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California’s Child Care Supply: Enrollment Capacity, Facilities Constraints, and Labor Constraints

Saturday, November 15, 8:30 to 10:00am, Property: Grand Hyatt Seattle, Floor: 1st Floor/Lobby Level, Room: Leonesa 3

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

A large literature indicates access for young children to high quality early care and education (ECE) matters for both parents’ employment and their children’s later life success (Herbst 2023). Perhaps reflecting its importance, three-quarters of Californians say they favor increasing government funding to improve child care access for lower-income working parents (Baldassare et al. 2024).  However, facilities and staffing are constraints on expanding a mixed delivery system to meet the diverse needs of families. This panel examines these topics from multiple perspectives, analyzing both aggregate administrative and qualitative data. We focus on California, which has nearly tripled spending on ECE over the past decade as it implements its 2020 Master Plan for Early Learning and Care. Our policy-focused research promises to help the state achieve its goals.


The first paper explores changes in the supply of care available to children 0-4.  The second explores the expansion of California’s first foray into universal preschool – transitional kindergarten (TK) -- newly available to all 4-year-olds through the K-12 system.  In both papers, the authors rely on administrative data to track trends in capacity (subsidized child care) and enrollment (TK) as well as qualitative data to include provider voices.  The third paper uses an Abundance policy framework to understand the role of constraints to facilities and labor supply in expanding early childhood education (ECE).  This paper uses policy reviews, informant interviews, and case studies.


The papers’ findings suggest a nuanced situation when it comes to ECE supply. Licensing data indicates both that licensed capacity has stabilized in recent years and that small family homes are a growing part of the mix. Both due to declines in the number of children and the increase in the number of spaces, there has been growth in the number of regulated child care spaces per child over the past decade.  However, a majority of navigators say that provider supply has decreased, and there is some variation in supply by region. Free TK is reaching more families than ever and contributing to the overall supply of ECE, but it is underutilized by some key populations of families, most notably Latino, Black, and Pacific Islander families. TK providers report being constrained by facilities and staffing in offering even more slots for the state’s four-year-olds.  The abundance framework analysis suggests facilities expansion could be facilitated by special tax districts and infrastructure grants, while labor supply is more challenging to address.

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