Governor Josh Stein signed a law this month to ease child care regulations in an attempt to address the state's shortage of available slots for children at licensed child care providers.
Advocates say the changes could help increase the capacity of child care centers, but providers are also cautious about sacrificing quality by changing their standards.
"It'll introduce a sweeping reform for our child care system," said Monica Howard, CEO and founder of Sunshine Schools, NC, a franchise of child care centers in eastern North Carolina.
Howard and her husband started Little Sunshines Academy in Greenville one month before the pandemic hit, and has grown it into a small chain of schools with 5-star ratings from the state for meeting quality standards. She has been tracking this legislation and plans to implement some of the changes as a pilot program.
"There are areas that we could potentially focus on that would be more impactful, but overall for us, you know, we just will continue to operate as five-star provider," Howard said."Because that's our brand promise, and that's what our parents have experienced and expect."
The law brings immediate changes to staffing, plans to change other regulations
One of the major changes that providers can begin implementing immediately is that the law makes it easier for assistant teachers to become lead classroom teachers. Under the new law, teachers can qualify if they have 5 years experience at a licensed child care center, while before they had to complete classes, often through community colleges, to get the certification.
Howard said this change will make a difference for teachers who may have decades of experience, but no degree.
"What we've seen is that they do have the dream of getting their degree, but things have happened in life that derailed them, and so it's a confidence boost, right? That the years that they put in really mean something," Howard said.
The law would also allow lead teachers to oversee larger groups of children, without changing the overall number of adults required to supervise each child. Howard plans to pilot this new model at her centers.
"But that's not a model that we're shooting for, because the engagement in the teacher really being a part of the setting all day creates stability for the classroom and also gives them insight into the development of each child," Howard said.
I should say it's not widely believed that lots of providers will take on deregulating.Amy Cubbage, North Carolina Partnership for Children
Amy Cubbage of the North Carolina Partnership for Children and SmartStart said this change matters because providers may be able to serve more kids, while still keeping the same required ratio of assistant teachers to children.
"As long as those are covered, then you can have an extra group of children that would be ultimately supervised by or supported by the lead teacher, but who may not always be physically with that group," Cubbage said.
However, child care providers are not required to make these changes.
"I should say it's not widely believed that lots of providers will take on deregulating," Cubbage said. "I think that many of them will maybe make some small changes, but will generally maintain their quality standards that they have now."
The law also requires the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a new study on the market rate of child care, to be used as a reference point for state subsidy rates for children from low-income families. It directs DHHS to create a plan to decouple the state's star ratings from the subsidy rate parents receive, so parents can pay the same fees at lower rated facilities. And it creates a working group to study how to develop group liability insurance for child care providers statewide to help lower individual centers' insurance costs.
Child care advocates call for more state investment in early education
Cubbage says these are all welcome solutions, but that more funding is needed to really address the state's childcare crisis. The law provides regulatory reforms, but doesn't add any new state funding for child care.
"It must be hand in hand with other investments," Cubbage said. "This is a step that's an important step, and providers have advocated for it… and we must have other supports in place, and those aren't fully funded right now."
One example of other investments - this month, the Governor's Task Force on child care and early education recommended setting a floor for the amount of state funding child care providers receive in subsidy reimbursements for serving low-income children. In a report published this month, the task force also recommended that the state explore:
- offering insurance on the state health plan to early education teachers
- increasing access to child care for public employees and students at UNC System universities and North Carolina Community College System through partnerships with higher education and K-12 public schools
- offering subsidized or free child care for early education teachers
- expanding some existing workforce compensation and support programs for early education teachers statewide
The North Carolina House and Senate's respective budget proposals both add funding to the state subsidy rates for children from low-income families, and Cubbage said child care advocates are hopeful state lawmakers may still pass that funding this year.
