Gaps in child care in Broward County are hurting family budgets and the local workforce that businesses rely on, according to a new report from the Florida Chamber Foundation.
The report, the Broward County Early Learning Landscape Analysis and Roadmap, was developed with Broward Workshop and the Early Learning Coalition of Broward County. It draws on a survey of 2,449 parents and caregivers. Sixty-three percent named cost as the biggest barrier to finding care, and 39% cited limited availability or waitlists. About 846 said child care problems had affected their ability to work or attend school, occasionally or often.
The county has 758 licensed providers and more than 89,000 licensed slots for children through age 12. But the report says staffing shortages limit how many of those seats families can actually use. Nearly one-third of 998 early educators surveyed said they had seriously considered leaving the field in the past year, and 33% held a second job. Sixty percent of responding providers pay assistant teachers $15 an hour or less.
Only 45% of Broward kindergartners met the readiness benchmark on the Fall 2025 assessment. Full-time infant care costs roughly $10,000 to $15,600 a year, according to provider-reported tuition. More than half of parents surveyed said they receive no financial help, and 40% did not know assistance programs existed.
The roadmap asks employers to share information about aid programs, offer flexible scheduling and child care benefits, and look into the Florida Child Care Tax Credit. It also calls for an annual Employer Child Care Roundtable. Broader proposals include more School Readiness funding, higher provider reimbursement rates and more investment in early learning workers.
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