The following column is the opinion and analysis of the writer.
This year, we started our son at a new preschool when his previous preschool closed. We were fortunate to have options because both of us work. So we considered different teaching methods, location of the school relative to our home and what kind of support we feel our son needs. We found a preschool with engaged teachers, a great outdoor play space, and the kind of flexibility we value for our son’s learning and development.
There is more and more research about how important preschool is for development, from reading to motor skills to social-emotional learning.
We are lucky, because we have the finances to put our son into early childhood education in the first place.
My husband and I are educators, so we are far from the 1% — very far.
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And yet we still felt we had options for our son and ourselves.
The same is not true for many families living in Southern Arizona, according to the recent Self-Sufficiency Standard for Arizona 2018. This report shows how difficult it is for families to cover the costs of living expenses that are essential, such as housing, health care, child care, food and transportation. Funded by Ikea, the report was prepared by University of Washington’s Center for Women’s Welfare and the Women’s Foundation of Southern Arizona (who sponsors the OpEd Project where I was a fellow).
The report demonstrates that it is nearly impossible to support a family on a minimum wage income.
In fact, a parent with two young kids in Tucson could not support her family on a minimum wage job.
Even if she worked two minimum wage jobs, she would barely meet her family’s basic needs.
She wouldn’t have the flexibility to look at numerous preschools for her children, because her transportation costs only cover commuting to work, day care and one shopping trip each week.
She would never be able to pick up food to-go on the way home from work, something my husband and I do from time to time to put an easy dinner on the table after we’ve both worked a full day. Similarly, that same single parent working two minimum wage jobs would never be able to eat out. Meeting basic needs doesn’t allow for any take-out or restaurant meals — not even on birthdays or special occasions.
This isn’t just a problem for single parents. Two-parent households in Arizona also struggle to meet basic needs, according to the Self-Sufficiency Standard.
To make ends meet in Arizona, a family better hope they have employer-sponsored health care. If not, they can add another $472 in expenses for basic health care. That doesn’t take into account lost income from a minimum-wage job when a parent must miss work for a sick child (or themselves).
This report shows how challenging it is to make ends meet, let alone experience some of the conveniences associated with the middle-class lifestyle touted in the American dream. We can do better for Arizona families.
Dr. Laura Gronewold is a lecturer in the Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, where she also runs the undergraduate internship program. She was a public voices fellow of the OpEd Project.
