, we will end our hearing today. I want to thank 
Dr. Jones. Taylor, Ms. Perry, Ms. Reed, and Ms. Khan for 
joining us today, and all of our colleagues who participated as 
well. I think today's discussion made clear what many parents 
in the country already know, that we have to address this 
childcare crisis if we are going to build an economy that 
really works for working families.
    For any Senators who wish to ask additional questions, 
questions for the record will be due in 10 business days on 
Tuesday, May 11th, at 5 p.m. The hearing record will also 
remain open until then for Members who wish to submit 
additional materials for the record.
    The Committee will meet tomorrow, April 28th, at 10 a.m. in 
room 430 in the Dirksen Senate Office Building for a hearing on 
the mental health and substance use disorder crisis. Again, 
thank you so much to our witnesses today. With that, the 
Committee stands adjourned.

                         QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

   Responses by Myra Jones-Taylor to a Questions of Senator Murray, 
                    Senator Lujan, and Senator Rosen
                             senator murray
    Question 1. I would like to find out why there is a funding gap in 
childcare where parents pay more than they can afford, and educators 
earn poverty level wages. So, if you could submit that in writing, I 
would really like to help make sure we all understand it.

    Answer. At your request, I am writing to explain in greater detail 
why child care in the United States is so expensive for families, while 
providers make so little. The average price of child care for an infant 
in a center in 2019 ranged from $11,444 to $11,896, according to data 
from Child Care Aware of America. Conservatively, that price represents 
nearly 17 percent of the median family's household income that same 
year--more than double the 7 percent affordability standard set by the 
Department of Health and Human Services. Yet, even with these 
unaffordably high costs for families, the average child care worker 
made less than $12 per hour that same year--with many providers and 
their families relying on public income support programs like SNAP, 
Medicaid, CHIP, TANF, or the EITC to make ends meet. The reason for 
these unaffordably high costs and unaffordably low wages is simple--the 
free market is not capable of adequately sustaining a child care system 
that can provide, safe, affordable, and high-quality care for all 
families that need it, particularly for those with young children. The 
cost modeling below, adapted from a report by the Center for American 
Progress describes this market failure in greater detail.

    According to CAP's cost modeling, the expenses for a typical 
center-based infant care program meeting minimum state licensing 
standards break down as follows: 63 percent for staff salaries, 
including lead teachers, assistants, support staff, and a center 
director; 5 percent for benefits; 9 percent for rent and utilities; 15 
percent for office and administration; and 8 percent for materials and 
food. Assuming a 1:4 staff:child ratio--the maximum recommended ratio 
for safely serving infants (although some states set licensing 
standards at a higher level for this age group), and the highest range 
of the average price of child care based on Child Care Aware's survey 
data--the average income going into a classroom of 8 infants with two 
teachers would be $95,168. Using CAP's cost modeling described above 
and absent any additional public support, that leaves just under 
$60,000 to spread between two teachers and likely, at least one center 
director, even with parent fees being higher than public college 
tuition in most states. These low wages and benefits drive the quality 
of care downward by leading to higher turnover rates, and early 
educator stress--making it more difficult for early educators to 
facilitate the nurturing, consistent relationships young children need 
to thrive. It is estimated that to actually provide quality care for 
infants, including pay parity for early educators with their peers 
teaching kindergarten, parents would have to spend more than $27,000 a 
year for child care centers to make the math work. Unfortunately, 
parents cannot afford to pay any more than they already do for care--in 
fact, many cannot even afford what they do pay--leading to a system 
where low compensation for early educators is a feature, not a bug. We 
can and must do better, and increased public investment is the answer.
    I appreciate the opportunity to testify before the Committee last 
week and your continued leadership on these issues, and look forward to 
continuing to work with you in the days and weeks to come to ensure all 
families have access to the quality, affordable child care they need 
for both them and their children to thrive. Our Federal policy team at 
ZERO TO THREE would be happy to provide any additional resources or 
information you might request.
                             senator lujan
    Question 1. Federal investment in the child care sector is 
insufficient to provide affordable access to families and sustaining 
wages to child care workers. This is why I was proud to cosponsor the 
Child Care for Working Families Act, which was included in President 
Biden's American Families Plan, to ensure no family has to pay more 
than 7 percent of its income on child care costs. How would passage and 
implementation of this historic legislation change outcomes for 
children, families and workers across the United States?

    Answer. The Child Care for Working Families Act, which ZERO TO 
THREE has endorsed, would be a game-changer for children, families, and 
early educators if passed. For low-and moderate-income families, 
guaranteed access to affordable child care would not only support their 
abilities to work or participate in school or job training, it would 
also dramatically reduce their day-to-day child care costs and care-
related stress. For early educators, who currently make less than $12 
an hour on average, guaranteed access to a living wage with a pathway 
to parity with their elementary school peers would better compensate 
them for their critical work, reduce the financial stress placed on 
their own families, and reduce turnover in their field. And finally, 
for children, especially infants and toddlers, increased investments in 
high quality care would mean stronger early development, with benefits 
compounding over the course of their lives. In the first 3 years of 
children's lives, their brains are making more than a million neural 
connections every second--laying the foundation for their future 
development and learning. High quality care supports their healthy 
development, especially for children in families with low incomes, 
while lower quality care does not produce similar benefits and can even 
be detrimental to children's development.

    Question 2. You state in your testimony that the lack of access to 
child care costs our economy. How much is lost each year in wages, work 
productivity, economic activity and tax revenue due to insufficient 
access to child care?

    Answer. A 2019 report from Ready Nation examined the economic 
impacts of the lack of affordable child care on parents, employers and 
taxpayers. It found that every year, on average, parents pay $37 
billion in additional costs, businesses $13 billion, and taxpayers $7 
billion. Altogether, this adds up to $57 billion in lost economic 
output every year.

    Question 3. By not making Federal investments in child care, we are 
not only losing money due to parents' lost economic activity; we are 
also losing money because we are not investing in our children's 
future. According to Professor James Heckman's 2017 research, for every 
dollar invested in childcare, the annual rate of return is $6.30 per 
child. While the investments made in the COVID-19 relief packages have 
been historic, they are insufficient to permanently support and 
strengthen our aging and insufficient child care infrastructure. For 
example, the Child Care and Development Block Grant provides a 
necessary subsidy for families to afford local child care. However, 
even with the investments we have made in CCDBG during the pandemic, 
access is still insufficient. According to the latest data, how many 
federally eligible children receive a subsidy?

    Answer. Thank you for bringing up Dr. Heckman's important research. 
You are absolutely right, that our failure to invest in our young 
children today has long-term as well as short-term economic 
implications. You are also right that the investments included in the 
ARP were designed to prevent the collapse of our child care system, and 
are alone not sufficient to make the necessary long-term, foundational 
changes the child care sector so desperately needs. Just in 1 in 7 
federally eligible children had access to a child care subsidy prior to 
the pandemic in 2017--the latest year for which data were available. 
Even for those children who did receive a subsidy, there was no 
guarantee that it would allow them to afford high quality care. 
According to the National Women's Law Center's 2019 state child care 
assistance report, just four states set their provider payment rates at 
the federally recommended level of at or above the 75th percentile of 
current market rates.

    Question 4. How many infants and toddlers, who are developmentally 
most in need of high quality, affordable child care and education, have 
access to subsidies according to ZERO TO THREE's State of Babies 
Yearbook?

    Answer. ZERO TO THREE's State of Babies Yearbook 2021 examined the 
broader population of infants and toddlers who could benefit from child 
care subsidies. Looking at all infants and toddlers in families with 
incomes at or below 150 percent of their state's median income, just 
4.2 percent had access to a child care subsidy.

    Question 5. Which racial and ethnic groups have the least access to 
subsidies and quality, affordable child care where they live and work?

    Answer. The Center for Law and Social Policy conducted an analysis 
in 2019 that found Black children had the highest rate of access to 
CCDBG subsidies, with Asian and Hispanic children being potentially 
underserved. However, notably, access to CCDBG subsidies among eligible 
children was low among all racial and ethnic groups nationwide. Access 
to subsidies does not equate to access to quality care, however. 
Analyses of ECLS-K data have shown that children living in families 
with incomes below the Federal poverty line, as well as children of 
color are less likely than their non-poor and White peers to be 
enrolled in high-quality care in both centers and homes. And data from 
the Center for American Progress' child care deserts report indicate 
that infants and toddlers are less likely than their older peers to 
have access to licensed child care within their communities, especially 
those living in rural areas and areas with lower median family incomes.

    Question 6. Families' ability to access child care not only depends 
on affordability, but on a center being open and having staff to teach 
their children. This cannot happen without our essential child care 
workers. How many child care jobs have been lost since the start of the 
pandemic?

    Answer. The latest jobs data indicate that more than 1 in 7 (14.6 
percent) of jobs in the child care sector have been lost since the 
start of the pandemic. This equates to 152,800 jobs lost since February 
2020.
                             senator rosen
    Question 1.As we talk about improving workforce training for child 
care providers, we need to also think about the diverse needs of the 
children being cared for and reach beyond the basics. A critical piece 
of quality childhood development education is understanding how to best 
care for children who have experienced trauma and adverse events, 
including how to identify children early who could benefit from 
referrals for specialized services and how to care for children through 
a trauma-informed lens. Mental health challenges for children have been 
rising due to the pandemic, and this compounds the trauma that our 
foster youth, homeless children, and children who have experienced or 
witnessed violence have already been through. All too often our 
children who need help the most are the ones least likely to get it. So 
as we work to expand access to quality child care programs, how can we 
best build in trauma-informed training?
    Answer. One of the best ways to build in trauma-informed care 
training, along with ensuring ongoing or forthcoming funding increases 
for childcare, local or regional child care resource and referral 
organizations, could:

          Work to establish a continuity of care and 
        collaboration with programs and service providers demonstrating 
        expertise in infant and early childhood mental health to 
        provide support and information on trauma exposure, its impact, 
        and treatment options for young children.

                Y  For example, one evidence-based, effective strategy 
                that providers may consider is Infant and Early 
                Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC).

                Y  IECMHC is a prevention-based approach that teams 
                mental health professionals with people who work with 
                young children and their families to improve their 
                social, emotional, and behavioral health and 
                development in the settings where children learn and 
                grow.

                Y  IECMHC builds the capacity of providers and families 
                to understand the powerful influence of their 
                relationships and interactions on young children's 
                development. IECMHC can improve children's well-being 
                and help prevent mental health problems due to the 
                Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation 
                partnership with adults in children's lives.

                Y  IECMHC includes skilled observations, individualized 
                strategies, and early identification of children with 
                and at risk for mental health challenges.

          Ensure State child care administrators receive 
        guidance on offering childcare providers avenues to use funds 
        for IECMHC as streamlined a manner as possible.

                Y  For example, this may involve allowing providers to 
                ``opt-in'' to direct a portion of funds for IECMHC 
                through a State-administered IECMHC network or to 
                ``opt-in'' to regionally/locally coordinated IECMCH 
                services that the State arranges or encourages with 
                regional health and human services entities.

    Additional considerations:

          Allow a State's use of quality child care funds to 
        support the training and professional development of the child 
        care workforce through activities that build awareness, skills, 
        and leadership for child care providers related to implementing 
        best practices in trauma-informed care.

                Y  For example, allow funds to support culturally and 
                linguistically appropriate training, emphasizing and 
                acknowledging the compounding impact of structural 
                inequity and addressing trauma's intersections with 
                culture, history, race, gender, location, and language 
                among young children.

          The ARP highlighted how childcare stabilization funds 
        could support caregivers and families' mental health, which 
        moves the needle toward a culture of care. However, additional 
        support could aid in establishing mental health consultation 
        networks as resources for referral that can address, minimize, 
        and treat secondary traumatic stress and increase staff 
        wellness.

    Visit the Center of Excellence page to learn additional information 
about what IECMHC is: https://www.iecmhc.org/about/.
                                 ______
                                 
      Responses by Susan Gale Perry to Questions of Senator Rosen
                             senator rosen
    Question 1. As we talk about improving workforce training for child 
care providers, we need to also think about the diverse needs of the 
children being cared for and reach beyond the basics. A critical piece 
of quality childhood development education is understanding how to best 
care for children who have experienced trauma and adverse events, 
including how to identify children early who could benefit from 
referrals for specialized services and how to care for children through 
a trauma-informed lens. Mental health challenges for children have been 
rising due to the pandemic, and this compounds the trauma that our 
foster youth, homeless children, and children who have experienced or 
witnessed violence have already been through. All too often our 
children who need help the most are the ones least likely to get it. So 
as we work to expand access to quality child care programs, how can we 
best build in trauma-informed training?

    Answer. North Carolina recognizes that a high-quality early 
childhood system must incorporate mental health supports and a trauma-
informed lens to improve outcomes for children in both the short and 
long term. The North Carolina Early Childhood Action Plan, released in 
2019, outlines actionable measures North Carolina will take to increase 
social emotional well-being and resilience in the state's early 
childhood system. Accordingly, our state is investing in scaling 
initiatives that work, and building innovative programs to meet this 
goal.

    In April, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human 
Services established a new Division of Child and Family Well-Being. 
This new Division will bring together programs across multiple 
divisions to maximize services and outcomes for children and their 
families, including all child nutrition programs (WIC, SNAP and CACFP), 
the full range of prevention services for children beginning at birth, 
children's mental health services, and early intervention programs.

    Examples of Current North Carolina Initiatives for Trauma-Informed 
Child Care:

          In 2005, North Carolina launched the Promoting 
        Healthy Social Behaviors in Child Care Centers (HSB) project 
        which uses the evidence based CSEFEL Pyramid Model to improve 
        the social, emotional, and behavioral health of children in 
        licensed child care centers. This is accomplished by providing 
        specialized professional development and coaching to early 
        childhood teachers. HSB coaching provides teachers with 
        specific skills and knowledge that reduces preschool expulsions 
        and increases teachers' abilities to provide socially and 
        emotionally responsive classrooms.

          In 2018, the North Carolina Department of Health and 
        Human Services partnered with Duke University to develop an 
        intensive training and coaching initiative for infant and 
        toddler teachers and child care center administrators. The 
        goals of this initiative are to: (1) promote understanding of 
        the impacts of stress and trauma on infants and toddlers; (2) 
        develop the skills of infant/toddler teachers to form 
        supportive, resilience-building relationships with children in 
        their classrooms; and (3) identify strategies to support early 
        childhood teacher health and well-being.

          In 2021, the Department partnered with the North 
        Carolina Infant and Young Child Mental Health Association to 
        establish an early childhood mental health endorsement system 
        for mental health and technical assistance practitioners. The 
        endorsement will establish standards and a recognition system 
        for practitioners who provide early childhood mental health and 
        wellness-related supports to early childhood teachers and 
        staff.

          Through recent Federal investments in early 
        intervention, North Carolina will increase access to early 
        intervention services and strengthen infant mental health 
        supports by expanding program eligibility to include children 
        at-risk for developmental delay. Families with infants and 
        toddlers who meet eligibility criteria will have increased 
        access to specialized supports and services addressing trauma 
        and augmenting resilience. Currently, North Carolina early 
        intervention personnel and providers receive training and 
        professional development in trauma-informed care, social 
        emotional screening, assessment, and diagnostic tools.

    Recommendations for Expanding Trauma-Informed Early Childhood 
Education:

        1. Require and dedicate funding for child and adult mental 
        health supports and trauma-informed care in child care 
        settings.

        2. Require IDEA Part B (619) to support whole child services, 
        including provisions for social and emotional health, in a 
        manner similar to IDEA Part C.

        3. Fund research and development for scalable early childhood 
        classroom interventions that promote mental well-being and 
        address childhood trauma including the effects of racism and 
        other systemic oppressions.
                                 ______
                                 
  Responses by Khadija Lewis Khan to Questions of Senator Lujan, and 
                             Senator Rosen
                             senator lujan
    Question 1. Ms. Lewis Khan, your testimony highlights those 
disparities in development emerge in infancy and widen over time. We 
know, however, that high-quality child care programs and educators can 
close these gaps. Would quality child care providers also reduce close 
poverty gaps for working families and for their children in the short-
and long-term?

    Answer. As you noted, high-quality child care and early learning 
programs are instrumental in working with families to identify, provide 
the necessary supports, and mitigate developmental disparities in young 
children. In partnership with services like Early Intervention, Early 
Head Start, and Head Start, we are able to intervene and help ensure 
children have as strong of a foundation as possible during these 
critically important early years.

    This partnership that exists between families, programs, and early 
childhood educators is also instrumental in addressing some of the 
adverse impacts that families experience as a result of living in 
poverty. Beautiful Beginnings Child Care Center and early learning 
communities are critically important hubs for families. We allow 
families to return to work or stay employed, to pursue educational 
degrees, and/or to carry out other caretaking needs with the peace of 
mind that their children are safe, well taken care of, and actively 
expanding their learning and development.

    Thanks to partnerships that child care programs have developed with 
other organizations across our communities, families have access to 
important services that allow them to navigate difficult realities like 
food and housing insecurity or limited access to healthcare services. 
At Beautiful Beginnings, along with many childcare centers working with 
families in poverty, we provide three nutritional well balanced meals a 
day for our children. We host evidence based, culturally competent 
parenting groups that improve children's relationships with their 
parents and improve children's life outcomes. We are trusted and 
reliable members of families' community. Without a doubt, child care 
and early learning programs are invaluable community hubs for families, 
especially those living in poverty.

    However, the supports quality programs share with families living 
in poverty are not enough to address the problem of poverty in its 
totality. While high-quality child care can help alleviate some of the 
pressures families living in poverty are experiencing, they do not 
remove all of the underlying causes leading families to live in 
poverty. I implore Members of Congress to address root causes that 
leave too many families, and by extension too many children, in our 
country to live in poverty. High costs of living, jobs that don't pay a 
living wage, a lack of paid and sick leave, and systemic barriers 
rooted in generations of racism, classism, and sexism that deny access 
to economic progression, particularly for Black, Indigenous, Latino, 
and other families of color, are some of the underlying causes to 
poverty that when coupled with unaffordable child care costs or a lack 
of access to safe, quality child care create what feel like inescapable 
conditions for families in poverty.

    Yet, the reality is that there are policy solutions, that when 
paired with access to affordable, quality child care and early 
learning, can have a significant impact on reducing poverty, especially 
for young children and their families, in the short-and long-term. Some 
of these solutions can be found in A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty. 
a policy agenda released after the National Academy of Sciences study 
on child poverty, as well as in the Our Kids, Our Future: Solutions to 
Child Poverty in the U.S. compendium released by the U.S. Child Poverty 
Action Group outlining more than 20 papers that provide recommendations 
to significantly reduce child poverty and improve child well-being.

    I undoubtedly think that high-quality child care and early learning 
programs play a critical role in supporting families in poverty in the 
short-and long-term, yet our work alone is not enough to drastically 
alleviate and end poverty in this country. I, and so many of my 
colleagues in the early care and education space, remain committed to 
working alongside you to identify and implement policy solutions that 
will bring young children and their families, including those of many 
members of the early learning workforce who are forced to subsist on 
poverty level wages, out of poverty.

    Thank you once again for this opportunity and I look forward to 
continued discussion and partnership.

                             senator rosen
    Question 1.As we talk about improving workforce training for child 
care providers, we need to also think about the diverse needs of the 
children being cared for and reach beyond the basics. A critical piece 
of quality childhood development education is understanding how to best 
care for children who have experienced trauma and adverse events, 
including how to identify children early who could benefit from 
referrals for specialized services and how to care for children through 
a trauma-informed lens. Mental health challenges for children have been 
rising due to the pandemic, and this compounds the trauma that our 
foster youth, homeless children, and children who have experienced or 
witnessed violence have already been through. All too often our 
children who need help the most are the ones least likely to get it. So 
as we work to expand access to quality child care programs, how can we 
best build in trauma-informed training?''

    Answer. Young children require nurturing, supportive, and 
consistent relationships with their guardians and caregivers to thrive. 
They also require collaborative engagement among the people who care 
for them. In order to best meet the needs of young children, who have 
experienced adversity, we need to support the educators who spend the 
majority of the day with the children. Investing in training, ongoing 
professional development, and effective supervision are necessary 
systems of support for educators. Early childhood mental health 
consultation, that is trauma-informed, developmentally appropriate, and 
culturally relevant, are important for educators to effectively work 
with all children, especially those dealing with trauma.

    In my experience, early childhood educators are often the ones to 
have consistent conversations with families about their child's growth 
and development including red flags for developmental delays or 
concerns in children's social emotional or cognitive development. In 
consultation with the family, we often refer children to Early 
Intervention, or to the child's pediatrician for follow-up, if 
necessary. Due to the trusting relationship that we build with each 
child and their family, we are able to have honest conversations with 
the aim of supporting the child and family to improve their situation 
and promote healthy development. Sometimes this includes helping 
alleviate stress at home by connecting families with services such as 
domestic violence supports, housing, food assistance, job search and 
connections to other support services in the community.

    The child care environment can be a place of hope and healing. With 
well-prepared teachers and administrators, who are not constantly 
turning over as a result of low compensation, children are able to 
develop strong and stable bonds with the people who are caring for 
them. These bonds lay the foundation for healthy growth and development 
over the child's lifetime. Children cannot effectively learn when their 
basic needs for safety security have not been met. Renee Boynton 
Jarrett (2016, The Raising of America), reminds us that in the early 
years, children are learning about the world around them through the 
answers to these critical questions, ``Is this a safe world?; What will 
happen when I feel afraid?; What will happen when I feel hungry?; What 
will happen when I feel scared?; Can I count on you?''

    For child care to promote development and mental health, and best 
meet the needs of vulnerable children and families, we need to consider 
multiple levels of influence, for example:

          Child care teachers' capacities to develop secure 
        attachment relationships with each of the children in their 
        care;

          Organizational practices that hire, support, and 
        retain staff who reflect, and respect, the diversity of the 
        children and families they serve;

          Systemic professional development and resources that 
        support the workforce in strength-based and trauma-informed 
        practices with the goal of nurturing relationship formation and 
        dismantling biased attributions;

          Training protocols that build in opportunities for 
        child care providers to build skills such as: Observation, 
        Intentional Listening and Empathy, and Informal Assessment 
        (ie., wondering with parents about the child's unique 
        vulnerabilities, strengths and needs);

          Supports for child care providers to feel empowered 
        to engage with home visitors, early intervention and mental 
        health professionals (and others) as part of a care 
        coordination team, as needed;

          We also need to remain aware that early childhood 
        educators are often experiencing trauma themselves. This is the 
        trauma that comes from living in poverty and not being able to 
        consistently make ends meet financially. According to the 2020 
        Early Childhood Workforce Index, the wages of child care 
        educators are only considered livable wages in 10 of the 50 
        states. How much longer will we force early childhood educators 
        to remain consistent in the lives of the children in their 
        care, to continuously display and maintain a focus on the 
        growth and development of the children in their care, all while 
        shouldering the weight of worrying about their own family's 
        survival because they are making such low compensation?

    Child care in centers and homes can also be a critical component to 
reverse the effects of trauma in children's early years. The ACE's 
(Adverse Childhood Experiences Study) conducted by the CDC showed that 
children experiencing early childhood trauma are much more likely to 
face social, physical and mental health problems. The Center for the 
Developing Child at Harvard states, ``the single most common factor for 
children who develop resilience is at least one stable and committed 
relationship with a supportive parent, caregiver or another adult.'' 
This relationship has the potential to reverse the negative effects of 
childhood trauma and promote resilience to overcome that adversity and 
persevere. Early Head Start and Head Start are also both excellent 
programs to invest in as they offer the wrap around supports that so 
many vulnerable children and families need to move from surviving to 
thriving.

    Over my many years in the field, I have also seen how the 
relationship between teachers and families have reduced families' 
feelings of isolation, and increased their confidence in their own 
skills as parents. For the past 6 years, we have offered an annual, 
evidence-based program called the Incredible Years. This 14 week 
parenting group is designed to prevent and treat young children's 
behavior problems and promote their social, emotional and academic 
competence. This program has built community amongst families, and 
supported parent's development of skills to promote their child's 
positive growth and development.

    Supporting our early educators with specialized social-emotional 
training, connection to services such as mental health consultation, 
Early Intervention, as well as supportive supervision is critical for 
supporting children experiencing trauma. Supporting parents and 
guardians in gaining new skills to promote healthy social and emotional 
development is an important component in reducing the risk of children 
experiencing ongoing trauma. Last, funding early education in a way 
that allows our educators to make living wages so that they can focus 
on the important roles that they play in the lives of children and 
families without the worry about their own families suffering and 
struggling to survive is crucial.
                                 ______
                                 
    [Whereupon, at 11:54 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]

                                   [all]