At Kamie's Kid Kare in Eagle River, owner Kamie Miller and the eight children she cares for have been spending more time outside now that summer is in full swing.

They've seen plenty of bears and moose already this year, but spent Wednesday afternoon debriefing about a different kind of wildlife sighting: a spider.

Miller, a former special education teacher, offers children a mix of preschool curriculum and structured playtime throughout the day. She's been a licensed in-home childcare provider for 18 years and provides a year-round program.

"It's the curriculum aspect that the parents are looking for," Miller said. "My passion is just to get these young kids ready for kindergarten."

Miller's commitment to teaching doesn't keep her kids from having fun. While waiting for their parents to pick them up, children played with blocks, dinosaurs, colored with crayons and counted to 20 in Spanish.

To stay licensed in Anchorage, in-home childcare providers must do 75% of their required training in person. Miller doesn't have any employees, so she is forced to close for a few days each year to complete training required by the city. It's a stipulation that could soon change with a slate of code changes to childcare licensing.

"We're working nine hours, like, how do you get that in when you're with the kids all that time? And so you have to take time off," Miller said. "If it wasn't necessarily in person, you could be doing it when the kids are resting."

Childcare scarcity is a nationwide problem, and the cost of childcare is growing faster than the rate of inflation, according to the Bank of America Institute. Families looking to enroll their children at licensed childcare centers or with in-home providers often find the available options to be both scarce and expensive, and it's gotten worse recently.

Childcare advocacy nonprofit thread Alaska reports that over the last five years, 25% of all childcare businesses have closed statewide.

Stephanie Berglund, executive director of thread, said Alaska lost 1,400 early childhood educators during the pandemic, but fewer businesses are closing as state and city funding has helped stabilize the industry.

The Anchorage Assembly is considering code changes that would affect the 190 childcare businesses in the municipality, and the state has added funding to improve retention for childcare employees after the industry saw an exodus during the COVID-19 pandemic. But childcare operators say there's more to be done that can ensure their industry doesn't lose momentum.

Zach Devine attended Chugiak High School with Miller, and said he and his wife were lucky to have found available, affordable childcare near their home.

Devine's son has already "graduated" from Miller's program, but he'll stick around until kindergarten starts in the fall.

"It's like a full-on school preparing him," Devine said.

Reducing duplication, improving operations

To address some regulatory issues with childcare, staff with the Anchorage Health Department proposed a slate of code changes governing childcare centers in Anchorage. It's the second round of proposed code changes in as many years after the Assembly voted to loosen some restrictions last year.

Dawn Skeete, a childcare licensing program manager with the Anchorage Health Department, said many of the changes align city code with state standards.

"We are the only municipality in the state that governs and enforces childcare codes," Skeete said during an Assembly work session last month. "Our proposals do not remove core health and safety protections, they're focused on reducing duplication and improving operational flexibility and clarity."

The proposed changes would mostly remove city standards set beyond what state childcare regulators require, including removing a required yearly physical, city-specific standards for food, in-person training requirements and changes titles for adolescent employees to align with state definitions.

Eagle River Assembly member Jared Goecker said he's been asking childcare providers what the city can do to expand access for families by creating more childcare slots, and hopes to avoid families being forced to choose between paying for expensive childcare or going to work. The Assembly will continue the public hearing on the code changes June 23.

"How do we do this in a way where we're opening up space and bringing more kids in, without compromising health and safety?" Goecker asked. "A lot of what we're finding is we've done everything we can at the local level at this point to streamline as much of that as possible."

Goecker said he's received a positive response to the first round of changes, and hopes to work with state regulators to improve childcare in the future, like moving to a school-district-style substitute caregiver model.

Katy Webster has been a licensed in-home provider for more than two decades. She said when she opened Mighty Moose's School of Play, Anchorage had about 250 licensed in-home childcare providers, but it now has just over 90.

Webster said the city could still expand access to quality childcare by allowing group homes, where licensed providers can care for up to 12 children at a business or residential property that requires two licensed providers on site, but can serve a mix of ages beyond what current regulations allow.

"Anywhere in the state of Alaska except for the Municipality of Anchorage, group homes are allowed," Webster said in an email.

'Real momentum in Alaska childcare'

While there are still ways to improve the industry vital for working families, providers see the current changes as necessary to remove existing barriers.

Hanna Johnson, early learning program director for RurAL CAP, said the current requirement that every child must have a physical on file creates unnecessary paperwork. She oversees the RurAL CAP Child Development Center in downtown Anchorage, and said the code changes will remove unnecessary compliance burdens and make running a childcare business simpler.

"A child's physical doesn't necessarily determine how care might change for them," Johnson said. "The incremental changes will ideally add up to make an impact."

Johnson said local funding for childcare has expanded access already. RurAL CAP added a classroom for infants with funding from the Anchorage Child Care and Early Education Fund — though Anchorage residents are buying less marijuana, meaning less tax revenue is available for the ACCEE Fund board to distribute.

With 117 children on the RurAL CAP wait list, Johnson said there's potential for more growth in the industry. They'll start operating a preschool at Tudor Elementary School this fall, and launch a youth apprenticeship program for teenage employees.

"This is a way to potentially get them hooked in, and to show them that it is a career field that they could pursue, get a degree and continue employment," Johnson said. "I think it definitely has the potential to expand the quantity of (the) workforce."

RurAL CAP doesn't typically hire many high school- and college-age employees, but Johnson said it's vital to include young people in the workforce.

Sean Shawcross, owner and operator of Carousel Child Care Center in East Anchorage, said he often hires adolescent employees during the summer.

Shawcross said finding enough staff and keeping them in the industry is a major hurdle, and advocated for the state to increase funding. Lawmakers included $6.4 million in the state operating budget to help retain educators, which could still face a veto from Gov. Mike Dunleavy by the end of this month. The money supports pay increases for early childhood educators under the Retaining Our Outstanding Teacher Stipends program.

"The regulatory changes are fine but honestly that is not the story I care about. What I want people to know is that there is real momentum in Alaska childcare right now," Shawcross said. "Programs like ACCEE and thread and the ROOTS award are what make it possible for centers like us to keep going and keep getting better."

Berglund, with thread, said the industry is still working to restore educators who left during the pandemic. Berglund said cost remains a major hurdle as the price of food and other goods continues to rise.

Thread reports the monthly average price for full-time childcare in Anchorage is nearly $992, according to self-reported data from licensed programs.

"It's super expensive, and families, frankly, I think, are being priced out in the marketplace," Berglund said.

What happens without summer childcare?

Many Anchorage families enroll their children in summer camps or at childcare facilities, but many others don't have affordable options nearby.

Thomas Azzarella, executive director of the Alaska Afterschool Network, said that leaves many children under the watch of older siblings or unsupervised throughout the summer.

Azzarella said the scarcity of affordable summer childcare options hampers the economy when parents stay home to watch their kids and can't work.

"Childcare still just is not penciling out, and the cost of care is too high for too many families, and that is causing a pinch point," Azzarella said.

A study conducted by the Afterschool Alliance, a nationwide nonprofit that advocates for after-school enrichment opportunities for children, said about 25,000 Alaska children miss out on summer enrichment opportunities, and 38% of those families cite cost as the reason.

Azzarella notes that summer camps and childcare centers keep children learning while they're not in school, and help prevent the "summer slide" once they return to class in the fall.

"For kids that are not engaged, they actually lose some of that school readiness, and so that's a huge part of why summer learning programs are so important," Azzarella said.

©2026 Anchorage Daily News. Visit at adn.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.