California reimburses providers based on what families can pay, rather than what it costs to provide care. To bridge the gap, providers serving the state’s neediest children must get by on low pay

Miren Algorri wakes at 4 a.m. and sleeps by 11 p.m. — when she can.

On weekdays and some weekends and holidays, Algorri takes care of and teaches as many as 14 children — some as young as babies, others as old as 9 — in her Chula Vista house.

The first is dropped off at 6:30 a.m. when his mom goes to work as a cook. The last, whose mom works late at a pharmacy, isn’t picked up until nearly 8 p.m.

In between, the 48-year-old Algorri and her two assistant teachers make the children breakfast, lunch and dinner with foods like mangoes, oatmeal, fish, broccoli and milk. They change the babies’ diapers. Algorri picks the older kids up from school.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor, the teachers read books, play games, practice social skills. They flood Algorri’s sunlit, toy-filled living room with a stream of language that slips seamlessly between English and Spanish as the children squeal, smile and exclaim in wonder.

“Negotiating, conflict resolution, self-regulation ... these are skills they’re going to need for the rest of their lives,” Algorri said.

For all this work, Algorri can’t afford to pay herself a salary, after working in child care for 31 years. She relies on her husband’s military salary and benefits to get by.

Algorri, who opened her business in 1997, serves only...

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