Agenda - Council - 09/13/2022 - Laserfiche WebLink

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In addition to disruptions to childcare, early learning services were also significantly impacted by the pandemic, and the disruption of these services had widespread ramifications for learning loss, parental support, and equity. Early learning centers have seen declined enrollment across the board, though there was a larger dip in enrollment for low-income households.135 This lower enrollment coincides with a diminishing workforce, as similarly to childcare, early childhood educators have been leaving the profession due to long hours, low pay,136 and health and safety concerns.137 As a result, children's school readiness has suffered, leading to potential long-term impacts on life outcomes.138 The impact also extended to parents. Parents, especially mothers, may face challenges reentering or remaining in the workforce if early learning services are unavailable. Treasury Response: Childcare and Early Learning Services: Treasury agrees with commenters' analysis that challenges accessing or affording childcare have been widespread during the pandemic, affecting many jurisdictions and populations across the country. Disruptions to early care and learning services similarly have had broad impact and likely result in negative impacts for young children and their parents. As such, these enumerated eligible uses are generally responsive to the negative economic impacts of the pandemic in all communities, not just in disproportionately impacted communities. Under the final rule, childcare and early 135 G. G. Weisenfeld, Impacts of Covid-19 on Preschool Enrollment and Spending, New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Education Research (2021), https://nieer.org/wp- content/uploads/2021/03/NIEER_Policy_Brief Impacts-of-Covid-19 on_Preschool_Enrollment_and_Spending_3_16_21.pdf. 136 Heather Long, 'The pay is absolute crap': Child-care workers are quitting rapidly, a red flag for the economy, Washington Post (September 19, 2021), https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/09/19/childcare-workers- quit/. 137 Monash University, The emotional toll of COVID-19 among early childhood educators (August 5, 2020) https://lens.monash.edu/geducation/2020/08/05/1381001/the-emotional-toll-of-covid-19-among-early-childhood- educators. 138 Daphna Bassok and Anna Shapiro, Understanding COVID-19-era enrollment drops among early -grade public school students, Brookings Institution (February 22, 2021), https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center- chalkboard/2021 /02/22/understanding-covid-19-era-enrollment-drops-among-early-grade-public-school-students/. 96