Today’s Providence Journal features an interesting, but difficult-to-conceptualize, article by Kathy Gregg on the possible unionization of independent child care providers who receive some pay from the state government.

On one hand, the headline is “R.I. daycare workers earn more than most teachers,” making it seem as if this is another scandalously lucrative way to grab money from taxpayers.  On the other hand, the article repeats the promises that the union is making to the providers, as well as a claim of financial hardship by a provider who took home almost $77,000 last year, without any challenge or contrary comment.

The Numbers

Gregg reports that “at least 135” of the 561 licensed child care providers received more in government payments than a step 1 teacher in the Foster-Glocester school district.  There are a number of problems with this comparison.

First, at the reported $35,179, Foster-Glocester seems abnormally low.  The latest year for which I have nearly complete data on hand is the 2010-2011 school year (i.e., three years of annual increases ago).  It includes all regular districts except Portsmouth and Foster-Glocester, and the average salary at step 1 is $38,963.  For step 2, the average goes up to $41,676.  For 2010-2011, only Burrillville and East Providence had step 1 rates below $36,000.  (Central Falls was at the top, at $44,690.)

Second, because steps are an annual increase, very few teachers are actually at step 1.  In the last school year, for example, Tiverton didn’t have a single teacher at step 1.  Steps 2 through 4 had two teachers each, which works out to about 1% of all teachers in town per step.

A very quick calculation from state data suggests that Foster-Glocester’s two schools have around 100 teachers.  That means that one or two might be at step 1.

In other words, it’s entirely possible that only one or two teachers in the entire state (which had 14,945 teachers in 2007) actually make less than the lower boundary of those 135 providers.  Now, if Gregg wants to throw private school teachers, who typically make much less than government school teachers, that would definitely change the story… but it would change it in more ways than one.

The moral of that story might turn out to be that the fastest route to riches, in Rhode Island, is through manipulation of the government.

The Promises

If the numbers in the article give the false impression that child care providers are making a killing with government checks, the personal-story part of it gives the false impression that unionization is going to be able to do much to improve it.

Marie Green, the article’s profiled provider, offers some explanation of why her job might pay better than a teacher’s:  She works year-round, and her clients often don’t pick up their children until late at night.  Sometimes the kids just sleep over.  But now, she hopes the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) will help to reduce the weight of that explanation:

When she hears other childcare providers fret about how much union dues might cost, she said, she urges them to think about “the long-term … . If you could put a couple of bucks in this basket and hopefully, you get three times more than what you are going to put in, later … wouldn’t that be good?”

Tops on her wish list: “vacation … better pay… pension … insurance.”

“They have to do something where they will support and look at home daycare providers as they would look at any one of the state employees because we are not baby-sitters, we are here to take care of the kids.”

Ms. Green should take a look at ChildCareUnionInfo.com.  The things she’s seeking are not things that unions have had success providing.  Looking at all of the available contracts that can be searched by word, it appears that the only mention of retirement benefits or paid time off is in sections stating that the contract does not require the government to offer such benefits.  Only three of the contracts include healthcare, and the eligibility is very limited, including by household income.  (For a more extensive summary see the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity’s related report.)

The 500-something child care providers, and Rhode Island voters, have important decisions to make in the coming months and years.  Those decisions ought to be well informed and well balanced, so it’s incumbent upon us all to go out in search of (and then to pass around) complete information.