Iron Range centers have ‘Day Without Child Care’ to emphasize ‘the workforce behind the workforce’

MOUNTAIN IRON, Minn. — Jay Jensen’s daughter spent 9 months on a wait list to get into Iron Range Tykes, one of few children’s learning centers in this area of northern Minnesota that is considered a “child care desert.”

While they waited, the Virginia, Minn., family relied on the center’s drop-off program, babysitting help from family, and the trickiness of working from home with an infant — hard for his wife, a manager in an insurance office, impossible for him, an engineer for a mining company. Now 4 years old, his daughter has had a regular full-time spot for years, which Jensen credits with making their lives easier to navigate and preparing her for pre-kindergarten.

Iron Range Tykes was one of five centers and child care providers on the Iron Range that closed Monday as part of a nationwide “Day Without Child Care,” a purposeful inconvenience meant to draw attention to the need for state funding to make child care affordable for all families and for competitive wages to keep skilled teachers in the profession.

Earlier this legislative session, Sen. Grant Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown, and Rep. Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn, DFL-Eden Prairie, were lead authors on a bill meant to lower the cost of child care and early learning for middle-income families. The Great Start Affordability Program aimed to cap family’s care costs at no more than 7% of its annual income.

The program didn’t get the funding lawmakers were looking for this session, but its backers are planning another push next session.

“We know middle-income families are still struggling to afford quality child care and I will continue to prioritize affordability and access in the next biennial budget,” Kotyza said in a news release.

More than 30 educators and stakeholders gathered in Iron Range Tykes’ parking lot early Monday morning, dressed in purple T-shirts — “Children are the future and the future needs funding” — before boarding a charter bus bound for the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul for a statewide rally and meetings with lawmakers.

At the learning center, a fenced-in side yard with swings, a slide and playhouses sat quiet; a large “Day Without Child Care” banner hung from the entrance, blocking the front doors.

Shawntel Gruba, the learning center’s director and owner, described child care providers as “the workforce behind the workforce.”

“The reason I’m here this morning is because I want to continue to work in this field for another 23 years,” she said during a media conference that also aired on Facebook Live. “But if we don’t engage in radical action to push for radical change, that is going to be impossible.”

The Iron Range closures — which included Apple Tree Learning Center, Milestones Daycare Center and Virginia Drop In Daycare, all in Virginia; and Hibbing’s Children of Grace Childcare Education Center — affected an estimated 700 children, or 450 families, in this region. This does not include the children who are waiting for a permanent spot. At Iron Range Tykes and beyond, that list extends two years out, according to Gruba.

Tiffany Soderman, director of Apple Tree Learning Center, said last week there were two reasons she was getting on the bus to head to the State Capitol.

“We want to be able to provide a living wage for our teachers, but the flip side is [that] we don’t want to be charging families more than they can pay,” she said. “It’s really difficult to balance both because it feels like you can’t do one without the other.”

She has seen prized providers leave the profession for other jobs — places that pay more than the $15-an-hour work they have been trained to do.

“Even though, statistically, early childhood is the most crucial years for forming development and success in school and life, we’re not funded the way schools are,” Soderman said.

At Children of Grace, Monday is normally a busy day with billing and other paperwork and classes gearing up for the new week. Though it was an inconvenience for families, they were supportive of Monday’s closure, according to assistant director Heather Pinkoski.

“Some people look at child care centers as just a babysitter,” Pinkoski said. “If I was a babysitter, I’d make more money.”

The closures were mostly centered in the Iron Range this year, but plans are in place for a statewide shutdown next year, according to Kelly Martinson, communications director for Kids Count On Us.

Kristen Vake, executive director of the Iron Mining Association, described childcare as a “critical issue for our industry.”

“The IMA represents companies at every step along the iron and steelmaking supply chains,” she said, standing in front of the teachers at Iron Range Tykes. “And they feel the strain when child care is not available.”

For Jensen’s family, Monday marked a return to “patchwork child care.” Rather than boarding the bus with his daughter’s teachers, he quickly returned to his pickup after the morning event. He had taken the day off from work and had plans to take his daughter to pre-K screening. His wife would take over later in the day, he said.