There is a child care gap in Arizona.
For families who have the money to pay for high-quality child care for their young kids, things aren’t so bad. But for the rest, the consequences can play out for the rest of their kids’ lives.
A recent study from the Bipartisan Policy Institute found that here in Arizona there are more than 300,000 infants and toddlers who need child care — but only about 235,000 places that can accommodate them. And low-income and rural children and the most likely to be left out.
Lori Masseur is the director of early childhood education and the Head Start collaboration office director for the Arizona Department of Education, and she was an adviser on the report.
She says this project allowed them to quantify for the first time what the actual gap was in Arizona. The Show spoke with her for more about what's driving this disparity.
