(Part 3 of a three-part series.)

Addressing the early childhood education challenges facing families and providers in the Wood River Valley requires money.

The United States is a major outlier among wealthier nations, spending on average $500 per year per toddler, while other rich nations spend an average of $14,000 per year, according to a 2021 study by The Hamilton Project at The Brookings Institution, a nonprofit think tank.

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(Part 1 of a three-part series.)

When the Hailey house that the Sweet Clover School called home for eight years was listed for sale last winter, director Stormi Kilcher immediately began looking for a new space but found viable options few and far between.

To date, she still has not found any attainable spaces, and all the families whose children attended Sweet Clover were forced to make other arrangements for the care and education of their pre-school-aged kids.

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Guest Opinion | Beth Oppenheimer

In case you haven’t heard, the state of child care in Idaho is in a precarious state. If you’re a working parent of a young child, there’s a good chance you’ve struggled to find affordable, reliable child care. If you’re a child care provider, it’s likely you struggle to hire and retain the staff to operate at a capacity that keeps your business solvent. We simply don’t have enough child care openings to accommodate every family who needs care. This affects workforce participation – placing financial strain on working parents – and limiting the pool of candidates.

The worst part is that child care access in Idaho is going to get much worse, before it gets better.

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STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

The Wood River Women’s Foundation has taken the next step with its early learning initiative with the appointment of Kathryn Ivers as the project director of the Wood River Early Learning Collaborative.

One of Ivers’ first tasks was to form an Advisory Council to steer the creation of an early education community for all young children in Blaine County, especially those from underserved families.

The Wood River Women’s Foundation selected early childhood education—specifically, what they called “Closing the Opportunity Gap in Education”-- to be the focus of its first ever Focus Grant. It is collaborating with the Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children (Idaho-AEYC) on the project.

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NAMPA, Idaho — Working parents face an array of challenges in order to meet both the demands of their employer and their children -- but what if more workplaces offered on-site child care? Some industry experts say that could be a solution toward keeping working parents satisfied - and employed - long-term.

"I can speak for myself and for other moms that have said, you know, 'If we don't get a daycare in here, I might have to quit," Clark said. "Because of the cost and also just finding something out there. Right now to find a daycare you have to tell them right when you know you're pregnant. Before you tell anyone else, you have to tell your daycare so that you can get a spot."

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