STATE BUDGET MUST ADDRESS CHILD CARE CRISIS
While SEPTA and K-12 education are dominating the headlines during the state budget impasse, families continue to face child care challenges.
State Rep. Gina Curry reminded us of that in a recent commentary in the Delco Times We couldn’t have said it better ourselves so we’ve reprinted an excerpt for you here.
I regularly hear from Delaware County businesses that they are struggling to hire and keep employees because working parents can’t find convenient, affordable child care.
And parents seeking child care tell me that the wait lists for most programs are too long and that the price is often too high. It’s too hard to find affordable, dependable child care that’s available when parents need it.
The issue is twofold: when waitlists are too long and prices are too high, parents don’t send their kids to child care centers.
And when parents don’t send their kids to child care centers, those centers can’t afford to keep their teachers on the payroll or expand their programs to support more children. They struggle to pay teachers enough to prevent them from seeking employment elsewhere.
Eighty-seven percent of Delaware County child care programs…report they’re understaffed. They report that they’re struggling to recruit teachers to work in their programs. And they report that when they can hire staff, they often aren’t able to keep them long-term.
We must make the needed investment in stable and well-resourced early learning programs in the 2025-26 state budget. Investing in early learning child care programs invests in our young people, strengthens our workforce, and eases the burden on families.
The average wage for a child care worker in Pennsylvania is about $15 per hour, or around $30,000 annually. This is less than the cost of living in all counties across the state. No wonder child care workers, tasked with the crucial and demanding role of caring for our children, often leave the field to seek other employment.
This is why Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed a new and recurring line item in this year’s budget: $55 million to be used in the recruitment and retention of teachers in child care programs.
It equates to approximately $1,000 per child care worker — on average, a 3% raise — currently employed by programs that have subsidy agreements in Pennsylvania. That’s nearly 90% of all licensed child care programs in the state.
A 3% raise could cover the cost of a month of groceries for a teacher’s family or provide additional money toward monthly housing expenses.
Is $1,000 enough to compensate teachers for the crucial work they shoulder day-in and day-out, as they provide loving care and high-quality early childhood education to our commonwealth’s youngest lives? As they lay the foundation for our children’s later success?
Of course, it’s not enough.
The Democratic Women’s Health Caucus, which I am a part of, is advocating for even more funding to support the workforce behind our workforce, $284 million, which would amount to approximately $5,000 per child care worker. However, $55 million is a start.
Child care workers are leaving the sector in droves. This budget season, the state must invest more in the recruitment and retention of child care workers.
(Read the full commentary by Rep. Curry here.)
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