Child care report spells out recommendations for addressing industry issues

Some people are born to nurture other people’s children. Kerri Tietgen sees this first-hand.

Her sister works in the child care profession and from her own childhood knew that was what she wanted to do, said Tietgen, executive director of EmBe.

Tietgen also has seen the sacrifices her sister and others in child care make on a daily, monthly and yearly basis. In May 2022, the average child care worker earned $12.34 an hour, or less than $25,000 a year.

However, child care takes up a hefty chunk of people’s incomes in a city where the average median income stands at $66,731. That means some people who want to be in the workforce cannot do so because of the costs for one child — let alone two or more — in day care. In Sioux Falls, it costs an average of $11,385 a year.

Families statewide face the same issues. Across South Dakota, 81 percent of families make less than $100,000 annually.

If the recommendations in a six-month study that recently concluded are followed, the child care crisis in Sioux Falls and around the state could ease. Last fall, the Sioux Falls Childcare Collaborative, Sioux Falls Thrive, the Sioux Falls Development Foundation and the city of Sioux Falls began to look for solutions.

Results of the study, released today, found the challenges must be solved through a community effort. It cannot rest solely on the work of child care providers and parents, according to the Community Childcare Initiative report.

“These needs and this concern cannot continue to ride on the backs of child care providers and the parents who pay them,” said Michelle Erpenbach, president of Sioux Falls Thrive. A collective conversation is needed because there are three levels: community, business and the state.

The top recommendation is for the creation of an Office of Child and Youth Development. Its overseer hasn’t been established yet — it could be at the city level or in economic development. The second recommendation is described as “increasing pathways to the profession.” That includes eliminating the attitude that child care is merely “leaving the kids at the babysitter for the day” and increasing the perception that it is a professional industry.

Proposals in the report include:

• Creating a high school dual-credit program.
• Developing internships and on-the-job training for credit programs at institutions of higher education.
• Expanding the Build Dakota Scholarship & TEACH Grant through the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation.

Karen Rieck has worked in professional day care for 20 years, both in larger centers and now operates Mrs. Karen’s House Childcare and Preschool in her home. The community needs both options, she said. Some children thrive better in in-home child care. Others find their place in larger centers. The decision is a case of meeting each child’s needs where they are, she said.

But Sioux Falls does not have enough child care centers or

+people to staff them. The city has 12,260 licensed slots and about 12,900 children with parents in the workforce. And 64 percent of child care centers cannot fill to capacity because they can’t hire enough workers. In addition, staff turnover stood at 88 percent in 2021.

Child care centers are seeing increased expenses in areas such as food and heating costs, Rieck said. They hesitate, however, to increase their rates by even $10 a week.

“They’re afraid to do so because they know it’s a burden on families,” she said.

Sioux Falls saw a population growth rate of 3.1 percent in 2021, or an influx of 6,284 new residents. That means the child care crisis is very much a business issue, the report stresses.

And at the community level, there are different ways of funding programs and efforts that can lead to increased child care and, therefore, continued economic vitality. Those include business incentive grants to work with employers to match funds to create and invest in building child care facilities, said Stacy Jones, CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Sioux Empire. Another example is to increase funding at the Helpline Center, which gathers and disseminates child care information, she said.

A third option is expanding subsidies for families who earn from 209 percent to 350 percent of the federal poverty level. A sliding-fee scale would determine family eligibility and copayment rates to provide partial assistance to struggling families. Starting with $2.5 million potentially could provide substantial support to up to 500 families who struggle to afford child care, the report said.

Rebecca Wimmer came to the study committee with a school district perspective. She is the community partnerships coordinator with the Sioux Falls School District. Teachers know when a child begins school whether they have been enrolled in a quality program that prepares them for academics, she said. Many good things happen when a child is engaged in an environment where they are urged to explore, dig, pull apart and put together.

“That happens at home with mom and dad or auntie and uncle or at in-home or center-based providers,” Wimmer said. “Kids who have exposure to this environment come to school ready to learn how to be good lifelong learners.”

If child care providers are expected to be responsible for young brains and bodies and their future success, they need to be paid a wage that acknowledges that leadership, Wimmer said. Eighty percent of a child care provider’s income goes back to salaries.

“It’s a vicious cycle,” Wimmer said. “We know we need to raise wages, and we all wish we could pay staff more. In order to do that, we need to raise rates, but families already can’t afford the rates.”

If people are paid what they should be paid, the gap will widen, so a multipronged approach is needed, Wimmer said.

It will take a community effort, Erpenbach said. Currently, one conversation centers on the proposed Office of Child and Youth Development, how it might work and who might fund it.

Through the Community Childcare Initiative, future action has been laid out, she said.

“The next steps are up to all of us,” Erpenbach said.

If a parent needs to work but can’t afford child care, the ripple will affect everyone, Tietgen said. Businesses that are short-staffed cannot provide the services residents need.

“It affects your bank, your insurance, your mortgage company, every place you go to and visit,” she said. “Without those (people) going to work, our communities will crumble.”

The child care report can be found here. It includes a report aimed at helping employers find solutions.