Parent Experiences with Child Care and Preschool Costs in California: An EdSource survey of California Parents | EdSource

Parent Experiences with Child Care and Preschool Costs in California: An EdSource survey of California Parents | EdSource:

Parent Experiences with Child Care and Preschool Costs in California:

An EdSource survey of California Parents

The high cost of child care and preschool is placing a financial strain on California families and has forced many parents of young children to make difficult tradeoffs regarding work and family life, including choosing lower quality programs or even leaving the workforce altogether, according to a survey commissioned by EdSource.

These are some of the findings of a statewide survey of 640 parents in California who have children aged 5 years and under. The representative survey was conducted by phone and online in the summer of 2016 by the polling firm Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates (FM3). The survey was underwritten by the Heising-Simons Foundation.

Read the full story about the poll findings, along with interviews with parents who are struggling to cope with the high costs of child care and preschool, or scroll down for more detailed data, including poll responses and slides on key questions on the survey.

Downloadable Documents

Child Care Costs Survey Announcement Feb 15

Child Care Poll Results Feb 15

EdSource Child Care Poll Slides

3 documents

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February 15, 2017

EdSource poll: Child care and preschool costs force parents to make difficult tradeoffs

e high cost of child care and preschool is placing a financial strain on California families and has forced many parents of young children to make difficult tradeoffs regarding work and family life, including choosing lower quality programs or even leaving the workforce altogether.

These are among the findings of an EdSource survey of 640 parents in California with children 5 years old and younger. The representative poll was conducted last summer by phone and online survey by the polling firm Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates (FM3).  The margin of error for the overall sample  is +/- 3.8% at the 95% confidence level.

Nearly half (47 percent) of California families with young children said a parent left the job market to address child care needs. One in 10 said they were either encouraged to leave a job or fired because of the demands child care placed on their schedule.

Go to end of story to read about parents’ struggles to cover their child care and preschool costs. 

During the presidential campaign, President Donald Trump put forward a plan he said would “help every family with the costs of child care.” But it is too early to know the extent to which he will promote his plan, what it would consist of, or if it would receive support in Congress. In California, after several years of increases, Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed 2017-18 budget does not include any additional state-supported child care slots. In fact, Brown proposed postponing adding 3,000 more slots that had been slated for the coming fiscal year.

Findings of the EdSource survey, which was underwritten by the Heising-Simons Foundation, include the following:

Most parents spend more than 10 percent of income on child care or preschool: About 7 in 10 (72 percent) of California parents surveyed who have young children in child care or preschool said they spend more than 10 percent of their incomes to cover the costs of these programs. And 45 percent of these parents said they spend between 10 percent and 30 percent of their incomes on child care or preschool. Of parents with children in a child care or preschool program, 34 percent said they pay $1,000 a month or more for child care, and 29 percent pay that amount for preschool.

Child care costs influence decisions on having children: More than 4 in 10 parents (43 percent) indicated that they chose to delay having another child 

Learn more about the issue:Parent Experiences with Child Care and Preschool Costs in California: An EdSource survey of California Parents | EdSource: