July 16, 2024 NAEYC Report Highlights Low Compensation Impact on Early Childhood Education The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has released a report that highlights the inadequate and inequitable compensation in early childhood education that affects educators, children, families, businesses, and the economy. Learn More NAEYC’s “Compensation Means More Than Wages” argues that low compensation drives educators away from the field and keeps others from entering it. Additionally, it undermines quality and creates staffing crises that limit the supply of child care that families and businesses need. The report discusses how in recent years, effective efforts have focused not only on increasing wages, but also on expanding access to benefits, especially for educators in child care centers and family child care homes. These efforts align with needs expressed by early childhood educators, such as health insurance, retirement benefits, and paid leave. The report also cited the importance of a more expansive understanding of benefits, including loan forgiveness and scholarships, housing, and child care assistance. NAEYC’s report cited several reasons why access to benefits is significant for early childhood educators. It said that benefits: Support early childhood educator well-being and program quality Promote gender and racial equity Support recruitment and retention of early childhood educators Bring in additional funding sources to support educators For more information, read the NAEYC’s report.
July 15, 2024 Report Touts States With Initiatives to Improve Teacher Recruitment and Retention Start Strong PA has released a new report that describes how other states are tackling the child care teacher shortage by funding initiatives that improve recruitment and retention of staff. Learn More “Solving the Child Care Teacher Shortage Through State Recruitment and Retention Investments” discusses how 16 states are directly investing in recruitment, retention, and other wage-impacting strategies to ensure that the supply of child care teachers can meet the demand and keep classrooms open. Issued by Start Strong PA and the Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children (PennAEYC), the report notes that some of the states it references also have a child care subsidy reimbursement rate at or above the 75th percentile. The report comes in the wake of a September 2023 survey conducted by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s PolicyLab on behalf of Start Strong PA to demonstrate Pennsylvania’s child care crisis. The survey found that nearly 26,000 additional children could be served at child care programs if fully staffed. Additionally, it found that 2,395 open positions have resulted in the closure of 934 classrooms, and that providers’ inability to recruit and retain staff is having a direct impact on the quality of programming. As part of the 2024-25 proposed state budget, Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed to utilize federal funding to increase the child care subsidy reimbursement to the 75th percentile of the current market price of child care services. However, while this increase would alleviate some of the inflationary pressures that subsidized providers are facing, it likely wouldn’t be sufficient to make the level of workforce investments necessary to solve the teacher shortage, the Start Strong PA report found. The report recommends that the state establish and fund a program that will help providers better recruit and retain staff and, as a result, keep classrooms open. For more information, read Start Strong PA’s report.
July 12, 2024 Pre-K for PA, Start Strong PA Respond to 2024-25 State Budget Pre-K for PA and Start Strong PA have issued statements that the state budget fails to address the crisis in the early childhood sector. The two advocacy campaigns – which are part of Early Learning Pennsylvania (ELPA), a statewide coalition of advocates focused on supporting young Pennsylvanians from birth to age five – have released reaction statements to Senate Bill 1001, which has been signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro and will be enacted in the 2024-25 Pennsylvania state budget. Below are statements from the advocacy campaigns and a breakdown of budget investments. Child Care $26.2 million in additional funding to maintain the status quo of payments in the subsidized child care system and the number of children. Additional federal child care funding to meet the federally recommended child care subsidy reimbursement rate. In a press release, Start Strong PA said, “With a child care sector that is collapsing with classrooms and programs closing across the commonwealth due to the historic child care teacher shortage, the Start Strong PA Campaign is deeply disappointed by the lack of direct investment to help child care providers recruit and retain their workforce as part of the state budget bill.” The Start Strong PA campaign noted that staffing shortages within the child-care sector are driven by low wages. According to the Independent Fiscal Office (IFO), the average child-care teacher in Pennsylvania only earns $15.15 per hour. This wage includes the impact of one-time federal child care stimulus funds. With the lack of direct state involvement, it is unclear whether these wages can be sustained, the campaign said. “Child care teachers are the workforce behind the workforce,” the statement said. “When families can’t get child care, their children suffer, their income drops, and the state’s economy is shortchanged. In a time of severe labor shortages and billions in state budget surplus, the commonwealth’s failure to help child care providers recruit and retain these teachers is a tragic outcome.” Recent estimates show that gaps in the child care sector cost the state’s economy $6.65 billion annually in lost wages, productivity, and tax receipts. Start Strong PA pointed out that more than 50 state chambers of commerce have called for investments that directly help child care providers attract and keep teachers. The budget deal includes a tax credit for businesses that help pay employees pay for child care. The credit is a demand-side solution that helps families afford care, but the state must invest in the supply side by stopping the exodus of teachers. “While we appreciate the continued support of existing programs in the state budget, the lack of investment in recruitment and retention initiatives will only continue the trend of short staffing in our programs and teachers leaving the field for higher-paying jobs,” said Karian Wise, the head of school for early learning at the Carlow University Early Learning Center and a Provider Advisory Board member. Pre-K $15 million in additional funding for the state’s Pre-K Counts program to increase rates from $10,000 per child for a full-day slot to $10,500. $2.7 million in additional funding for the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program. In a statement, Pre-K for PA said, “The Pre-K Campaign is relieved to see modest growth in the state’s publicly funded pre-k programs – PA Pre-K Counts and the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program.” Pre-K for PA noted that increases for both programs will make rate increases possible to pre-kindergarten providers to combat inflationary pressures and staffing shortages. However, the campaign noted, “We are disappointed that the increase to PA Pre-K Counts is half of what Gov. Shapiro proposed, and state support for Head Start continues to grow at a slower rate than Pre-K Counts.” Currently, more than 78,000 three- and four-year-olds in Pennsylvania are eligible but do not have access to publicly-funded pre-k programs. Pre-k access has been a top issue for state voters, of whom 95% believe that early education is important and nearly 70% support increasing state funding for pre-k access. “Once again, Pennsylvania has failed to adequately invest in young children and their families,” said Abigail Enz-Doerschner, assistant director of the Once Upon a Time Early Learning Center in Washington and a Provider Advisory Board member. “While the state has offered a $500 per slot increase in PA Pre-K Counts funding, this 5% increase does not keep pace with the rising costs of operating a program. Insurance, utilities, teacher compensation – all of our costs have risen sharply.” Early Intervention $9.1 million increase for the Early Intervention Part C (infant and toddler) through DHS. $32.9 million increase for the Part B Early Intervention program (age three to five) through PDE. The statement noted that while the increase for the Early Intervention Part C reflects the administration’s updated budget request, it does not address broader issues within the program, including worker shortages and a long-needed rate adjustment for providers. Read the full statement by Pre-K for PA and Start Strong PA.
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.
April 9, 2024 Take Action to Fix Child Care In February, Gov. Josh Shapiro released his 2024-25 state budget approval. While the governor mentioned proposed investments in pre-K, evidence-based home visiting, and perinatal and child health, his proposal did not directly address the state’s ongoing child care teacher shortage. To accomplish our goal of keeping classrooms open and staffed, we need supporters to send a message to the General Assembly and the governor, telling them to fix child care in the 2024-25 state budget. Details on the Teacher Shortage A September 2023 survey conducted by The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s PolicyLab – on behalf of Start Strong PA – provided details on the staffing crisis in 762 of Pennsylvania’s child care programs. The survey found that nearly 26,000 additional children could be served at child care programs if they were fully staffed. Additionally, 2,395 open positions have resulted in the closure of 934 classrooms. Lastly, child care providers’ inability to recruit and retain staff is having a direct impact on the quality of programming. As a result, thousands of families are unable to find the care they need to go to work. Take Action Pennsylvania lawmakers can fix this problem by tackling the child care teacher shortage. They must establish and fund a program that will help providers to better recruit and retain staff. Make your voice heard: Send a message to the General Assembly and the governor. Tell them they must fix child care in the 2024-25 state budget. Get Updates By signing on to Trying Together’s Public Policy Agenda, you’ll receive action alerts to advocate on behalf of young children, their families, and the early care and education professionals who interact with them.