Finding a daycare spot in the Upper Cumberland is becoming a challenge for many families, as centers report limited space and growing waitlists.
Wonderbees Childcare Center owner Jessica Cook said the Livingston daycare is usually at full capacity, with 124 children currently on the waitlist. She added that many parents calling for openings are urgently searching for reliable childcare.
“We get a couple of calls a week, and a lot of times it’s for them to go back to work, or we get parents who are newly pregnant, and they are wanting to get on our waitlist,” Cook said. “But we can’t guarantee a spot once they have the child, it just depends where we are at on the waitlist and where we are at as far as moving the child up.”
Totally Kids Director Courtney Bradley said the Baxter daycare usually has little to no availability, but recently opened a few spots after hiring another teacher. She added that financial challenges are the main reason Totally Kids, and many other daycares, continue to struggle with capacity.
“Being able to keep enough staff to keep our classrooms open just based on the pay rate that our school is able to give, and I know that other schools, too, the pay rate is not as high for childcare as it is for, say sales,” Bradley said.
Cook said since the state has cut funding for daycares statewide, even more families are struggling to find affordable daycare services.
“The state has cut funding for us, as well as the Smart Steps program, which is what helps parents pay for childcare depending on their income limit,” Cook said. “And they have put them on a waitlist, and they are no longer accepting parents for Smart Steps currently.”
With daycare being in high-demand in the Upper Cumberland, some may wonder why not just expand daycares. Bradley said state regulations make expansion challenging.
“With the state’s licensing rules, you are only allowed to have so many children per their age, per their teacher,” Bradley said. “So, we are going off of one teacher per classroom ratio. So, that kind of limits the amount of kids that I’m able to put in classrooms, and then our classroom sizes also vary as to how many kids can go in, as well as many physical classrooms I have available, so that does kind of limit space.”
Tennessee Daycare adult-to-child ratios are 1:4 for infants (6-15 months), 1:6 for Toddlers (12-30 months), 1:9 for three-year-olds, and 1:13 for four-year-olds. Regulations also state that rooms must have at least 30 square-feet of usable play space per child.
While Cook said current staff-to-child ratios are manageable, Bradley added that although the rules create challenges, she understands they are meant to keep children safe.
“Those ratios are to be able to properly supervise the children,” Bradley said. “You know, if you put too many kids in one room, one teacher is not going to be able to supervise, but there are times that it does become a challenge when we have a teacher who has called out, and your sub is sick, or you know, towards the end of the day, if somebody has got an appointment and they are needing to leave, and you were not able to find that coverage, the challenge has kind of become okay well now I have this classroom full of kids, but there is nowhere for them to go because of the ratios.”