Child care a big reason 1 in 5 N.J. mothers quit work during pandemic. Top senator has $350M solution. – NJ.com

New Jersey needs to nurture the child care industry to help the state make a full economic recovery from the pandemic, according to state Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz, who on Tuesday proposed a $350 million legislative package she said will get more parents back to work.

The child care industry, long beset by low wages and high costs, took a beating during the pandemic, said Ruiz, D-Essex, in her first major legislative announcement since becoming the second-most senior official in the 40-member Senate.

The state ordered most facilities closed in March through June 2020, followed by reduced classroom sizes for another year. Through December 2020, employment fell 6.8 percent among mothers in New Jersey, compared to 3.8 percent among fathers, according to a report by Ready Nation. Nearly one in five mothers of infants and toddlers left the workforce because of a lack of affordable and accessible child care, the report found.

“Women were making decisions because they did not have any other opportunities to make sure their children were in a safe and secure environment,” Ruiz said Tuesday during a news conference at the Statehouse in Trenton.

The bill package, which has yet to be formally introduced, includes expanding the income limits for people who qualify for subsidized child care, creating an income tax credit for child care employees, and establishing tax incentives for employers who provide on-site child care or reimburse parents for their child care expenses, according to a synopsis of the package.

It also calls for creating 1,000 new child care openings for infants and toddlers. Each slot would reimburse the child care center by $22,000, for an overall cost of $2.2 million

Ruiz said the problem is not unique to the Garden State but added: “Let New Jersey lead the way and create the framework.”

One question, she admitted, will be cost. Ruiz said the entire package could cost up to $350 million, and lawmakers must examine how to tie “recurring revenue” to the initiative.

State Senate President Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, is “committed” to having a conversation about the package, Ruiz said, but she noted top lawmakers “have to figure out” how this would work into the state budget.

“The key is to start the conversation (and) put some money behind those words,” Ruiz said.

Child care is a costly necessity in New Jersey, where the average tab for infant care is $15,600 a year, according to the research and advocacy group Child Care Aware.

Meanwhile, wages in child care settings are inadequately low. The median hourly wage for child care workers in 2019 was $12.59 and $17.36 for preschool teachers in New Jersey, according to the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California-Berkeley.

“Most programs barely have enough funds to meet the new $13 per hour minimum wage requirement, let alone compete with businesses like Target, now starting some positions at $24 per hour,” according to testimony Cynthia Rice of the Advocates for Children of New Jersey delivered at a recent state budget hearing.

The pandemic made the situation worse, leading to to the forced temporary closure of child care facilities and requiring thousands of parents to leave the workforce in the state.

In July 2021, four out of five centers reported being short-staffed, according to a country-wide survey of 7,500 centers by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. In July, Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation directing $100 million in American Rescue Plan funds to support child care providers and the child care workforce.

Cecilia Zalkind, president of Advocates for Children of New Jersey, said parents have long had trouble finding affordable child care, and child care centers have had staffing shortages. She noted one big issue is “deserts” across the state where there is no child care for infants and toddlers.

A child care desert exists in a community when there are at least three children for every licensed child care slot, according to the Ready Nation report.

“The pandemic didn’t cause the child care crisis,” Zalkind said. “It exposed it.”

This package of bills is a “long-term, comprehensive solution” that “takes a big step forward,” Zalkind said.

“Our economy can’t survive without people being able to work, and parents can’t work without child care,” she said.

State Sen. Nilsa Cruz-Perez, D-Camden, also a sponsor of the legislation, said child care is the “biggest crisis” facing New Jersey.

“It kills me when I see working families struggling to find day cares that are affordable,” Cruz-Perez said.

State Sen. Sandra Cunningham, D-Hudson, said new residents of Jersey City often ask her about finding child care.

“This is a real issue,” Cunningham said. “This is something we deal with every single day. People are not returning to work because of child care issues.”

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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him at @johnsb01.

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio.