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'I would honestly be afraid I would lose my staff' | One Dewitt day care not sold on new Iowa child care bill

Iowa House Study Bill 511 proposes changing the ratio of staff to students in day care centers, increasing the number of kids allowed per employee.

DEWITT, Iowa — Iowa lawmakers want to increase the number of children one staff member is allowed to supervise in a child care center. 

Iowa House Study Bill 511 would allow one worker to be able to watch eight 2-year-olds instead of six. It would also allow one worker to watch 10 3-year-olds instead of eight.

In the Condition of the State address, Gov. Kim Reynolds said she's making child care a priority in 2022. Republicans said the child care bill would help more toddlers get spots in child care centers, easing the shortage of day care options that many parents are facing currently.

However, one Dewitt day care director isn't sold on the increased ratio.

"Right now is a really tough time to try to discuss that when the first thing I think we need is more funding," Kids' Business Inc. Director Tricia Ludrof said.

Her first reaction to the bill: "I would honestly be afraid I would lose my staff."

Like many other schools and child care centers across the country, Kids' Business is facing a shortage of employees. At a normal time, Ludrof would have 22 teachers for an average of 77 kids. Right now, she only has 13 teachers for 42 kids.

The day care center has cut back some of its hours, and Ludrof said it has a lengthy waitlist. 

"We have parents that are not even pregnant yet and want to be on the waiting list because they're in the process of wanting to start a family," she said.

Increasing the child-to-staff ratio could have benefits, Ludrof said, and maybe it's something she'd like to do in the future. Adding more students would mean the day care would get more tuition. But in Kids' Business's current state, Ludrof believes increasing the ratio just isn't possible. 

"We're just really having a hard time bringing more staff in, so if (we were) in an ideal world and that wasn't a problem, heck yeah. I would definitely want to bring in more," she said. "I would love to expand the building at some point because everybody needs child care, but we need teachers to have child care."

She's concerned it would burn out her already thin-spread staff.

"It would be a lot at first. It would probably take their breath away," Ludrof said. "I think they would enjoy having more children. It would keep their days going, but I think it would be a lot of coaching, a lot of help, a lot of being there for them."

Ludrof added it's also a question of what parents would be comfortable with.

"That could go either way," she said. "Yes, they get to bring their kids, (and) we're able to enroll more children, but again, are you okay with that supervision?"

For now, Ludrof said she's just trying to survive the pandemic and keep the staff she currently has. She said she would also like to see Iowa lawmakers increase funding for child care, so places like Kids' Business don't have to raise rates and make finding child care even harder for some families.

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