MARIETTA, Ga. — A group of advocates are fighting for more funding to address childcare in Georgia. It comes as federal funds are drying up for critical programs.
However, the Georgia Childcare Association said it's optimistic that Gov. Brian Kemp and state lawmakers can come up with a solution.
Ellen Reynolds, the director of government relations for the Georgia Childcare Association, points to a lack of teachers and funding plaguing childcare services in the state. She advocates on behalf of the 330,000 children who need those services statewide.
"We get our funding from tuition, from the lottery-funded Georgia Pre-K program for those centers that have Georgia Pre-K classrooms, and we get it from Georgia Child and Parent Services," Reynolds said. "We are the industry that makes every other industry possible. If people can’t find quality childcare where they feel safe leaving their children, they can’t go to work.”
Some of the funding Georgia childcare relies on is running dry. Pandemic-era federal funds are running out. At the state level, Gov. Kemp has proposed $50 million in the next year's budget to go toward funding Georgia childcare. Meantime, Reynolds said a state committee recommended $60 million in funding. Reynolds said that funding was crucial because parents are seeing childcare costs increase. The concern revolves around potentially raising taxes to cover the deficits.
"It's really hard to charge parents a lot more than what they're being charged now," Reynolds said. "But if we don't have some assistance from the state, then we have to close down the classrooms because we simply can't afford the teachers at the level they're now demanding."
Sharon Foster owns three childcare centers. 11Alive caught up with her at Bells Ferry Learning Center. Foster relies on state funding for basics like food, rent, insurance and maintenance.
"In one year, I lost $19,000 operating a Pre-K classroom," Foster said. "You can't run very far with that. We're having a harder time finding teachers, too. It's costing us more money to recruit and find good applicants, and we're having to do a lot more training than we used to."
Foster said many teachers and childcare professionals burned out during the pandemic and decided to leave the profession. It has negatively affected the ability to provide adequate and quality care, she said, especially with the increasing trend of aspiring workers who are less experienced. Foster noted that kids need that quality care so that they get a jump start on literacy, develop their brains quicker, and get better prepared for school in Kindergarten and beyond.
For Reynolds, state funding also means investing in Georgia's future, both physically and mentally.
"We desperately need investments in children’s mental health," Reynolds said. "People don’t think there’s mental health in 0–5-year-olds, but that is when 90 percent of the brain is developed. We need this funding to keep the doors open.”