These schools provide day care – Winnipeg Free Press

NAMPA, Idaho (AP) — When Christina Zimmerman returned to teaching after maternity leave last year, she said she struggled with postpartum depression, which could have led to her leaving her job.

But her school's daycare changed everything, as she knew her daughter was several grades behind.

“I can be a mom and a teacher in the same breath,” said Zimmerman, who teaches fourth grade at Endeavor Elementary School in Nampa, Idaho. “I dreamed of becoming a teacher since the second grade. To be honest, it was what I wanted, but I want to be with my son.”

In states like Idaho and Texas, where funding for early childhood education is limited, some schools are spearheading initiatives to provide quality, affordable child care. It's a retention tool for teachers as much as a way to ensure that young adults are ready when they enter kindergarten.

Some districts are turning donated space — a former recycling center or home — into day care for staff and, in some cases, first responders in the area. Others integrate childcare on their campuses.

Schools are hoping pre-service teachers will not have to choose between careers and motherhood as the education workforce remains largely female.

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Focusing on solutions, this series on how the child care crisis is affecting working parents is produced by the Education Reporting Collaborative, a coalition of eight newsrooms, including the Hechinger Report, AL.com, The Associated Press, The Christian Science Monitor, The Dallas Morning News, Idaho Education News, The Post & Courier and The Seattle Times.

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Data shows that women are more likely than men to leave their careers to take care of children. In addition, according to the National Education Association, teacher salaries have not kept up with inflation, and even childcare costs have become unreimbursable.

Leaving the workforce can be an attractive option for educators with young children, adding to the retention challenges schools already have.

“If we're going to support our community, … we need the best teachers in the classroom,” said Tabitha Branum, superintendent of Richardson Schools north of Dallas. There are two daycares in her district that have more of a purpose.

“It's one of the strategies we have to attract and retain the best of the best,” Branum said.

In 2022, district leaders reported an increase in staff vacancies across the country; Most administrators – 63% – cited the pandemic as the reason. Last school year, nearly 1 in 4 teachers said they were likely to quit because of stress, frustration, low pay and heavy workloads, according to a RAND survey.

School-sponsored child care can alleviate this stress.

The pain of leaving her three-month-old daughter Grace with her caregiver every day still haunts Heather Yarbrough 14 years later.

She cried every day for weeks, but she couldn't afford to quit her job as an elementary education specialist in Nampa.

Yarbrough and her husband, both educators, needed two incomes to make ends meet. Over time, he realized that the career was healthy for him and his family.

This led him to a eureka moment: “Why do we have to choose? There has to be a better way,” he said.

Now Endeavor's principal, she has overseen the day care on campus. Funded through a combination of grants and parent contributions, the program is in its fourth year. It has become a recruitment and retention tool for the district, which does not pay teachers the same salaries as neighboring districts.

About ten of the 30 teachers in the school use the full-time department.

Childcare for school staff has significant benefits for students, says Wang-Kim Lin, an early childhood development researcher at the nonprofit Child Trends.

Children can build stronger relationships with educators, counselors or other staff because shifts are reduced and children are on campus at a younger age.

“It's a great strategy that you can use to support kids, families, and on the other hand, neighborhoods and their workforce,” he said.

Molly Hillier, instructional coach at Endeavor and mother of a child in daycare, says, “It's good for the students because when you have happy teachers … they can instill that in the kids.”

The school's teaching staff is predominantly young and female, so it's common for teachers to leave the workforce to care for their babies or move to less stressful or higher paying jobs. In Nampa, teachers start around $44,000 and earn about $69,000, compared to about $47,000 to $86,000 in the nearby Boise School District.

But now, “the Nampa school district can offer me something no one else can,” Zimmerman said. “The time spent with my child is priceless – it is equal to gold.”

When Texas school counselor Kelly Mountjoy decided to start a family, she wondered if she could juggle work and motherhood.

After three children, she and her husband considered adding another child to their family. However, the costs add up: She was paying more than $1,200 a month to send one of her children to day care. So they hesitated.

“With that many kids, it's impossible to pay for childcare,” said Mountjoy, who works at Parkhill Junior High School in Richardson.

But the district now offers subsidized child care to teachers for just $350 a month. That made all the difference for Mountjay, who was able to save about $1,700 a month between her two youngest children.

“We can have another baby as much as we want,” Mountjoy said. “We could handle it.”

Frustrated by failed legislative efforts to fund teacher raises, Texas school officials recently began opening up strategies for recruiting and retaining teachers. Larger districts with larger budgets offered higher wages, while others used four-day school weeks or other incentives to make the work easier.

“We may not be able to pay every teacher what we can afford,” Richardson Superintendent Branum said. “But what if we could create a compensation package that would take some of the stress out of them?”

Richardson's starting salary is $60,000, above the state average of about $53,300, but still in a competitive market in the Dallas area. RISD now offers an urgent care clinic for employees with a $10 copay, no insurance required, and free consultations, along with childcare assistance.

The district operates two early childhood academies, Little Eagles and Little Mustangs, which serve more than 120 children from 6 weeks to 3 years of age, when they are eligible to participate in the district's pre-K program.

With more than 134 children on the district's waiting list at the end of April, Branum said they are considering another center that could open next year.

Maunjoy says the discount gives her peace of mind knowing her children will receive high-quality care.

“I know my children will be well taken care of,” Mountjoy said. “They know the kids personally and know their strengths and where they struggle.” ___

Randy Schrader of Idaho Education News contributed.

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