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Trying Together’s director of public policy appeared this week on The PCN Capitol Preview to discuss Pennsylvania’s ongoing early childhood education staffing and funding crisis.

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Emily Neff, Trying Together’s director of public policy, appeared on the program on Tuesday, Sept. 8 to discuss what Trying Together does to support early childhood development as well as the state’s teacher shortage and budget impasse.

“We are in a crisis,” Neff said. “The system is not working for everyone. Early childhood educators are woefully underpaid for the amazing work they do for our children. Families are paying as much for their rent or mortgage as they do for child care – and that’s if they can find it.”

Neff said many parents – including herself – are on long waiting lists to get their children into a program. Often, she added, programs have classrooms that are closed that could serve more children, but cannot due to the state’s staffing crisis. She said that one program she knows of recently closed its toddler class, while another said it would shut down if it lost another teacher. 

Neff cited Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed $55 million child care teacher recruitment and retention line item as an opportunity to address the state’s early education crisis.

“It’s a great opportunity for Pennsylvania to put itself on the map,” she said. “It would be a $1,000 payment to teachers, but we don’t know what’s going to happen with that right now.”

She said that the state’s budget impasse – during which the state Legislature has not passed a budget more than two months past the deadline, resulting public schools not receiving state funding that educators say is critical to keep them operating – has led some programs to lay off teachers, while parents have been left to find care elsewhere.

“We need more investments to make sure that programs have what they need, teachers are being paid better, and families have access – and it’s not costing families more than what they’ve already been paying,” Neff said.

The PCN Capitol Preview is available on YouTube.