SALT LAKE CITY — Utah is facing what industry professionals are calling a “child care cliff,” which, in the simplest terms, is a sudden drop of affordable and available programs for families.
After years of federal pandemic assistance, the American Rescue Plan Act Child Care Stabilization grant program came to an end this month, meaning day cares and child care centers are considering raising tuition rates or lowering staff numbers and pay.
“The federal relief funds that we received for COVID really were heaven-sent,” said Dr. Katrina Herd, director of Guadalupe School’s Early Learning Center.
The center serves children from a high-risk population and low-income families and tuition is free.
Herd says similar for-profit providers to Guadalupe have had to consider charging families now that the federal funding is gone.
“It’s not something anybody wants to do," she said, "it is just the reality of it.”
Over 70,000 child care programs nationwide are projected to shut down, with Utah one of the five states at the top of the list, according to the Century Foundation.
Parents and child care providers rallied at the Utah State Capitol Wednesday morning in hopes of convincing lawmakers to come to their aid.
“The idea that costs are going to go up here and availability is going to go down is very discouraging. It puts us in tough situations where we have to make very difficult decisions,” said parent William Call.
Call said his wife had to quit her job because the family couldn’t afford rising prices.
“A lot of working families are in the same kind of situation,” he said.
During Wednesday’s stroller rally organized by Care For Kids, the crowd marched outside capitol grounds carrying signs that said “Invest in Utah families” and “More care, less cuts!”
“If you value people who take care of your children more than you do, the teenager who watches them when you go to the movies on the weekend, then it’s time to fund it that way,” said Dr. Herd.
