Childcare in Idaho is problem for us all

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - 479 million dollars. That's the amount of money Idaho loses each year due to childcare issues.

The reason was identified as the problem in getting a retaining a workforce in our state.

Beth Oppenheimer is the Executive Director for Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children. She says, "All of the issues they found in the report are a little different but access and cost were huge barriers to families being able to be part of the workforce"

What they found was a staggering loss of money for businesses, employers, individuals and our economy overall.

According to Oppenheimer, about 50% of Idahoans live in a child care desert. It means access to childcare isn't possible because it doesn't exist.

Several agencies from the governmental, educational and business sectors are coming together to take on this issue.

The hope is to overhaul the system and put in place something that benefits everyone. "This is a challenge but it is solvable but we're not going to solve it with one solution," says Oppenheimer. It won't happen overnight, but it's started and thats a step in the right direction for the economy.