Read the entire article on the Idaho Press.
Lee Pesky Learning Center (LPLC) recently received support in the amount of $600,000 from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to increase high quality childcare through training and coaching early childcare providers using research-based best practices to support whole child development.
Eric Tegethoff, Public News Service
Image courtesy of Mary Altaffer / Associated Press
Listen to the interview on Idaho Matters.
Child care resources across our state have been shrinking—which has led to fewer options for working families. And many childhood experts say we are now at a point of crisis in Idaho.
Beth Oppenheimer, Executive Director of the Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children, and Alex Labeau, Executive Director of the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry, join Idaho Matters today to discuss how these shortages are impacting Idaho businesses.
Read the full story on The Lewiston Tribune
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, half of Idaho families were living in child care deserts. Some rural communities lacked child care centers. Even in metropolitan areas, however, the capacity fell short of meeting the need.
Kelcie Moseley-Morris, Idaho Capital Sun
For child care providers in Boise, finding a potential employee who already has a license to care for children is like finding a unicorn. They are special, rare and competitive.
In nearly every city surrounding Boise, including Meridian and Eagle, an employee needs only to pass a background check with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, have proper training in CPR and first aid and commit to four hours of training per year to be able to start working.
Read the entire article in the Idaho Statesman.
Idaho’s child care system is collapsing, and the resulting effects will be devastating for families, employers, and our economy. Families that depend on affordable, quality care are being left with few options and many providers are at their breaking point, being unable to find staff to operate at needed capacity.
This situation is dire and, if we do not act to support this industry and its early childhood professionals now, the dwindling of available child care availability will only get worse. While this assessment is bleak, we have never had a better opportunity to address the structural barriers to accessing child care than right now, but we need to be clear on what is causing this problem.
Read the full story from the Editorial Board on the Idaho Statesman
Over the next several months, you may be presented with an opportunity to sign a petition from Reclaim Idaho to put something called the Quality Education Act on the November 2022 ballot. If you get that opportunity, you should sign the petition.
Read the full story on The Post Register
Gov. Little recently sought praise from Idahoans for the large budget surplus Idaho is realizing. The surplus is at least $1.4 billion, plus another $2 billion in federal coronavirus funds coming into the state. But Idaho legislators, and Little himself, do not deserve praise for this large of a budget surplus. They deserve ridicule. And they definitely don’t deserve to keep their jobs if this is how little regard is given to what actually matters to Idahoans across the state.
See the full clip on KTVB.
A recent study conducted by the Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children found that 91 % of child care providers in the state of Idaho are experiencing staffing shortages. The childcare worker shortage comes at a time when many parents are heading back to work or establishing a work-from-home routine.
