Excerpt:
Michigan is afflicted with near-stagnant population growth, and many parents who want childcare struggle to find it. The state’s lawmakers can address both problems by revisiting the regulations they place on childcare providers.
The state ranks in the middle of the country in a recent review of childcare regulations. That number comes from the Archbridge Institute, which released a report of childcare regulations across the 50 states. It created an index based on a composite score of four different regulatory requirements: child-to-staff ratios, group size limitations, and mandatory employee education and training rules. Archbridge scholars calculated how strict or flexible a state is in regulating childcare centers. Michigan was 25th, suggesting that the state can reform its policies to protect children while making daycare more available for those who want it.
Prior research shows that more regulations decrease the number of places that offered childcare, with the largest impact found in lower income markets. The childcare centers that survived despite increased regulations did not expand their services, so the total number of options for parents declined with more intense regulation. Researchers did find, however, that more regulations increased the number of accredited childcare firms.
More stringent regulations are associated with fewer childcare providers, but that’s not their only impact. There’s some evidence that childcare regulations affect the number of children people have. Four researchers, including two authors of the Archbridge index, looked at what impact regulations have on the “fertility gap.” That’s the difference between the number of children women say they want to have and the number they actually have. This is an important topic, as falling birthrates challenge the sustainability of government welfare programs, among other issues.
Read the full article at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
Read the State Childcare Regulations Index here.
Mackinac Center for Public Policy
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