The state of child care in Alaska is in crisis, with rising costs and staffing issues making it hard for families to find affordable care and for centers to provide that care.
In 2023, Gov. Mike Dunleavy established a child care task force made up of government officials, business leaders and families to try to find solutions. The task force recently released its final list of 56 recommendations.
Task force member Stephanie Berglund is executive director of thread Alaska, a statewide nonprofit aimed at improving access to child care. She says the pandemic strained the state’s child care sector, and the industry is still recovering.
Below is the transcript of an interview with Berglund on Alaska News Nightly. It has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Stephanie Berglund: We still consider the child care sector still in crisis. Unfortunately, we're seeing the child care businesses continue to close, not at the same rate that we saw during the pandemic, but we are still seeing child care programs struggle. And that, in effect, impacts really the working families of Alaska, so they're still really unable to find the care that they need and they want.
Wesley Early: What are some of the big picture areas that the recommendations address?
SB: The recommendations cover a wide range of issues. The first round of recommendations really looked at reducing some barriers to, you know, being a part of the child care sector community. So looking at how to strengthen the kind of background process which is required by all early educators, and also looking at how to strengthen the resources available for early educators who want to become child care professionals. So strengthening some of the regulation process. There are other recommendations focused on affordability and how to strengthen child care subsidy and the cost for families, really looking at the market price and the true cost of care, but also looking at how we can expand access overall. How we can use things like creative community spaces like schools and vacant buildings to support the child care sector, and how we can also ensure that any new child care that we build, grow and scale is also that of high quality.
WE: Out of the 56 recommendations…
SB: (laughs) Yeah, it’s a lot.
WE: What are two that stand out to you that you think would have the biggest impact in Alaska?
SB: Well, the two biggest costs for the child care sector are facilities and the workforce itself. So my personal opinion would be to look at how we can help offset some of the needs, infrastructure and costs of actual child care facilities. So there's a huge opportunity in that where we can be creative and then focus on the child care workforce. It's no secret that these early educators are some of the hardest workers in Alaska. It's a really labor intensive, high-skilled workforce, yet they're paid some of the lowest wages in the state, and don't receive benefits. And so looking at how we can better support the workforce is really critical. And those are two areas… the two recommendations where I personally feel like could move the needle most in the sector.
WE: And what would it take for those recommendations to become reality? Are they realistic?
SB: Yeah, I think one of the things we did not talk a lot about as part of the task force process was really the implementation plan, and with that comes the cost. So some of the areas where we would see the most change for the child care sector are going to require investment. So that's an area that I think is where we have the greatest opportunity is to figure out how to create child care investment.
WE: Are there any recommendations on that list that could be implemented quickly, sort of the low-hanging fruit?
SB: Yeah, it's my understanding the state has already started with some of that process. So they've been able to implement pieces out of the Department of Health to strengthen some of the child care regulations. They've also started to look at how to update some of the child care subsidy elements. I know that they've worked on implementing some more modernized fingerprinting machines, and have started to look at how they can help provide support and technical assistance to businesses who want to take advantage of tax incentives and other opportunities for businesses to be involved.
WE: Yeah, and on that topic, what happens now with the recommendations, and who will be the ones enacting the changes? Is it the governor, the Legislature? Is it providers?
SB: Yeah, the recommendations that we were asked to provide were in the form of policy recommendations. Some of those can take place out of the Department of Health, in like I mentioned, some of the regulation changes and some of the areas that they can work to provide some more user-friendly and customer friendly tools and resources. But others will take policy and funding investment from the Legislature and also engaging more with our businesses and communities across the state.
WE: And the governor did convene the task force, but he has also opposed efforts to inject millions into the child care system. I guess, how confident are you that he and other politicians will take the recommendation seriously?
SB: I am optimistic, I guess, that there'll be some investment and action. So I'm hopeful because of the action of putting the task force together. I'm hopeful because we've heard the governor say he wants Alaska to be the best place, you know, for us all to raise a family. And I know that we all agree on wanting families to be able to work and live and grow and ultimately thrive and stay in Alaska.
