Nassau County is child care desert, comptroller finds

Covid-19 lockdown highlights high cost to families

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Much of Nassau County is a child care desert, resulting in billions in lost revenue, according to a study released on Friday by Nassau County Comptroller Jack Schnirman.

The lockdown due to the Covid-19 virus has highlighted the issue, showing that many Nassau County families depend on schools to provide daycare for their older children. Care for younger children, however, has always been a challenge for many families.

“Nassau County is a patchwork, varying widely from district to district,” Schnirman wrote in the study. “Despite nearly $9 billion in public school tax levies, only 10 percent of 4-year-olds have access to publicly funded pre-K programs, compared to universal access in New York City,” Schnirman wrote in the report.

Both Seaford and Wantagh are considered child care deserts — any census tract where more than 50 children are without providers, or where providers are so scarce that they are able to serve less than one-third of the total need, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. More than 60 percent of New York State is considered a child care desert

Nassau County has a total of about 43,650 pre-K places, where more than 138,000 are needed, the study found, with minority and low-income families having the least access to pre-K programs.

Averaging more than $15,000 per year, infant care represents about 12 percent of a median family’s income of $116,300. For a family earning $52,400, or 200 percent of the official federal poverty level for a family of four, infant care for one child represents nearly 29 percent of the family’s pretax income.

According to the Census Bureau, “child care is critical; it either propels or stalls the local economy.” Locally, “child care has one of the highest economic multipliers, with a return of $1.95 for every dollar invested,” Schnirman wrote.

Of those who work part-time, lack of child care is the most commonly cited reason for not accepting full-time work. Women make up 94 percent of the involuntary part-time workforce, due to child care concerns, Schnirman wrote, and 46 percent of Nassau County families have no reliable child care.

Child care is an $800 million industry on Long Island, employing roughly 9,000 workers.