The city of West Lafayette will conduct a study into the availability of high-end childcare in Greater Lafayette.
City officials are hoping to get a handle on the size of the problem.
The $100,000 study aims to understand the actual gap in childcare -- and where that gap will be in a few years given the city's expected growth.
Officials said as the city continues to attract large businesses, access to childcare is a workforce issue.
Erin Easter is West Lafayette’s Director of Development. She said one of the questions the study will ask is whether the city needs a new facility to fulfill the need.
“It’s not to say we will build a building but we want to understand what that looks like,” she said. “It’s, we think, financially prudent to understand that before any decisions are made.”
According to experts, Tippecanoe County is estimated to have a gap of about 6,000 seats in needed, high-quality childcare.
Because of the federal CHIPS Act, some semiconductor manufacturers will be required to provide childcare. That means SkyWater Technology, which announced a $1.8 billion investment in the community, will have to provide childcare when the company sets up in West Lafayette.
But David Purpura, director of the Center for Early Learning at Purdue, said he hopes the city steps up to provide a community childhood education option that isn’t tied to employers.
“I think that we as a community should be a standard bearer for our state,” he said. “We know the value of early childhood education and have more resources than many.”
A community-funded option would help address affordability issues, according to Purpura.
Childcare can cost somewhere between seven to ten thousand dollars every year.
“We still treat it as something that is really for people who can afford it,” Purpura said. “We do have some programs – Headstart, [the state’s] On My Way Pre-k program – that do provide some funding for access to these positions but they don’t meet the overall need that we have.”
The study is expected to be completed by May 2024.
