Aug. 4—As working parents of a child just beginning to crawl, Ben and Trudi Shertzer began the search for a day care. They soon discovered what a headache it can be to find a place that both has availability and won't bust the budget.
"It's an unexpected cost," said Trudi Shertzer. "When we got pregnant, that was the last thing on our minds."
The couple, who work at Pittsburgh International Airport, now have an option close to their office. The Findlay-based airport is opening a childcare center for its some 6,000 workers.
"It's a fantastic situation that they they've gone and done something like this," said Ben Shertzer, a wildlife control administrator. Their son, Hunter, is the first child enrolled at the day care, which is being operated by La Petite Academy, one of the nation's largest educational day care companies.
The Novi, Mich.-based company has more 450 schools across the country. The center the airport will offer early education programs for infants up to pre-K. The curriculum incorporates STEM-inspired lessons to help prepare kids for kindergarten.
The service is being offered at 10% below market rate to airport employees and will accept state subsidies, officials said.
"It is going to be less than what we would have been paying outside of the airport which is going to help us out on a weekly basis," said Trudi Shertzer, airport operations duty manager.
Access to affordable child care has been a long-standing economic issue for many families.
In January, the Department of Labor launched the National Database of Childcare Prices, showing rates in 2,360 U.S. counties.
The data shows that "childcare expenses are untenable for families throughout the country and highlights the urgent need for greater federal investments," the U.S. Department of Labor said.
Prices for a single child ranged from $4,810 for school-age home-based care in small counties to $15,417 for infant center-based care in very large counties.
"When adjusted for inflation, this equals between $5,357 and $17,171 in 2022 dollars. These price ranges are equivalent to between 8% and 19.3% of median family income per child in paid care," the department said.
In Allegheny County, an average of 14.3% of the family median income was spent on child care, the department found.
Christina Cassotis, CEO of the Allegheny County Airport Authority, said it was important to be able to give working parents access to childcare on site.
"Airports are not usually located too close to downtown, so anything we can do to make that decision easier about where to invest their careers is something we want to help with," Cassotis said.
"We're hoping to see more and more of this in Pennsylvania and in the aviation industry overall," she said. "We want it to be a role model for other businesses and other airports.
The center is part of the $1.4 billion project to build a new terminal at the airport. The project is expected to be completed by early 2025.
"When we were planning for the terminal modernization program, we wanted to make this a project of choice," Cassotis said.
The 5,315-square-foot center is open to 61 kids from six weeks to 5 years old and will be open five days a week for airport workers, concessions and construction workers.
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