Equity, economics and education

By DEVIN WEEKS

Staff Writer

Child care costs money.

Money requires work.

Work requires child care.

But … child care costs money.

"As we know, parents today are working more than ever. It's extremely difficult in most people’s households to survive on just one income, and it’s no longer the case where one parent works and stays home, and I would also add we have single adult households," said Keri Stark, director of community impact for United Way of North Idaho. "Affordable and high quality care is a necessity which allows parents to stay engaged and productive in the workforce, but public funding for early care and education is minimal."

Stark said that full-time care for infants can easily cost $600 a month. The cost of outside care for two children younger than 5 can exceed $900, "and that’s 20 to 30 percent of the survival income."

Those who qualify for state assistance through the Idaho Child Care Program, which helps pay for a portion of child care costs, will be subjected to the full cost of child care if they receive a pay raise that bumps them just over the line of eligibility, regardless of the amount of the increase. This can cause people to actually reject higher wages, Stark said.

"This can be really terrifying for a parent who’s trying to raise their family out of poverty," she said. "In fact, this particular structure penalizes parents for their success because the full cost of childcare outweighs any income gains that they made."

Stark was one of three presenters who spoke Wednesday evening during the Equity and Economics of Education public forum in the Coeur d'Alene Library Community Room. About 20 citizens attended the forum, which was hosted by the Kootenai County League Women Voters, a bipartisan political organization that encourages informed and active participation in government.

The forum explored the relationship between early education and economic opportunity as well as the pros and cons of full-day kindergarten. Presently, four Coeur d'Alene schools are offering full-day kindergarten and two — Sorensen Magnet School and Hayden Meadows — are piloting tuition-based full-day kindergarten, the cost of which is shared by the school district and the parents. The other kindergarten classes in the district are half-day classes.

Coeur d'Alene Superintendent Steve Cook discussed arguments against the full-day program, which include costs, short-lived gains, poor implementation, increased class sizes and problems with equity, while arguments for full-day kindergarten include enhanced academic achievement in literacy and math, decreased achievement gaps, increased school readiness, increased attendance, emotional benefits and access to school breakfast and lunch program.

Cook said full implementation across the district would cost probably $3 million to $5 million, it would require space, teacher training and support, early childhood standards and parental involvement.

"Kids that are in full-day kindergarten are showing a tremendous resilience to bullying, and grit when they get into middle school when emotional growth starts to happen and when people are starting to struggle with, ‘What’s my identity and who am I going to be as an adult?’" Cook said. "Those kids show more resilience."

A recommendation to expand the tuition-based full-day kindergarten pilot will be presented at the Coeur d’Alene School Board meeting at 5 p.m. Monday at Midtown Center.