Buentello: The cost of child care
I remember when we first decided that I would go back to school to finish my teaching certification. I was so nervous about how I would balance new motherhood with a part-time job and the university's workload. We began pricing out childcare for our son, Noel, when he was seven months old — and we settled on a small, early childhood learning center that prided itself on small caseloads, beautiful bright rooms with lots of board books and highly qualified educators, many of whom were pursuing their own teaching licenses.
And it was $760/month for one kid, full time, back in 2011.
My story really isn't unique, it's the reality that Southern Colorado has been a childcare desert for years, perhaps even decades now. Childcare costs have soared since 2011; it now averages $1,200/month for one child. Keep in mind, the average Pueblo family makes about $49,000; meaning that families shouldn't be spending more than $410/month as per best financial practices.
Because the cost is so high, many are choosing to pursue unlicensed daycare options as they're notably cheaper. The issue is that oftentimes these unlicensed facilities have no formal training, core curriculum and sometimes even lack access to healthy snacks for the kids. There is also an undeniable academic readiness gap for those kids when it's time for them to go to kindergarten, somewhere around age five.
In the last couple of years, our state government has tried to tackle early childhood education and have found some groundbreaking success with the advent of full-day kindergarten and now universal pre-school (thanks, Commissioner Daneya Esgar and Governor Jared Polis!) but this childcare gap for ages 0 - 3 is a vital piece of childhood development and frankly, it is also a major lack of economic development for Pueblo, as there are many families are choosing to forgo these insane costs all together and stay home.
These wage losses are overwhelmingly shouldered by women, particularly Latinas.
That hard choice of staying home versus scraping by in the workforce is a lynchpin of the pay gap, meaning that a Latina will make about fifty-four cents on every dollar that a white man makes over the course of her career. It also means a softer workforce, with less money being generated and spent in our community. One Pueblo study found that increasing access to affordable childcare would generate a $35.5 million dollars in economic impact (CFI, 2020), as more people enter into the workforce and generate more wealth for the community in disposable income.
If we want to give our kids a better start, get more people (especially women!) back in the workforce earning their own money and generating wealth to spend in our local economies, then we need to invest in our kids.
Which is why I was so excited to see a referred measure put forward by our city council, with strong bipartisan support from our County Commissioners D. Esgar and Z. Swearingen. Leveraging a fee increase of less than $2 per stay on Pueblo hotels, we can directly address this shortage and help put more Puebloans to work. We can tackle the pay gap head on, something I'm very excited about as a Latina and Democrat. And we can invest in smart, healthy kids that will grow up to be the pride and strength of Steel City.
Working families need our City Council to pass this ordinance, so that the community can decide on investing in our kids this November. I am thankful to all our Democratic city councilors, and especially Councilwoman Sarah Martinez, for championing this issue. Once it passes, I look forward to campaigning for it this fall to ensure Pueblo has a brighter, wealthier, smarter future for our kids.
Bri Buentello is a Pueblo mom, former special education teacher, and served as the state representative for House District 47. She is the Government Affairs Director for Stand for Children Colorado, a nonprofit organization that advances educational equity and racial justice through meaningful partnerships with families, educators, schools, and policymakers.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Buentello: The cost of child care
