SPOKANE, Wash. – A recent report suggested that parents in Spokane County are paying more than they should for child care services. But why is that?

According to Denise Elwood, a director at Palisades Christian Learning Center, recent regulations put in place by the state’s Department of Early Learning make it so that child care workers will soon need to earn college credit toward an Early Childhood Education certificate.

That, with a combination of rising minumum wage, is causing child care providers to raise their rates in order to stay afloat.