Childcare crisis continues in Kansas; what does this mean for you?

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – A childcare crisis is being felt at centers across the state as they struggle to hire employees.

“I’ve had a lot of teachers working from six in the morning until six o’clock at night, including a lot of my managers,” said Shelley Palmer, Founder of Peachwood Early Learning Center (ELC).

A necessity to keep the Haysville center up and running.

“In the last month and a half, I’ve lost five employees,” Palmer said.

The low wages for childcare workers versus the high cost of living creates a challenge for the industry.

“I’ve seen some really good teachers be here, and they’re like, you know, I can’t pay my bills on this, and so they go find work other places,” said Deanna Page, a lead teacher at Peachwood ELC.

Palmer says she tried raising wages, “Even that isn’t enough because I still can’t get anybody come work for that.”

Higher wages fall back on parents.

“They would each have to pay another $50 a week in addition to what they’re already paying, Which takes them into the $310 to $360 a week to pay for child care,” Palmer said.

It’s an issue being felt statewide.

“We have 10 Headstart locations throughout our organization, and all 10 of them, we have closures in our classrooms because we just can’t hire staff,” explained Tanya Bulluck, Executive Director of Child Start.

The shortage limits the number of openings.

“You have to have staff members in order to accept kids, and there is such a need for childcare in Kansas and Wichita, and when we don’t have the staff, we have to turn kids away,” said Alix St. Peter, owner of Little Ducklings Academy in Wichita.

“We’re not able to enroll our waitlist, and we have a waitlist of over 200 kids,” Bulluck said.

Childcare workers doing what they can while hoping for a solution soon.

“It’s not going to happen overnight, but if we can pay them more, and while we appreciate the ARPA funding and all that, they’re their band-aids,” she said.

Bulluck says they are working with the Workforce Alliance to get childcare centers and businesses to partner up and address the childcare shortage.