News

The Start Strong PA campaign has launched a Texting Tuesday campaign this month encouraging supporters to text Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and ask him to prioritize early learning in the state budget.

About the Texting Campaign

Last year, Gov. Shapiro set up a phone number for Pennsylvanians to reach out and share their priorities with him. In February, he will propose his budget for fiscal year 2024-2025.

Families and early childhood education professionals are encouraged to text and advocate for greater investments in the upcoming fiscal year.

Example texts:

Child care/pre-k directors and owners

• I own/direct a child care/pre-k program and can’t recruit or retain staff. We need more state funding to solve this crisis.
• Child care programs and classrooms are closing and need more state funding to stay open.

Child care/pre-k teachers

• My job as a child care/pre-k teacher allows others to work – but I shouldn’t have to work 3 jobs to support my own family. We need more state funding to solve this crisis.
• Child care programs and classrooms are closing and need more state funding to stay open.

Parents with children in child care/pre-k

• High-quality child care and pre-k teachers are impossible to recruit and retain because programs can’t pay them enough. We need more funding to keep high-quality teachers for our children.
• I rely on child care to go to work and support my family, but my program is struggling to find staff to stay open. Pennsylvania must fund child care so families can work.

Pennsylvanians can text Gov. Shapiro at 717-788-8990 over the next few weeks.