Missouri lawmakers are again seeking to push through child care tax credit legislation in the hopes of mitigating the state’s child care crisis (Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent).
In early 2020, Peapod Learning Center in Springfield had a waiting list years out.
The nature and farm preschool earned state recognition as it continued to expand after opening more than a decade earlier.
“It was off the charts wonderful,” said owner and director Carly Walton.
Then the pandemic hit. By June 2020, the farm school was forced to close and enrollment at the nature school dropped to 50% capacity as some parents left the workforce and others struggled to afford care.
“It’s never recovered,” she said.
Now Walton worries what will happen once COVID-era American Rescue Plan Act Child Care Stabilization funds — “instrumental,” she said, to keeping her doors open during the pandemic — dry up at the end of the year.
She’s not the only one concerned. Missouri is facing a child care crisis , with about 200,000 children living in parts of the state considered “child care deserts” where there are one or fewer child care slots for every three children. Even areas not officially deemed deserts often can’t hire enough staff to serve as many kids as their capacity allows.