Families in Schuylkill County are facing a child care crisis. There simply aren’t enough early-childhood learning centers and the lack thereof is causing problems not only with their development but it’s an economic problem, too.
Right now, the average family in Schuylkill County is waiting 2-3 years for a spot in an early-childhood learning center like Perception Training School in Pottsville. The school has a waiting list that’s grown to 300.
It’s apparently not just a problem here in Schuylkill County but statewide, too.
That brought about a visit from Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who was at Perception Training School in Pottsville on Feb. 25 to promote his plan to invest $55 million in taxpayer funds to support child care workforce recruitment and retention grants.
The proposed money would go toward helping businesses like Perception Training School in Pottsville retain the teachers it has and recruit new ones.
During his Budget Address in Harrisburg, Shapiro invited the founder of Perception Training School, Michelle Dallago, and has identified her as the face of the child care crisis in Pennsylvania.
But will this stage of the Governor’s plan to address the growing child care crisis be enough?
Child Care Crisis in Schuylkill County
Businesses like Perception Training School say they are facing a crisis. They can’t seem to keep the teachers they have from leaving for greener (as in more money greener) pastures and paying enough to recruit new teachers.
This crisis has led to massive shortages of available child care not just in Schuylkill County but statewide. And if early childhood care is not available, it means a parent must stay home with their child and prevent them from getting a job.
Meridith Driscoll, a Tamaqua mother of two children who attend Perception Training School and small business owner, says she wouldn’t be able to work from home if it weren’t for a business like the Pottsville school.
Although she boasts about what Perception Training School – and facilities like it – do for her children, Driscoll says she must drive 30 minutes each day to enroll her students in Pottsville.
“We waited two years. It’s hard to find quality care for your kids and places for them to learn,” Driscoll says.
Shapiro’s proposal of spending $55 million in the 2025-26 budget to recruit and retain early childhood teachers is designed as “the next step” in a line of previous investments like providing tax credits to employers who contribute to their employees’ child care costs and tripling the child-care tax credit for families.
In Dallago’s remarks at a press conference during the Governor’s visit to Schuylkill County, she said last year was the most difficult in her 24 years of running Perception Training School. The school lost two lead teachers to higher-paying jobs and there were no applicants lined up to replace them.
“It was the first time in 24 years that I questioned whether Perception could survive this loss,” Dallago said.
She said that Shapiro’s propsed investment to recruit and retain early-childhood teachers will help to stop the “revolving door” that’s currently putting her business at risk.
“The Governor’s investment is an important recognition of the transformative work that early-learning professionals do every day,” Dallago added.
Shapiro stressed the importance of places like Perception Training School in his remarks last month.
“They make a difference in children’s lives. They make a difference in familes’ lives,” the Governor said. “These centers are powerful not just in what they do for our kids but what they do for our community. Facilities like this help make our economy stronger.”
“The Next Step”
Shapiro says his $55 million proposed investment – which has garnered bipartisan support, especially among local elected officials at the state level, including Sen. Dave Argall (R-29) and Rep. Tim Twardzik (R-123) – is “the next step” in his plan to make early-childhood education more affordable.
While previous investments, he said, focused on families and employers, this year’s proposal is aimed at keeping businesses like Perception Training School competitive in the job market.
The $55 million Shapiro is proposing would come in the form of $1,000 stipends paid to early-childhood teachers to either keep them at their jobs in the field or attract new teachers to the field.
Shapiro said that this incentive-laden model works because he proposed it to help retain and recruit new municipal police officers.
“These targeted investments … it works,” Shapiro said. “This is a common-sense bipartisan approach to solving a serious challenge we face in Pennsylvania.”
But will it really work?
Shapiro said during his visit that this strategy to offer teachers stipends worked when it was used to retain and recruit local police officers.
However, nearly every municipality in Schuylkill County right now is struggling to maintain a police force, mostly due to their inability to pay enough to keep or attract new officers.
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