In her excellent Star Tribune article, Laura Yuen highlights a major issue: Minnesota K-12 students spend fewer days in school than almost any other state—just 165 days compared to the standard 180. This puts working parents in a bind, especially low-income families who can’t afford enrichment programs. But school closures are just one piece of the puzzle.
Minnesota’s policies are unintentionally making child care even harder to find.
Here’s what’s making the shortage worse:
1. Community Education ProgramsMinnesota requires every public school district to have a licensed community education director, creating a publicly funded child care alternative that competes with private providers. While great in theory, when these programs can’t meet demand (which happens often), the private sector is less likely to step in, leaving parents with fewer choices.
2. Unemployment Benefits for School EmployeesMinnesota is the only state to offer summer unemployment benefits to hourly school district employees. Many of these workers used to work in summer child care programs. Now, they’re incentivized not to work, further worsening the staffing crisis.
3. Overcomplicated Licensing ProcessChild care workers must navigate a painful, multi-step background check—including sending personal information through non-secure forms, waiting for an email that often lands in spam, and then driving to get fingerprinted within 10 days at a shrinking number of locations. The intent is good (keeping kids safe), but the process discourages applicants—especially for a job that pays under $20/hr.
4. Regulatory OverloadHR teams in child care are already stretched thin, and new policies like Earned Sick & Safe Time, Paid Leave, and Unemployment Insurance add even more administrative burden. These policies have good intentions, but they come with unintended consequences that haven’t been fully addressed.
So what’s the solution? More school days? Easier licensing? Better incentives for child care workers? Something else?