Military child care centers meet high quality standards and don't cost much more than their civilian counterparts, according to a new General Accounting Office report.
GAO's study, "Child Care: How Do Military and Civilian Center Costs Compare?" (HEHS-00-7) compared child care centers at the Air Force, which is the only service branch to have all of its centers accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), with 401 civilian centers.
Overall, Air Force child care costs were about 7 percent higher than at the civilian centers in fiscal 1997, largely because the Air Force facilities pay their caregivers more and because they typically have more children under age three than their non-military counterparts.
Child care is more expensive for younger children because they require more attention and more caregivers. According to the Defense Department, 48 percent of children in military child care programs are infants and toddlers, while the average at civilian centers is about 15 percent.
Air Force caregivers earn an average of $1.04 more per hour than workers in civilian centers. Studies link higher caregiver compensation to lower staff turnover and higher quality care.
DoD has worked diligently on improving its child care system for more than a decade. The agency's 1983 Child Care Action Plan focused on renovating facilities, training staff and reducing child-to-staff ratios.
Today the Defense Department offers a wide range of options to military families. DoD has specific mandates for staff training and oversight of all child care centers and requires that each center work toward NAEYC accreditation.
As of June 1999, 89 percent of all military child care centers were accredited by NAEYC, compared to only 6 percent of civilian sector centers.
"This report validates that DoD provides quality, affordable child care at a comparable cost to civilian centers," DoD said in response to the study.
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