Weekly tuition at centers in six cities rose 19 percent to 83 percent in the same period, as states tightened regulations. Most industrialized countries invested heavily in early-childhood care as women surged into the work force in the 1970s, but Congress and a succession of presidents left the system here mostly to the marketplace, directly subsidizing only the poorest of the poor. When the military faced the same crisis of quality, affordability and supply a decade ago, Congress took a strikingly different approach. It financed a multibillion-dollar reform in the name of retaining top recruits and investing in future ones. It included continual training of workers and more generous pay and benefits.
Advocates hail the system as a model.
Debra Harris used to drop her kids at Pumpkin Patch Child Development Center in working-class Avenel every morning at 7 in a weathered Ford Escort. She popped buttered bagels in the center's microwave for their breakfasts before heading to Jersey City, where she was a school occupational therapist. Their mother considered it the safest and best care she could afford. Harris recently went back over the math, incredulous at the results. So Harris decided to quit her job for the summer, find part-time work and draw down her savings.