糖心动漫vlog

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter

As more discussions about supplying adequate, affordable childcare are had across the state, childcare centers continue to struggle with staff retention.

Beth Ann Lang, deputy chief executive officer of Child Care Aware of Missouri, has been working to address Missouri鈥檚 childcare crisis for more than 20 years.

Lang said there are many deep-rooted issues within the early childcare industry, but she feels that low wages and a lack of education requirements for workers in the field heavily impact turnover.

A January  from Child Care Aware found a 26% to 40% staff turnover rate due to stagnant wages between 2020 and 2024. Lang said salaries vary by area, but she said many workers barely receive compensation higher than minimum wage and rarely receive benefits.

鈥淚f you鈥檙e not being paid and you don鈥檛 have an education base to be able to do your very best, then people don鈥檛 want to stay in our field,鈥� Lang said.

She said another aspect of the problem is that the education field is undervalued in the United States, which in turn has led to major systemic issues.

鈥淚f you鈥檝e ever looked at some other countries and how they approach education and early childhood education, it鈥檚 much more part of the larger system,鈥� Lang said 鈥淚t鈥檚 viewed as a very important job and one that actually makes money.鈥�

Amber Hansen, executive director of Seeds of Faith Preschool in Clinton, said she has been advocating for early childhood education to be more valued as a career in recent years.

鈥淐hildcare is not easy. There鈥檚 lots of factors that happen in these early years of brain development,鈥� Hansen said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e dealing with kids with trauma, foster kids. There鈥檚 lots of things that go into our job; it鈥檚 not just having them sit at a desk and complete a worksheet.鈥�

Hansen said specific issues with staff retention vary from year to year, but it remains a consistent problem.

鈥淩etention is a challenge for any childcare provider because of the pay factor,鈥� Hansen said.

Hansen鈥檚 teachers are contracted to remain on staff until the end of a nine month school year, so her day-to-day operations are mostly unaffected by staffing changes. However, she said problems could easily arise for centers under different circumstances.

鈥淚 could see that being a problem for 12-month programs because if you have a two-week notice of somebody鈥檚 quitting, that doesn鈥檛 leave you very long to find somebody, and then you鈥檝e got to run a background screening on them,鈥� Hansen said.

Lang said that for the state to begin to chip away at the problems within childcare, it must stop treating only the symptoms of the problem without also addressing the main issue at hand.

鈥淚f somebody鈥檚 bleeding, you put a Bandaid on them,鈥� Lang said. 鈥淏ut then you鈥檙e going to ask, 鈥榃hy are you bleeding? What caused that?鈥� 鈥�

She said she wishes legislators would try to look at the issue through the eyes of someone who works in childcare.

鈥淚 wish that every legislator would spend one day in a childcare program, whether it鈥檚 family-based or center-based to be just there seeing what it鈥檚 like, what the issues are, what the challenges are,鈥� Lang said. 鈥淪itting in a room of one-year-olds or in a family childcare program where you have two babies, a three-year-old and a five-year-old all running around at the same time needing you.鈥�

Lang said even though things seem hard now, she still holds out hope for conditions to change in the future.

鈥淥ver the next five years,鈥� Lang said, 鈥渋f we are actually as communities and as legislators and as education entities sitting together and discussing what needs to change, and making plans then enacting them, we鈥檒l be in a good place.鈥�

This story originally appeared in , a digital newsroom covering business and the economy in Missouri.

Did you use this article in your work?

We鈥檇 love to hear how The 74鈥檚 reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers.