In the wake of the passage of a 15-dollar hourly minimum wage, child care workers are pushing the state to raise reimbursement rates. The increase does not apply to all of them, since many are considered independent contractors. The Executive Director of First 5 Nevada County, Lindsay Dunckel, says she’s always concerned about how child care pay rates affect kids up to 5 years old, whom they develop programs for…

click to listen to Lindsay Dunckel

Dunckel says only 40-percent of working parents with kids eligible for child care in Nevada County have found it. She says she was once a child care worker herself…

click to listen to Lindsay Dunckel

Many in-home child care providers are paid by the state to care for children from low-income families. Statistics show that California is home to more than 100-thousand home operators and more than 78-hundred child care centers.