Child Care: A Case of Need

The One School

A Single-Parent Cooperative

At any given time, approximately 8,000 to 12,000 GULF COAST parents await government assistance for CHILD CARE EXPENSE. It is the longest waitlist of its kind.

As shocking as this number is, an estimated 10 TIMES this many qualify.

State-wide, 1.3 MILLION CHILDREN have parents who meet the federal guidelines for assistance.

Yet, less than 10% receive it due to excessive demand.

A recent study cited Houston as the WORST city in AMERICA for single parents due to a lack of affordable child care and workplace protections.

Magnify Money, April 2019

The REASON?

The MATH doesn’t add up.

A minimum-wage worker earns only $15K a year yet infant daycare runs $10K a year.

And THIS is at a minimum-standard facility.

For comparison, this is the same cost as annual tuition at the University of Houston.

Quality care costs around $20K a year.

Either way, both are COMPLETELY out of reach for low-income Houstonians.

As a result, 3 out of 4 Houston children in child care are in unregulated care, putting both them and their parents at risk for government intervention.

The good news is when Houston DISCOVERS a SOLUTION it can likewise be far reaching.

To solve this, we propose creating a FAITH-BASED, Single-Parent Cooperative, where highly-trained parent volunteers supplement experienced staff to greatly reduce cost.

Understanding the Need

Economically at-risk single parents lack access to safe, affordable child care for their infants and toddlers.

A minimum-wage worker earns only $15K a year yet minimum-standard daycare for ONE INFANT averages $10K annually. Quality daycare can be upwards of $20K.

For help, Texas Workforce Solutions offers a subsidy. But the demand for it is so high the waitlist in the Gulf Coast alone hovers between 8,000 and 12,000 families at any given time. Even more shocking is, an estimated 10 times this amount would qualify yet don’t apply. Parents who do are greeted online with warnings of months-long delays due to funds shortages.

But what about parents who DO get the subsidy?

Their situation isn’t much better. Today, only 6% of Houston child care facilities BOTH accept the subsidy AND participate in Texas Rising Star, the State’s quality-rating system for daycares. This means the vast majority of low-income parents are unable to find any child care seat for their child– much less a good one.

The Result? Many desperate, low-income Houstonians are leaving their children in unsafe conditions often so they can get to work. Today, 3 out of 4 Houston children in child care aren’t even in regulated care (much less quality care), putting both the parent and child at risk for government intervention.

Why is infant & toddler child care so expensive?

Young children require a LOT of supervision.

Consider the following illustration to understand the severe financial pressures Houston infant and toddler care providers are under.

Imagine If for every kindergarten class of 20 children HISD were required to supply 4 teachers.

Then imagine QUALITY classes needed

6 TEACHERS.

THIS is the ratio imposed on early childhood care. For infant care the required ratio is 1:4 (or 2:10 if two teachers), but quality care requires more like 1:3. The result?

Inaccessible child care for the working poor as well as unfair wages for teachers. According to the Center for American Progress 40% of early childhood teachers end up on government assistance at some point in their career.

Texas’ MATH doesn’t work. Project One Day has the efficient solution.