Child Care Needs Assessment & Workforce Assessment

The Child Care Partnership Council, San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE), and San Mateo County Superintendent of Schools retained Brion Economics, Inc. (BEI) in 2022 to conduct a Countywide Child Care Needs Assessment, which will be used for a variety of purposes. The 2022 Needs Assessment evaluates the supply and demand for child care in 2022 and 2032 by three age groups, Infants, Preschool and School Age, for the County as a whole and for each city and the unincorporated areas of the County. Particular attention was paid to the impacts of Transitional Kindergarten, which is being implemented by school districts throughout the State.

For this effort, BEI also conducted two surveys in collaboration with Seed Collaborative and SMCOE’s Center for Learning Analytics (CLA). The first is an assessment of the child care workforce conducted by Seed Collaborative. The second survey focused on parents’ use and need for child care conducted by the CLA. The Parent Survey included questions about the current use of care and preferred use of care by age group. These survey results have been integrated into this child care supply and demand analysis. The survey provides specific data on the need for and use of child care specific to San Mateo County that was not available in the past. BEI also prepared an analysis of child care workforce needs, pay, challenges, and education levels based on the results of the Workforce Survey and other data and studies reviewed for this effort.