In cooperation with several other organizations, West Virginia University recently released the first edition of its new publication called the Childcare Regulation Index in the States. The index reviews and compares the burden each state’s regulatory system places on childcare providers, thus quantifying the barriers states erect to providing childcare.
The index calculates overall scores by considering multiple regulations, from maximum group size to child-staff ratio requirements. The study ranks Maine as having the 41st most free childcare system in the country – meaning we’re the 10th most restrictive state in terms of childcare regulations.
This finding confirms what Maine Policy Institute has been saying for years: Maine’s childcare system needs significant reform, and state government has failed to address this growing problem.
The index was conducted by faculty from West Virginia University, George Mason University, the University of Mississippi and the Institute for Family Studies. Four policy categories were combined to create the final scores for the index. Those categories included group size, child-staff ratios, required training hours, and educational requirements. Maine’s overall score across these categories is relatively poor. Each state was given an overall score of 1 to 10, with higher scores indicating less regulatory burdens. While the average score was 4.47, Maine’s was 2.59, putting it well below the average.
Most of New England has a poor rating, with every state but New Hampshire in the “Most Restrictive Regulations” category and the top 10 most burdensome states. Some advocates say stricter regulations will confirm that childcare provided in a state will be of higher quality, but this may not be true for several reasons.
First, stricter childcare regulations increase the costs of childcare and reduce availability. By making it harder for childcare providers to become registered, the state reduces the availability of providers. This, combined with regulatory fees, increases the price of childcare in states with stricter regulations.
If a lower-income family can’t afford childcare or has none locally available, the quality of childcare they can’t access is largely irrelevant. Additionally, these factors, such as group size, are essentially proxies for measuring true childcare quality. However, according to the index, the relationship between these regulations and true childcare quality is questionable.
Lastly, because strict regulations reduce availability and competition, parents’ ability to filter through options to find higher-quality childcare is removed. Thus, competition-based incentives for increased childcare quality are removed, potentially reducing childcare quality rather than increasing it.
The implications of these findings are not just related to childcare availability, either. The index also notes a strong correlation between high-burden states and a lower fertility rate. Families who can not afford childcare may face an “either-or” scenario of career or parenthood. Thus, the increased cost of childcare may not only reduce the ability of working class Mainers to have children, but it may also reduce female labor force participation by reducing women’s ability to have children while also having a career.
Maine’s Legislature and the Department of Health and Human Services need to work to make Maine more supportive of those needing childcare. Not only do they have a legal obligation to reduce childcare costs soon, but doing so is crucial to making Maine an attractive state to young families. Maine’s state government needs to reform its childcare system radically. This latest index is even more proof of that fact.