Hawaii’s astronomical costs for child care and preschool are a major reason the economic well-being of keiki here has worsened comparatively, pushing the state down from 35th place to a dismal 44th among the 50 states on that measure in the latest annual Kids Count Data Book report.
“Hawaii parents face some of the highest child care costs in the nation,” said the summary of the report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a Baltimore-based private philanthropic organization that has been producing Kids Count reports since 1990.
“Even if parents can find an opening at child care near their home, they often can’t pay for it,” the summary continued. “Hawaii’s average cost of center-based child care for a toddler was $13,919, or 12% of the median income of a married couple and 35% of a single mother’s income in the state. That is significantly higher than current in-state annual tuition of $11,304 at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.”
However, Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke said in a Honolulu Star-Advertiser interview that she expects the financial health of thousands of families to start to shift significantly as the state’s new Ready Keiki preschool initiative rolls out in phases over the next 10 years. Ready Keiki is intended to create access to preschool for all of Hawaii’s 3- and 4-year-olds, including free public preschool and expanded state subsidies for private preschool.
Since 1990, the Kids Count Data Book has ranked states based on how children and families are faring. It focuses on four areas: economic well-being, education, health, and family and community factors.
While Hawaii was ranked near the bottom in the economic well-being category in the 2023 report, the islands ranked 19th in education, 13th in health and eighth in family and community factors.
When those measures were combined, Hawaii placed in the middle of the pack at 25th in overall children’s well-being for 2023. That, too, was down from last year’s ranking of 22nd.
Among the factors, based on 2021 data, that contributed to the portion on economic well-being of Hawaii’s children:
>> “Cost-burdened housing”: 39% of Hawaii children lived in households that spent more than 30% of their income on housing, which places Hawaii at 49th out of 50 states — a reflection of Hawaii’s affordable-housing crisis, the report said.
>> Nonworking teens: 10% of teenagers ages 16 to 19 were not attending school and not working, giving Hawaii a ranking of 44th.
>> Lack of full employment for parents: 31% of Hawaii children lived in families where no parent was fully employed, for a ranking of 37th.
>> Keiki in poverty: The report said 14% of Hawaii’s children lived in households with incomes below the poverty line, for a ranking of 18th. However, the official poverty level does not factor in the high cost of living in Hawaii, which many separate studies have called the highest in the nation, estimated at about 80% higher than the national average.
The report also found that too many Hawaii parents cannot secure child care that is compatible with their work schedules and commutes: 12% of Hawaii children under age 6 lived in families in which someone quit, changed or refused a job because of challenges in acquiring child care. And women are five to eight times more likely than men to experience “negative employment consequences” related to caregiving, the report said.
About 90% of Hawaii keiki who are attending preschool go to private institutions, Luke said, “and the fact that child care and preschools are costing in the ranges of $1,200 to $1,500 a month is basically equivalent to paying another set of rent.”
With many parents feeling pressured by such expensive tuition to quit work in order to stay home with their keiki, Luke said, “we are putting people who are in the lower-income or middle-income working families who cannot afford to send their kids to preschool at a disadvantage. … (It) impacts the amount of money that they can bring home to take care of their family.”
Luke said she agrees with the findings of the Kids Count report, and said it points to the need for changes such as the Ready Keiki initiative, which includes building 465 classrooms statewide by 2032 for free public preschool. In addition, she said, state preschool Open Doors subsidies for eligible families were expanded this legislative session, rising from $12 million to $50 million in total, as lawmakers increased the subsidy amount and added 3-year-olds to the eligibility criteria.
