A report from Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children notes that the state faces an historic early learning workforce shortage. 

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A coordinated early care and education system ensures that infants, toddlers, and preschoolers succeed in school and allows parents to work while knowing their children are safe and learning in high-quality care. 

But Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children’s 2024 State of Early Care and Education report found that this coordinated system that is vital to the economy could be threatened by the early learning workforce shortage. 

The report uses data and research to show that without new investments in the child care workforce, Pre-K Counts, or the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program, early learning providers will continue to lose teachers and close classrooms. Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children worked with Early Learning Pennsylvania (ELPA), a statewide coalition of advocates that includes Pre-K for PA and Start Strong PA, on the report.

Inadequate Funding

The report shows that inadequate funding for the early care and education system has led to supply-side issues affecting families’ abilities to find affordable, high-quality care. It has also impacted providers’ abilities to be compensated fairly to pay teachers and maintain business expenses.

Without direct investment in the child care sector’s workforce, the crisis will continue, likely resulting in more classroom closures and more working parents struggling to find care for their children, the report noted.

The report recommends implementing and funding a recruitment and retention model to increase the child care workforce and ensure that providers have the staff needed to operate at full capacity.

It also suggests increasing state investments in the Pre-K Counts and Head Start Supplemental Assistance programs as well as developing and funding a pay parity policy for pre-K teachers that reflects wages provided to teachers in the K-12 system.

Other Findings

Other findings in the report include:

• Only 46% of eligible 3- and 4-year-olds participate in high-quality, publicly funded pre-K, leaving more than 78,000 without access to a high-quality program.
• Unlivable wages of less than $15.15 per hour are causing an historic workforce shortage, closing classrooms and driving up waitlists for working parents.
• Child care providers can’t raise teacher wages because families are already struggling to afford care costs. On average, costs for infant child care comprise about 17% of the Pennsylvania median family income.
• Only 25% of eligible children under age three are served by Child Care Works, leaving more than 73,000 eligible infants and toddlers unserved.

The full report is available on Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children’s website.