|
|
 |
AFFORDABLE CHILD CARE
Has the Clinton Administration found a solution for working families? February 4, 1998 |
|---|
[Editor's Note: Sen. Chafee chose not to respond to this forum within the given time frame.]
Questions asked
in this forum:
Will Clinton's proposal prompt families to seek child care instead of staying home? Shouldn't we actively encourage parents to stay home? Can the government really support a parent's choice to stay home? Why should U.S. taxpayers subsidize parents who want to work? How do you reconcile welfare reform with the expectation that parents stay home?
NewsHour Backgrounders
January 7, 1998
President Clinton announces $22 billion child care plan.
October 23, 1997
A White House conference examines ways of improving child care.
February 6, 1997
Welfare reform challenges parents to find work and affordable day care.
January 22, 1997:
David Gergen speaks with Anne Roiphe, author of "Fruitful: A Real Mother In The Modern World."
July 31, 1997:
An Authors' Corner forum with Arlie Russell Hochschild, author of "The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work."
Browse the NewsHour's coverage of youth.
Outside Links
The President's child care proposal
National Child Care Information Center
ERIC, clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education
U.S. Department of Education
Senator John H. Chafee
Senator Patty MurrayIn a nation where it's increasingly common to find two working parents in a typical family, few voters would argue that good, affordable child care is unnecessary. There's just some disagreement on how to guarantee it for all Americans.
President Clinton has offered one solution. Earlier this month, he proposed a plan to provide $21.7 billion over five years to improve child care options for working families. The president's plan would:
invest $7.5 billion in block grants to states, doubling the number of children who receive child care subsidies to over two million; create new tax credits to encourage businesses to offer child care for employees; invest $3 billion in a fund to help local communities better enforce state regulations and decrease the ratio of children to staff; expand after school programs for 500,000 children. This plan, which Clinton calls the "single largest national commitment to child care in the history of the United States," comes at a time when the number of children in daycare is growing steadily. Currently, over half of all new mothers return to work within a year of giving birth, a trend that helped put 10.3 million pre-schoolers in daycare in 1994, an increase of 700,000 from 1990.
Concern over the costs and quality of daycare is rising proportionately. Unlike public school, parents foot the bill for 70 percent of pre-school costs, spending on average $3700 a year.
Experts estimate this is only half of what it takes to properly run a daycare operation, and the disparity between funding received, and funding required, has contributed to a worrisome state. The National Center for the Early Childhood Workforce reports that only 5,000 of the 97,000 child care centers in the United States are accredited. And many do not receive glowing report cards on their ability to nurture pre-schoolers; 70 percent were rated mediocre, 15 percent judged harmful.
It's these sorts of statistics that leave parents torn with guilt and worry. It would seem then, that a plan like Clinton's, which would increase child care funding by about $17 billion, would be an undisputed winner.
But opponents don't think so, arguing that the plan does not provide the solution anxious parents really want: the opportunity to stay at home with their children.
Recently, Sen. John Chafee (R-RI) announced a scheme to offer tax credits to stay-at-home parents with children aged three and under, similar to the one working parents with children in daycare now claim.
But supporters of Clinton's plan counter that the Republican proposal doesn't replace the income lost when one parent stays home, excluding poorer parents from benefitting from the Republican proposal.
What does Clinton's child care plan offer? Is it really a solution to the struggle working parents face or is it the wrong answer to the current child care dilemma?
Senators John Chafee (R-RI) and Patty Murray (D-WA) will be joining us for this forum.
Will Clinton's proposal prompt families to seek child care instead of staying home? Shouldn't we actively encourage parents to stay home? Can the government really support a parent's choice to stay home? Why should U.S. taxpayers subsidize parents who want to work? How do you reconcile welfare reform with the expectation that parents stay home?
Support the kind of journalism done by the NewsHour...Become a member of your local PBS station. PBS Online Privacy Policy
Copyright ©1996- MacNeil/Lehrer Productions. All Rights Reserved.
