Kayla Klein sees the faces and knows the stories behind a broken system.

A system that is a cycle of long waitlists, facility closures, low wages, exhausted providers, and distraught parents. A system where child care is too expensive for parents but brings in too little revenue for programs to operate sustainably.

A system that Kayla aims to improve.

“I had one mother come to me and say that she was living in her car, and she really couldn’t afford to keep bringing her son, but she valued the learning and experience he was getting so much that she was going to do everything she could to keep him in school,” Kayla said of one of her families at the Northern Hills Alliance for Children (NHAC) in Deadwood. “I have never forgotten that. No parent should ever have to make that choice – the choice between a safe and educational environment for their child versus the cost of food and shelter.”

Stories like these motivated Kayla to move from being a child care provider to lobbying for an improved system.

“It was so horribly painful at times to watch my parents who could not afford my rates, but my rates weren’t even paying for my teachers. I felt awful. I know these teachers deserved more, but I can’t afford to pay them more, and the parents were already feeling strapped with how much they were paying.”

Kayla’s exposure to early childhood education started with her mother Myrna Westby. Myrna ran her own in-home child care and preschool in Rosholt, a small town in the northeast corner of South Dakota. When the family moved to Rapid City, Myrna earned an early education and special education dual degree working in a variety of different capacities over the decades. She is currently an Early Intervention and Special Education teacher for the Spearfish School District.

“Her experience is so vast and talk about passion; my mother is amazing. She is an inspiration to me always.”

Kayla’s first position with children, other than babysitting, was working with her mother at Youth and Family Services at the age of 16. “My mom was a staff manager for the Head Start and Child Care Program, and I started working with the program as a substitute. That is where my career started.”

During college at Black Hills State University, Kayla moved from YFS to working with middle schoolers at Girls Incorporated. Despite years working with children, Kayla was still unsure of what she wanted to do. She started taking classes that interested her, all of which steered her to earning a degree in human services and psychology. “I never thought I would actually work with children or in the early learning field, but I feel like everything in my life, on my journey, and in my past led me to where I am today.”

Kayla graduated from BHSU in 2010 just as the Northern Hills Alliance for Children, a non-profit child care center, was opening. She was hired as the assistant director and three months later promoted to executive director. “That is truly where my passion started to arise.”

She served as executive director for more than seven years with both her children going through NHAC. During her time leading the center, Kayla saw firsthand a system that was in crisis and facing growing challenges. Instead of watching the problems worsen, Kayla chose to be a part of the solutions.

“I have always had this motto that if you are going to say something you better do something. Nothing is going to change if you continually just complain about a problem.”

Kayla started advocating on both a local and state level. She became the policy chairperson for the South Dakota Association for the Education of Young Children (SDAEYC), traveling to Washington, D.C. to talk with Congressional delegates. She became a registered lobbyist and in 2018 helped start Early Learners South Dakota, a community-driven, grassroots effort led by SDAEYC that brings awareness and support to the importance of how access to a variety of early learning environments impacts the community’s future. In 2021, Kayla started her own business, Klein Visioneering Group, to be a louder voice for change.

“This is not just a child care business problem or a parent problem; this field and the lack of support for the field affects everyone whether you have children or not. It directly affects the success or decline in our economy, so we all need to be concerned about this. We need to look at from a public perspective and make investments on a larger level in a different way then we historically have in South Dakota.”

There are positive things happening and more people working together to improve the child care system. Kayla hopes to see legislation coming forward that will improve the future of child care in South Dakota including removing barriers for assistance and increasing the subsidy rates; and automatic subsidies for parents who work in the industry. “That is a double win. We are getting a parent into the workforce and at the same time creating up to nine additional spots for other families to enter the workforce.”

Kayla said they are also collaborating with the John T. Vucurevich Foundation on a pilot program, Tri-Share, which would make care more accessible and affordable by splitting the cost between the family, employer, and the foundation. “This has been successful in other states. In Michigan, they are seeing like a 60 percent decrease in employee turnover.”

Local businesses are also implementing innovative solutions to help their employees navigate child care including flexible scheduling, allowing children into the workplace during certain hours, and offering child care assistance as part of their benefits package.

“For the first time in these may years I have been advocating, this is the first time I have seen such cohesion, communication, and unification across the aisles. We needed our Republican leaders to decide this was an issue they wanted to take on, and we have seen it.”

While there are positive developments on the horizon; change in government is slow. Although an optimist, Kayla believes the system will likely get worse before solutions are implemented. “It has taken too long to get here. I hope I am wrong, but I can see more places closing and the crisis getting worse before it gets better.”

But hope and momentum are there.

Kayla is more determined than ever to fight for the children and their families and create a system where all people have accessible and quality options for child care.

“We are looking at solving this crisis as a state and not just within the field. That has been a lifelong goal of mine. We are making so much progress, and that is great. That is what drives me and pushes me into new, uncharted territory.”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE OTHER STORIES IN THE DECEMBER ISSUE OF ELEVATE!