KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Perla Gomez can breathe a sigh of relief. Her 4-year-old daughter, Valeria, is enrolled in an early childhood education center.
“I was actually going to quit my job because we didn’t have any daycare,” Gomez said.
Valeria attends El Centro Academy for Children in Kansas City, Kansas, five days-a-week while her mother goes to work and school.
“She loves it.” Gomez said. “On the weekends, she wakes up and is like, ‘Is it a school day?’ Then she’s like, ‘What are we doing, what are we learning?’ ”
A report from the nonprofit IFF last month said the child care system across the Kansas City area is in “crisis.” KSHB 41 News went 360 on the topic, speaking about the challenges and solutions.
Gomez lived through many of the challenges: finding an opening and paying for the service. El Centro’s biggest challenge is staffing.
Today, a task force appointed by Kansas Governor Laura Kelly held listening sessions in the metro. The group will send recommendations to Kelly in December on ways to improve the system.
Kansas City, Kansas-based advocacy group The Family Conservancy has a solution it believes can make a difference across the entire state. It operates two initiatives in Wyandotte County.
“Child care is such an important part of our infrastructure,” said Paula Neth, president and CEO of The Family Conservancy. “Parents can’t go to work if they don’t have roads and bridges. Parents also can’t go to work if they don’t have child care.”
The two initiatives are called “Start Young” and “Grow ECE.” Together they help families pay for child care and help facilities start their own programs, develop teachers, and pay teachers higher salaries. Since 2018, Start Young has helped create 375 new child care openings in Wyandotte County. Grow ECE has helped facilities retain 86% of participating staff members.
“I know those salary supplements helped us to retain [core teachers],” said Dr. Amanda Vega-Mavec, director of El Centro Academy for Children. “They are an incredible group of teachers, a lot of experience, a lot of dedication to our children and our families. I know they appreciate knowing those salary supplements are coming twice a year.”
Gomez is eligible to receive assistance through the Start Young program to cover the cost of child care. She calls the help a blessing.
“I’m so grateful for it because I don’t know if she would still be here if I didn’t have it,” Gomez said.
This week, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly announced roughly $40 million in grants going to early childhood education centers across Kansas.
Today, Missouri Governor Mike Parson approved several budget bills. It sets aside historic amounts of funding for early childhood education. About half of the $160 million dedicated to the issue will help schools expand pre-kindergaten access. Other funding will help facilities raise teacher salaries.
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