Snowstorms throw delicate economics of child care off balance

There was the stress of the recession, then the record-setting snow. Finally, as February gave way to March, here's how the fallout looked at a Bladensburg child-care center:

Flora Izuka wanted a break on paying tuition for her 18-month-old because Learning World Child Development Center had closed down or opened late for much of the week of Feb. 8. But for the center's owner, it was not so simple. If families didn't pay for the snow days, how would the center pay its staff of 20?

"It's a hardship for all of us," said owner Jean Gilchrist, who founded the center 30 years ago. She said this had been one of the toughest periods in the past decade.

So go the fragile economics of child care in the Washington region and beyond, with the eternal tension between what families can afford and what it costs to operate a day-care center. Striking the right balance has been especially hard, as the recession has claimed jobs and worker hours, leaving many families unable to afford tuition and some providers with too many vacancies to stay in business.

"It's a trickle-down effect: The parents lose jobs; the providers lose children in day care," said Phyllis Waters, president of the Professional Child Care Provider Network of Prince George's County.

Then, in one icy blast, the snows of early February showed anew how razor-thin the economic margins can be. Some parents didn't get paid during the storms and couldn't afford that week's tuition. Others, like Izuka, worked but had to hire fill-in child care that cost extra. Add to such worries those of child-care workers, who earn an average of $9.32 an hour nationally. Some wondered whether they would be paid for the days their centers were closed.

"I have to have that paycheck to catch up with the bills," said Narmala Ayachitula, a teacher at Learning World.

Experts say the storms underscored problems that have long plagued day care's faltering economics. Many parents cannot afford to pay any more for their child care -- with costs rivaling their rent or mortgage payments -- and many workers cannot afford to make any less, with their wages near the poverty level.

"Essentially, when there is almost no profit to begin with, to lose five days to snow or to have five kids pulled out because of the economy, that's a big deal," said Linda K. Smith, executive director of the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies.

The consequences are serious, Smith said. "Many of these programs are barely hanging on, and if we lose them, we are going to force more children into unregulated and illegal child care," she said. Already, 47 percent of all child care is done outside the licensing system, with no background checks, training or inspections, she said.

National trend numbers are few, but Smith said her organization's surveys indicate a national decline in child-care capacity, as operators shut down low-enrollment classrooms in their centers, trying to consolidate but not close. In Maryland, state data show a slight dip in licensed child-care homes statewide, which may be notable because jobless workers sometimes become home day-care providers.

In Montgomery County, reports of child-care vacancies are up 38 percent in two years, and requests for help with marketing and other business concerns shot up by 113 percent, said Barbara Warman, executive director of the Montgomery County Child Care Resource and Referral Center.