by Mary Loden
maryloden@clreporter.com
There is a child care crisis in Iowa, and across the nation, and it’s not from lack of daycare centers. The lack of childcare workers due to low wages is the crux of the problem. Kelli Gerdes, Population Health Manager at Cerro Gordo Public Health, has been speaking to local Chambers of Commerce, businesses and the County Board of Supervisors to initiate a Wage Enhancement Program.
The Cerro Gordo (CG) Public Health Department received a grant from the de Beaumont Foundation in January to investigate the root causes of the childcare crisis and come up with a solution.
“Over the course of these nine months, we’ve done a lot of real data. We’ve talked with all of our centers, and almost 90 percent of our in-home providers, on things that they’re experiencing here locally this summer, and what’s still impacting them,” Gerdes told the CG County Supervisors at a Board-Staff discussion prior to the weekly meeting on Sept. 18. “Wages seems to be the number one issue with all of our centers and in-home providers.”
Gerdes explained that the county’s childcare centers have the physical capacity to add hundreds of additional children, but they don’t have the workforce to staff them. She said the starting wage for a childcare worker is $9.51/hour with average pay topping off at $11.81/hour. “This is the third lowest position in all of Iowa behind lifeguards and locker room attendants…. and a lot of the people that are in this sector are mothers, and a lot of them are single mothers. So, to live on this type of wage, it’s just unsustainable.”
One of this area’s largest childcare providers, Charlie Brown Daycare Center (two in Mason City and one in Clear Lake) has cut back on hours and has had to close classrooms once a week in two of their locations. The classroom closings leave some parents no choice but to take time off from work.
“So our request and solution locally is to start a Wage Enhancement Program,” Gerdes said, adding that this has already worked well for several years in Hamilton and Johnson Counties in Iowa. “What they do is create community, public and private investments into a wage program. That money is then paid back out to the staff of those providers.”
Gerdes said their Wage Enhancement proposal is to start at $2/hour, which would allow to reach that $11.81 – $13.81 wage with
