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That’s more than 10 times the amount set aside for child care in the CARES Act in the spring and follows $10 billion in aid that passed right at the end of 2020. The money would be crucial for centers struggling to keep their doors open, advocates and lawmakers said. The amount in the bill is also right in line with athat passed the House with bipartisan support last year but never made it to the Senate.
The infusion of cash marks a turning point when it comes to the federal government’s support of child care, a long-neglected and long-suffering stepchild of the public education system staffed primarily by underpaid women of color. relatively noncontroversial. While some Republican lawmakers have lamented that the bill provides an unnecessary amount of aid to K-12 schools, they’ve been largely silent on child care funding.
And while there’s been a big conversation lately about reopening public schools, there’s been far less attention paid to the child care sector, partly because many of these centers were open throughout the crisis. Though essential to working parents, child care centers operate on a shoestring. The workers responsible for educating little children earn poverty wages. The median annual salary for a child care worker is just $11.65 an hour in the United States, according to a
Last December, Marcia St. Hilaire-Finne, who runs a child care center in Washington, D.C., wondered how much longer she could stay in business, operating at loss with fewer kids and less money coming in.The aid from the CARES Act has helped many centers muddle through, but that’s run out. The money Congress set aside in December is also helping at the moment, but experts say it won’t last the year.