Virginia Parents Lose Support As State Funding Dries Up

By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide

Virginia’s $400 million state-supported child care fund recently ran out of funds, at a time when a new report shows that child care now costs more than rent in 16 major U.S. cities.

This means a few months after Virginia legislators, in July, approved $400 million a year to expand childcare and pre-K education during the last legislative session, the funds ran out. Now, a new report shows child care is costing parents more than rent in 16 of the nation’s largest 100 cities including Syracuse, Spokane and Minneapolis.

According to the recent Lending Tree report, in Syracuse, New York, child care costs $1,417 on average, compared to monthly rent for a two-bedroom unit costing $1,126. In Spokane, child care averages $1,588 a month, compared to an average housing rental fee of  $1,304. In Minneapolis, child care costs $1,767 on average. Rent costs $1,622. The average household that pays for child care spends $325 a week, or 18.6 percent of its weekly income, according to the recent LendingTree analysis.

Cities in Virginia are not listed in the new Lending Tree report, which was published Sept. 16, and draws on child care figures from the nonprofit Child Care Aware of America and compares them with federal rent data.

But it is one of several surveys and studies that sound alarms on the rising costs of child care nationwide. In Virginia, $100 million more is now needed to clear the waitlist. According to a recent Radio IQ report, legislators could add additional funds as a budget amendment during the 2025 session.

Democratic Delegate Rodney Willet said there’s still about 10,000 more families in need. “You could say we’re victims of our own success,” the Henrico delegate recently told Radio IQ. “But I think really what it is, there’s just a lot of demand out there. We’re doing our best to meet it.”

In an effort to solve the problem, some Virginia lawmakers are asking more employers to get involved, whether it’s through providing their own childcare or helping cover the costs.

Although child care costs are the No. 1 expense for many families and exceed monthly rent, many childcare centers earn a thin margin after they pay staff about $16 an hour, jump through numerous regulatory hoops to comply with strict child to staff regulations, and sometimes pay high monthly rents in some areas.

“My husband and I spend 50 percent of our take-home pay on the mortgage and daycare for 1 child,” a parent wrote in a Reddit discussion on parenting. “We couldn’t possibly afford another kid in daycare.”

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A Black parent in Ohio, Monica Ward, 32, brings the problem sharply into focus. Ward quit her job after her employer of two months denied her pay increase request. So, she was forced to resign and earn less money to again be eligible for childcare assistance.

Sending her daughter to daycare would’ve cost $700 a month out-of-pocket – or 60 percent of the rent she spends on her $1,150 two-bedroom apartment.

“Absolutely, positively no way I can afford rent and the daycare and food,” she told WordinBlack.com in a June 2023  interview. “When I started working, they also cut my food assistance off.”

Ward said she works odd jobs to make ends meet.

Other parents often face the same dilemma. According to a recent Under 3 D.C. Coalition report, 52 percent of respondents had to reduce their regular work hours due to lack of child care for children under the age of three. Meanwhile, 46 percent had to turn down opportunities for education and training while 36 percent turned down a job promotion or desirable assignment.