• Higher monthly earnings;
• Significantly higher home ownership;
• Significantly fewer arrests;
• Significantly higher levels of schooling;
• Significantly fewer social services received in the last 10 years.¹

53.3% of Texas children under age six have all parents in the labor force.

The average annual cost of center-based child care for children ages 0 to 5 in Texas is more than the cost of Public College tuition.²

 Texas has one of the longest waiting lists in the country for child care subsidies.³

Caregivers need a living wage and higher professional standards

Good quality child care is hard to find in a marketplace where child care workers earn an average of $14,340 in Texas, and typically receive no benefits or paid leave.⁴

 The State only requires 8 hours of pre-service training for child care workers, but 1,500 hours for a hairdresser.

Positive caregiver-child interactions are one of the best indicators of a quality child care program.⁵

Schools need students who are able and ready to learn

Children who were enrolled in high-quality programs are:

• Less frequently assigned to special education classes or retained in grade in later years.
• Have better school attendance rates and lower school dropout rates.
• Show greater motivation for learning and commitment to schooling.
• Excel in mastery of pre-reading, reading and math skills, and are better prepared for school.⁶

Businesses need a dependable workforce now and in the future

25% of employees with children less than 12 years old have problems with child care availability 3-5 times in a 3 month period.⁷

Employers pay $3 billion a year due to absenteeism directly related to child care.⁸

Employees with work-family conflicts are three times as likely to consider quitting.⁹

The Community needs to invest public funds wisely to make a difference

Children who were enrolled in high-quality programs are:

• Less likely to participate in at-risk behaviors as teens such as breaking the law and teen pregnancy;
• Less dependent on government programs as primary source of income;
• Have a lower rate of unemployment;
• Show potential for higher lifetime earnings.¹⁰

Every $1 invested in quality early childhood care and education saves as much as $7 by increasing the likelihood that children will be literate, employed, and enrolled in postsecondary education and less likely to be school dropouts, dependent on welfare, or arrested for criminal activity.¹¹

Notes



1. High/Scope Perry Preschool Project (Schweinhart, Barnes, & Weikart, 1993, as described in Shore, 1997)
2. Community Action Network: www.caction.org ; FAQ’s about Early Education and Care
3. Texas has approximately 37,000 children on the waiting list for child care subsidies.  Calculations by the Children’s Defense Fund based on data in Karen Schulman, Helen Blank, and Danielle Ewen, A Fragile Foundation: State Child Care Assistance Policies (Washington, DC: Children’s Defense Fund, 2001) and Danielle Ewen, Helen Blank, Katherine Hart, and Karen Schulman, State Developments in Child Care, Early Education, and School-Age Care 2001 (Washington, DC: Children’s Defense Fund, April 2002).
4. US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2000 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates (2001), at http://www.bls.gov/oes/2000/oessrcst.htm The national average is $16,350.
5. Childcare Resource and Research Unit, The Great Child Care Debate: The Long-Term Effects of Non-Parental Child Care. Online. Available: http://www.childcarecanada.org/resources/CRRUpubs/op7/7op7.html#top . Accessed: November 9, 2002
6. National Association for the Education for Young Children “What are the benefits of high-quality early childhood programs?” 2001.
7. Johnson, A. (1995) The Business Case for Work-Family Programs, Journal of Accountancy (JOA)
8. Adams, G. and Schulman K. (May 1998) Texas: Child Care Challenges Children’s Defense Fund
9. Johnson, A. (1995) The Business Case for Work-Family Programs, Journal of Accountancy
10. National Association for the Education for Young Children “What are the benefits of high-quality early childhood programs?” 2001.
11. W.S. Barnett, “Cost Benefit Analysis,” in L.J. Schweinhart, H.V. Barnes, and D.P. Weikart, Significant Benefits: The High/scope Perry Preschool Study Through Age 27 (Ypsilanti, MI: High/Scope Press, 1993); summary at http://www.highscope.org/Research/PerryProject/perryfact.htm