Lincoln day cares struggle to keep costs low while paying teachers well

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — As demand for child care grows, wages for day care workers have stayed the same, leaving the child care market struggling.

The number of child care teachers has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.

Part of the problem is low pay, Lincoln child care providers say.

The median wage for child care workers in the U.S. is $14.60 an hour, according to the Chicago branch of the Federal Reserve. That’s in the bottom 5% of all occupations.

Elizabeth Everett from First Five Nebraska, a nonprofit that advocates for early childhood education, said child care centers will have to increase tuition to pay teachers a livable wage.

But that creates another problem.

“We’re pricing parents out of the market,” she said. “If we’re continuing to increase tuition rates, which we need to in order to pay employees more money and have a higher salary, we’re going to price parents out of the market, and they won’t be able to have quality care.”

Everett said funding from government assistance programs would help workers maintain a livable wage.

A child care director at 4 Views Academy, Alison Dolezal, said she wishes she could pay her teachers, but that would increase costs for families.

“I’m frustrated because I think our teachers deserve better pay,” she said. “They’re great teachers; they’re wonderful. It’s just the way things pan out.”

Dolezal said she and her staff readjust their schedules often to teach as many kids as they can.

“You’re not here to make yourself rich,” Dolezal said. “You are here to enrich the children’s lives. People don’t come to the day care field to earn a lot of money. People come here because this is what they want to do.”

The children’s center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is also struggling to find workers.

A teacher there said most of the employees are college students who work 30 to 40 hours a week, and some even have other jobs.