Provide free child care

How Sanders would provide free child care and early education for all

Sanders and his campaign say the plan offers up free, full-day child care for every child from infancy, plus pre-K to every child in the country, starting at age 3.

By JUAN PEREZ JR.

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday outlined a pitch to replace the country’s onerous child care and early childhood education system with a federally funded and universal program, as the Vermont independent cemented his status as President Donald Trump’s front running challenger.

Sanders and his campaign say the plan offers up free, full-day child care for every child from infancy, plus pre-K to every child in the country, starting at age 3. Much like his “Medicare for All” pledge, Sanders’ idea features an eyebrow-raising price tag: $1.5 trillion spent during the next decade.

How to pay for it? Tax the rich, the campaign says.

“Childcare must be guaranteed for every child regardless of their parents’ income, just like K-12 education,” Sanders said in a statement. “We know that the first four years of a child’s life are the most important years of human development, so it is unconscionable that in the wealthiest country in the world, we do not properly invest in early childhood education.”

The democratic socialist is trying to solve a costly dilemma faced by households with young children and working parents — and a persistent problem for poor families.

About 34 percent of children with college-educated parents attended full-day preschool programs in 2017, according to a recent study from the Child Trends advocacy group cited by Sanders’ campaign. By contrast, only 18 percent of children whose parents had less than a high school degree attended full-day preschool.

This isn’t the first idea of its kind to come from Trump’s challengers, but now Sanders is expanding a trademark populist promise. Families would have guaranteed free child care and pre-K spots in their communities, supervised by fairly paid professionals. Using the program, the Sanders campaign claims, “will be as straightforward as dropping your child off at school.”

“As president, we will guarantee free, universal childcare and pre-kindergarten to every child in America to help level the playing field, create new and good jobs, and enable parents [to] more easily balance the demands of work and home,” Sanders said.

What would Sanders do?

Sanders is proposing a free child care program that’s funded by the federal government, then administered by states and tribes in collaboration with local public school systems. Federal funding would “cover the full cost of child care services," but also pay for workers and finance infrastructure expenses.

The plan, according to the campaign, would provide at least 10 hours of daily child care for infants and children who are up to 3 years old. The federal government would set minimum worker wages and mandate “low child-to-adult ratios and small group sizes” for services.

When it comes to pre-K, Sanders would guarantee access to “full-day, full-week” programs for children starting at age 3. The federal government would pay for that too, but pre-K programs would be “locally administered.”

What role would federal agencies play?

Sanders would have the Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services create federal standards to ensure federally funded child care settings include children with disabilities and don’t discriminate against them.

Sanders also calls to expand research funding for the Institute of Education Sciences to study how educators can best support children with disabilities, including those with complex medical needs.

What about child care workers?

Sanders says his administration would double the nation’s ranks of early childhood educators to a total of more than 2.6 million.

The government would require workers providing direct services to children to hold at least a Child Development Associate Credential, require teaching assistants to have at least an associate’s degree in a related field, and require lead preschool teachers to have a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education or child development.

The plan dovetails with Sanders’ calls to eliminate student debt and make public college free to attend.

How would other candidates address the issue?

Former Vice President Joe Biden has called for “universal pre-kindergarten” for 3-and 4-year-olds, saying he would work with states to do it.

Former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg has called for spending $700 billion over the coming decade to subsidize “universal, affordable full-day” child care and pre-kindergarten programs.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar has called for creating a federal-state partnership to cap child care spending at 7 percent of income for families making up to 150 percent of their state’s median income.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s universal child care plan would tax millionaires to fund free care for low-income children and affordable care for others.