Northern Virginia Community College Early Childhood Development Professor Christine Schull was honored to join a pivotal roundtable discussion addressing the urgent child care crisis in the region alongside U.S. Senator Mark R. Warner, child care providers, parents, local policymakers and a NOVA colleague. “It is important to have political support because the child care shortage is dire. Many parents can't even access child care — and when they can, they can't afford it,” said Schull.
The roundtable at Hopkins House McNeil Preschool Academy in Alexandria on June 21 focused on current child care challenges, including access, demand and affordability. The roundtable also addressed federal, state and local initiatives to combat the child care crisis. Child care providers — an often-overlooked but absolutely essential segment of the workforce — are critical to a healthy, functioning economy, regardless of one’s current child care needs. Consider your dental hygienist, who is also a parent, or the person who cuts your hair, or the waitress at your favorite restaurant — they rely on child care, too.
“Child care costs are prohibitively expensive and are about the same nationwide. It costs more for child care than it does to attend a state university for a year. We cannot continue to strive for more with less. We need support,” said Schull.
“We’ve got a huge shortage of people working in the field,” Schull continued. “The staffing problem comes down to wages. We are paying, in many cases, early educators around minimum wage, which makes it difficult for people to stay in the field. But it’s very difficult to pay people more because where is the money going to come from? You have a slim profit margin that was already strained before the pandemic, and the pandemic amplified those problems,” she said.
Schull highlighted Warner's history of actively supporting and showing interest in early learning issues. She noted the senator’s concern regarding the critical shortage of child care and his push for the roundtable event.
Laura McCarty is president of NVAEYC (the Northern Virginia affiliate of the National Association for the Education of Young Children). She is also an adjunct early childhood development professor at NOVA’s Loudoun Campus.
“This event is important because it uplifts the voices of those impacted by the lack of accessible, affordable and high-quality child care in our communities across the commonwealth and highlights the essential workforce that is the foundation for a strong economy,” McCarty said.
“The stories shared during this roundtable provide the faces behind the dire statistics we so often hear about. Elected officials are not experts on every topic. They rely on families, as well as early child care and education professionals, who are the experts. By sharing their stories, educators and families can provide expert knowledge and context to inform and impact future policy,” said McCarty.