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Perspective | Why is child care so expensive? What we can do about it

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Editor’s Note: This piece was originally published in Early Learning Nation magazine. 

Cover: Why is Child Care So Expensive? What Can We Do About It.
Page 2: A couple wonders why child care is in high demand and so expensive while discussing on the couch. A family should only spend 7 percent of income on child care to be considered affordable, but the number is closer to 20 percent.
Page 3:In 2024 America, most children live in families where both people work, but parents need child care to work.
Page 4: A man asks: can they just add an extra kid to the class? Woman says it’s not that easy because of the staffing ratios required.
Page 5: What else makes child care so expensive? Many things- taxes, payroll, rent, insurance, supplies, furniture, food, licensing fees, marketing, water, toys, electricity, trash.
Page 6: K-12 education is different. It is subsidized by the federal government. The investment does not exist in child care.
Page 7: So what can be done? The federal government can invest in child care.
Page 8: With federal investment in child care, more people can go to work. We’d have lower rates of absenteeism, more providers can be paid a living wage.
Page 9: Has this been done before? Yes, and with ARPA and it worked.
Page 10: The free market is never going to fix child care. We just need to find the political will to create that federal investment.