Lt. Cmdr. Lauren Elkins, assistant public works officer at Naval Support Activity Mechanicsburg, Pa., and Command Master Chief Daniel Hemingway, high-five preschoolers at a child development center in July 2024. (Christy Trabun/Naval Support Activity Mechanicsburg)

WASHINGTON — The Navy plans to update or build child care facilities, such as classrooms and playrooms, to accommodate another 3,000 children in the next five years after years of struggling to meet the needs of military families.

Construction projects are already underway to build new centers or upgrade existing facilities to accommodate 978 additional children at four military bases, including: Naval Base Kitsap, Wash.; Naval Base Point Loma, Calif.; Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads, Va.; and Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Va. Another 12 projects are scheduled in the next five years that will make child care available for another 2,000 children. These include four projects in the San Diego area, four projects in Hampton Roads, Va., two at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, one project at Naval Weapons Station China Lake, Calif., and one project supporting the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C.

The projects are part of a $51.7 million investment from the Navy to offer child care services to thousands of military families.

There are about 2,500 children on the service-wide waitlist to enroll in a Navy child development center — down from 5,000 children in 2023. Child development centers are for kids younger than 5 years old, and school-age care centers are for kids 6 to 12 years old, the service said.

“The Navy is committed to improving quality of service, and a significant part of that is child care. Readiness suffers when sailors and their families lack dependable, high-quality child care,” said Vice Adm. Scott Gray, commander of Navy Installations Command, which oversees the service’s child and youth program.

More facilities could become available. The Navy is working to use vacant warehouses, chapels and community centers to meet the demand for child care facilities. Last year, buildings at Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan, and Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., were converted into school-age care facilities.

Improving access to child care for military families requires a multipronged approach, according to Maryann Coutino, director of the Navy’s Child and Youth Program.

In conjunction with efforts to expand facilities, the Navy is working to address staffing challenges. In recent years, a shortage of child care staff forced the child development centers to operate below capacity. The Navy is offering salary increases, recruitment and retention incentives and professional development opportunities to attract new staff and retain seasoned workers.

Incentives for child care staff include discounts of 100% for their first child and 20% for additional children, while management and support staff enjoy a 50% discount for their first child and 20% for others.

The efforts, the Navy said, have had a measurable impact.

As of September 2022, 75% of child care positions were filled, and enrollment was at 76% capacity. By October 2024, staffing had increased to 88%. This allowed the program to operate at 85% capacity. The child development center’s operating capacity is determined by the student-to-teacher ratio. When there is not sufficient staffing, the centers must reduce capacity.

The milestone comes as the Office of Personnel Management is working to purge federal employees. Teachers in the Navy’s Child and Youth Program are federal employees, but current guidance from the OPM stipulates federal employees who directly support child care are exempt from probationary layoffs.

“Given that current exemptions prioritize the value of child care providers, [the Navy’s Child and Youth Program] is hopeful that any future personnel action won’t negatively affect the Navy’s ability to deliver child care services,” said Destiny Sibert, a spokesperson for Navy Installations Command.

The centers are operating now at a 4:1 student-to-teacher ratio, and a maximum classroom size of eight for infants ages 6 weeks to 12 months. Pre-toddlers ages 13-24 months have a 5:1 ratio, and classrooms have no more than 10 children. Toddlers between 2 and 3 years old have a 7:1 ratio, and classrooms have up to 14 children. Preschool children between 3 and 5 years old have a 12:1 ratio with up to 24 kids in a classroom. School-age care programs, for children up to 18 years old, have one teacher per 15 kids.

“We are committed to steadily increasing child care capacity to better support our service members and their families,” Coutino said.

The Defense Department serves 160,000 children up to 12 years old at on-base centers. As of March 2024, 50,000 children younger than 5 years old were enrolled in military child care programs, according to a letter two lawmakers sent in September to then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. More than 11,500 children were on a waitlist.

Last year, lawmakers passed funding with $167 million to pay for child development centers at U.S. military installations worldwide.

The Pentagon also received nearly $2 billion in the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act — the law that sets spending priorities for the Defense Department — to maintain and improve child development centers, as well as barracks and training ranges.