May 15, 2025 Early Childhood Educators Share the Day-to-Day Realities of Working in Child Care Programs Pennsylvania early childhood educators joined Trying Together and partner organizations on May 13 in Harrisburg to advocate for investments in workforce recruitment and retention and share at a press conference a recently released photovoice story map that highlights the joys and challenges of working in the early childhood field. A Day in the Life The photovoice story map, titled “A Day in the Life,” shares a glimpse into the day-to-day reality of working in child care programs. During the event, participants used these stories to call attention to widespread challenges in the field and urged further investments in the state’s early childhood education system. Brie Rice and Aydan Roney met with state Rep. Eric Nelson. Brie Rice, of JB’s Bright Beginnings in North Huntingdon, discussed the often-overlooked dedication of early childhood educators who spend significant time outside of work hours and their own money to keep young learners engaged. “Let us draw you a picture of what happens in early education – gifted early childhood educators are making the heartbreaking decision to leave their passion behind in the classroom for higher-paying jobs in other sectors,” she said. “To raise wages, we would need to increase tuition. Parents can’t afford to pay more, and teachers can’t afford to make less. Without public investment in the workforce, the broken child care system is going to collapse.” State Sen. Lindsey Williams (D-38th District) said that the state should support educators by investing more in the early childhood education system. “Early childhood educators are the cornerstone of a family and child’s quality experience in a child care program, offering safe, nurturing, and responsive environments where children grow, learn, and thrive,” Williams said. “However, talented early educators are leaving the field due to abysmal pay and families’ access to quality child care is directly impacted. By investing funding proposed by Gov. (Josh) Shapiro’s 2025-26 budget in recruitment and retention bonuses for licensed child care providers, child care programs will be able to provide competitive wages to caregivers.” According to a March 2024 report from the state’s Independent Fiscal Office (IFO), the average child care teacher in Pennsylvania earns $15.15 per hour, less than $32,000 annually. Shapiro has proposed a $55 million investment in child care recruitment and retention. Data from a September 2024 Start Strong PA survey of 1,140 child care providers showed more than 3,000 open positions. If those positions were filled, an estimated 25,320 more children could be served. In partnership with the Start Strong PA and Pre-K for PA campaigns, Trying Together was joined by fellow campaign partners First Up, PennAEYC, Pennsylvania Child Care Association (PACCA), and Fight Crime: Invest in Kids/Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children. Alongside early childhood educators from across the state, they met with more than 30 state legislators to advocate for increased investments in early care and education. During their visits in Harrisburg, they urged the General Assembly to: Support the proposed investment of $55 million in a new and recurring Child Care Recruitment and Retention line item to grant licensed child care providers participating in the child care subsidy program an additional $1,000 per educator To more fully address the child care staffing crisis and its impact on working families, businesses, and the economy, consider an investment above the proposed $55 million “Classrooms are empty, centers are closing, teachers are fleeing, families are being stranded without care, and children are being left without educational resources,” said Hayley Butler, an educator at Crafton Children’s Center in Allegheny County. “Recruitment and retention desperately need to be taken seriously because when a teacher leaves, a domino effect occurs. A teacher leaving can result in a family losing access to quality care options. While we know that there are many industries in need of support, our sector is the workforce behind the workforce, and we will not solve the labor issues without investing directly in our early education professionals.” To better understand what is taking place in the early childhood education sector, view Trying Together’s “A Day in the Life” photovoice storytelling project. Ready to take action? Sign the petition urging the Pennsylvania General Assembly to invest, at minimum, the governor’s proposed $55 million in new and recurring state funding to implement a child care teacher recruitment and retention initiative to fix our child care staffing crisis.
June 17, 2024 Allegheny County Executive Highlights All-In Action Plan for High-Quality Early Care and Education Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato recently joined local legislators and Trying Together to underscore how a growing teacher shortage – driven by low compensation – is closing child care and pre-k programs throughout the state. As a result, working families are experiencing long waitlists to get their child into early education programs. Learn More Innamorato joined county policymakers at the Allegheny County Courthouse on Thursday, June 13 to urge investments in early learning teacher recruitment and retention. Legislators highlighted the need for Pennsylvania to mirror efforts in other states that could help remedy a child care and pre-k teacher shortage as well as ensure that early learning supply can meet the demand from families. “As someone who has advocated for early care and education for a long time, I know that families rely on child care and other early learning programs,” Innamorato said. “If the early learning sector is struggling, it will have negative implications for our working families. The relative scarcity of quality programs have made words like ‘expensive’ and ‘waitlist’ all too familiar for parents with small children.” Innamorato highlighted findings from her office’s All-In Allegheny Initiative survey, in which 40% of 19,000 residents who responded cited access and affordable child care were a top priority. Additionally, 31% of responders prioritized increased pay for child care workers. Innamorato said that the county would advocate to increase wages for child care and out-of-school time workers as well as expand access to short-term and crisis child care and invest and secure more resources in the Allegheny County Child Care Matters pilot program. Low Compensation Driving Shortage Low compensation for early child care and pre-k teachers, who are among the lowest paid positions in the state’s workforce, is the driving factor behind the teacher shortage. According to a March 2024 report from the General Assembly’s Independent Fiscal Office (IFO), the average child care teacher in Pennsylvania earns $15.15 per hour. In a recent Start Strong PA survey, Allegheny County child care programs reported 511 open positions, resulting in 103 closed classrooms. Had the programs been fully staffed, an additional 2,416 children could be served. State Rep. La’Tasha Mayes (D-24th District), a new mother and co-chair of the state Assembly’s Black Maternal Health caucus, said child care and early learning is a broken business model. “I know first-hand the difficult position that early learning providers find themselves (in),” she said. “They are challenged to keep pace with market wages, but they know that the families they serve can’t afford to pay what it would take to accomplish this.” Danielle Daye, owner of the Learning & Education Child Development Center, said that educators are the foundation of programs like the one she operates. She added that they are not being supported on a statewide level. “As we meet and exceed guidelines of quality care and education following Keystone STARS standards, the cost of operating a center of this magnitude far exceeds the income generated to sustain this level of programming and pay livable wages,” she said. “Owners and operators like myself rely on building relationships with our staff and providing positive work environments to attract and retain the very individuals that make our program what it is, and we are losing staff to fields able to provide in this economy.” Parents Struggling to Find Quality Child Care Heather Visensky, the community engagement manager for MomsWork, said she hears numerous stories from mothers about their struggles securing quality, reliable, and affordable child care. “The bottom line is that high-quality and reliable child care is something that is critical to the modern-day workforce,” she said. “When parents stress about not having reliable, affordable and quality child care, their work suffers, their productivity plummets, and they have difficulty advancing in their careers. Most importantly, their overall parenting and mental health suffers being in a constant state of worry and uncertainty.” State Sen. Lindsey Williams (D-38th District) and Duolingo’s Head of Social Impact, Kendra Ross, also spoke at the event about the importance of high-quality early care and education. All of the legislators and speakers in attendance noted that they support a recruitment and retention proposal that would provide monthly payments to providers of up to $440 per child care employee for initiatives such as hiring bonuses, monthly wage increases, benefit packages, or retention bonuses for staff staying for a certain length of time or for staff achieving certain credentials or degrees. Such a program would provide flexibility for providers to choose how to use these funds so that they can have the maximum impact in local communities. The effort would cost the state $284 million.
