Stokes County education leaders held a panel discussion Monday about the economic impacts of the childcare crisis.
Officials say the lack of affordable childcare in the area costs the county nearly $12 million a year in economic activity. That’s largely due to employee turnover and absenteeism.
Stokes County Schools is the area’s largest employer. Superintendent Brad Rice says it’s not uncommon for the district to lose beginning teachers because they can’t find, or afford, childcare.
“They're faced with pausing their career for several years until their children get into school," Rice said. "But it also has an effect on the back end at times where we will have grandparents, who are veteran teachers who, when their children come to them and say ‘We don't have childcare, could you help?’ It causes some of our people to retire early.”
Rice says those licensed, certified positions can be hard to fill.
He adds that even the teachers who have childcare face disruptions too. If their child gets sick and can't be dropped off at their normal facility, they may have to call out of work to stay home.
"Now you're taking days without pay, and that's days in a classroom when there's a substitute teacher instead of that licensed certified teacher," Rice said. "And while they do great work, it's not the same work, and so there's an impact to education as well. So it affects multiple layers in multiple different ways."
Officials say childcare issues caused about 1,900 working parents in Stokes to experience employment disruptions in the last year.
Rice and other panelists talked about possible solutions, like finding community organizations or businesses to help house childcare facilities.
The Johnston County Coalition of Chambers and ExCEL NC, a coalition focused on early education, convened the panel.