Florida parents struggle with childcare costs

After graduating from Florida A&M University, Lucy Criton and her husband moved to Eatonville, where they tried to raise a family in the town where she grew up. Criton accepted administrative work at a law firm, and wanted to work there for several years before attending law school.

But when the couple’s first child was born almost three years ago, the high costs of daycare derailed that plan.

“We would have literally used my checks just to cover the costs of childcare, so it makes a bit of sense to be at home,” he says, caring about his now-3-year-old nephew. said Criton, the mother of two children, ages 1 and 2.

Although he was grateful for the extra time with the kids, Criton’s family felt a loss in her income – her husband is an Orange County Sheriff’s deputy – and she wants to return to her career I was thinking about it.

“My husband had the opportunity to chase after some promotions as he actually had to get out of the workforce,” she said. “But for the sake of my family, I’ve been in a bit of a dead end.”

Many parents are in Criton’s predicament, as the average cost of raising a child, over $12,600 a year, is on average, across Florida and the country. Parents of young children who continue to be employed but pay expensive nursery bills often have to adhere to strict budgets and find themselves unable to build savings.

In short, high childcare costs are hurting families, businesses, and even the state economy, experts say. However, financial aid to help parents in need is limited, and there appears to be little chance of governments and businesses providing more.

Makaila Buchanan, director of early learning and literacy at the Florida Chamber of Commerce Foundation, said access to affordable childcare is “really important for our economy to flourish.”

According to a 2023 report by the Foundation on the Economic Impact of Childcare, employers who are leaving and absent childcare-related employees cost Florida employers an estimated $3.47 billion each year. 28% of Florida parents like Critton have made changes to their employment due to childcare issues, the report found.

The foundation hopes that businesses will become part of the solution and supports efforts to provide tax credits to employers who provide childcare.

“The business community has to be engaged. This is not just a government solution,” Buchanan said.

Rep. Maxwell Frost of D-Orlando wants more involvement and funding in government childcare, but as the Trump administration moves to cut federal spending, the desire for such a move is It doesn’t seem to be that much.

“We are the richest county on this planet and have the resources to ensure that childcare is affordable,” Frost said.

Florida provides financial support to some families for childcare. However, to qualify, the family’s income must be below 150% of the federal poverty level. This is $48,225 for a family of four.

“Officers and teachers and EMS workers, all the people, they make it right above it,” says Scott Fritz, CEO of Orange County’s Early Learning Coalition, the organization that manages the state’s funds. said.

Orange’s first-year teachers earn $49,475 a year, for example.

It doesn’t get help to many families, but still struggles to pay the childcare bills.

Erin Danner, a speech-language pathologist at a Central Florida public school, said she knows teachers who left the profession because childcare ate a lot of their salary.

“I always think it’s pointless if public schools had some kind of day care for teachers? They feel like they can keep more teachers like that,” Danner said. Ta.

Danner, an eighth grade teacher, and her husband, managed to stay in the workforce, even three young children, ages 2, 4 and 7. But that wasn’t easy.

They have no money in savings, and their family of five lives in Audubon Park House, with only 3 bedrooms and one bathroom, with a family of five, less than 1,200 square feet.

“We bought it in the hopes of adding extra bedrooms and extra bathrooms at some point,” she said. “But because of the cost of daycare, that’s not reasonable for us to do.”

Childcare centres are also struggling and face a shortage of workers due to rising rent and insurance costs and low wages, experts say. They don’t want to price their parents, but they have to pay their bills.

“The constant challenge for preschool owners and supervision is to create high-quality programs that parents want to take their children with, feel safe and keep costs as low as possible,” he said. Ali Demaria said. Day nursery in a winter park.

Teacher salaries account for up to 80% of most kindergarten budgets, Demaria said. To attract quality teachers, she must maintain the teacher’s salary in line with the cost of living.

“Tuition fees continue to increase as all costs continue to increase,” DeMaria said.

If families opt out of childcare because parents are at home, children can also miss out on early learning lessons offered at high quality centers, says Alice, professor of developmental psychology at Rollins University. Davidson said.

These include “critical skills such as cooperation, problem solving, emotional regulation.” “These early basic skills are related to academic success after kindergarten.”

Brittany McMillion is a single mother of three children, ages 2, 8 and 8, and is a medical biller for the Department of Veterans Affairs over $50,000 a year.

She had to find a way to pay for daycare, as her salary is her family’s only income.

“It’s basically a budget that counts all the pennies and makes sure you’re on your budget and allows you to buy your bills,” says McMillion.

Her youngest daycare costs around $720 a month. “That $720 can really help me,” she said.

Even families with six figure incomes struggle to pay for childcare, Fritz added, “You’re talking about mortgage payments for multiple children each month.”

Megan Martin’s family earns around $120,000 a year. She and her husband have three young children. Their youngest serves as nursery schools on winter park days. Her two oldest also work as teachers.

Martins gets a 50% or more discount on employee weekly tuition fees of $260. “One of the unexpected situations or urgent issues can really put us in the hole and push us back for years,” Martin said.

Lucy Criton said her family took a break when Hungerford Elementary School in Etonville became the first school in the Orange County School District, which offers free kindergarten.

The kindergarten was paid by the Travel + Leisure Charitable Foundation and opened in August. Criton’s oldest and her nephew scored a spot in her first class. She also found a daycare in the neighborhood. This provided manageable fees for her youngest part-time care and allowed her to get a part-time job in HR for the Chickfil A franchise.

“It feels like the check is going straight to daycare,” Criton said. “But it gives me the opportunity to leave for a few hours during the day.”

As soon as her youngest is old enough to attend free kindergarten, she plans to apply to law school.