Jacqueline Strickland is tired, but hopeful. The Washington, D.C., early childhood educator taught young children for nearly 40 years and prayed that one day she would be fairly compensated for her experience and education. Strickland even went back to school, teaching for a few years, to upgrade her credentials, earning associate’s and bachelor’s degrees to better understand youth brain development. He saw valued colleagues move on to higher-paying pastures, teaching older children, driving school buses, working for the Postal Service.
Strickland stayed on her career path, though, partly out of passion for young children, but also because she knew local efforts were underway to raise wages for teachers like her. He began testifying at council hearings in support of this idea. Finally, two years ago, after years of waiting, Strickland got a pay bump. He went from earning $57,000 a year to $75,000 and gained access To get free health insurance.
“I’m a mother of two, both of my daughters went to college and I had to pay for school, run my own family, I didn’t have money to retire,” she said. “That was the scary part for me. I’ll be 60 in November and I can’t save.”
Strickland’s raise comes from a first-in-the-nation program aimed at aligning the salaries of the city’s 4,000 day care teachers with their public school counterparts. Called the Pay Equity Fund, the innovative program has paid more than $80 million over the past two years to raise pay for child care workers, and is funded by a new non-lapsing tax increase on DC’s wealthiest residents approved by local. Council in 2021.
In the first year of the program, head teachers like Strickland received a lump sum payment of $14,000, assistant teachers $10,000, and part-time teachers $5,000. In the second year, the city began issuing wage increases through quarterly payments, eventually converting these increases to new ones. Established salary minimum.
While DC’s pay equity program is unique for its scale, its wage supplement efforts reflect a larger national trend, as states try to stabilize child care sectors hit by the pandemic and address chronically low wages in the workforce. In 2022, the average hourly wage for child care workers was just $13.71significantly lower than comparable roles preschool And Kindergarten teachers Child Care Hall 10th lowest paying occupation Of the roughly 750 occupations in economics, each industry is analyzed.
Out of recognition that families are already burdened by high costs and cannot afford to pay more for child care, states such as North Carolina, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, MaineAnd Tennessee introduced Wage Supplement Program to Increase Child Care Teacher Recruitment, Retention, and Quality. And at the federal level, several proposals aim to increase child care worker pay. A bipartisan bill introduced this summer by Sens. Katie Britt (R-AL) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) offered the new proposal Federal grants To state and local governments that supplement the salaries of child care workers.
Politicians promote childcare on the campaign trail and vote This is an offer motivational Of concern to voters, pressure to raise wages for America’s lowest-paid occupations has taken on new importance. DC’s Pay Equity Fund is proving that model can work — if elected officials commit to funding it.
What we learned from DC’s pay equity fund
Leading researchers are analyzing the impact of DC’s wage supplement program on child care providers and the early education sector more broadly.
data from The first two years of the program Show that wages are supplementary had increased 37 percent of head teachers’ salary and 31 percent of assistant teachers’ wages.
On a practical level, increased pay has enabled childcare teachers to pay off their debts, cover emergency expenses, and cover essentials such as food, rent and utilities. Some started Looking to buy a homeAnd nearly 70 percent said the fund allowed them to save money like Strickland did for the first time in their careers.
On an emotional level, many educators reported in surveys that the extra pay makes them feel truly appreciated and respected, and that the reduced financial pressure helps them focus more on the children they work with.
The researchers found that teaching assistants, in particular, reported significantly better mental health. “Indeed, pay equity funds…seem to contribute to teachers’ belief that they are now fairly compensated,” Urban Institute Conclusion.
From a hiring perspective, research by think tank Mathematica found that the first few years of pay equity funds increased the number of early childhood educators working in DC. mathematics Program estimates The 100 new hires led to an increase, representing a 3 percentage point increase over what would have been expected without wage increases. Also many child care center directors Urban Institute researchers said Wage supplements that make it easier to attract qualified new teachers and retain their best staff.
“What was new about pay equity programs compared to other states was that they had a dedicated source of revenue,” said Erica GreenbergA senior fellow at the Urban Institute who is studying the program. “And it wasn’t just about stabilizing the sector, it was really about fairness.”
Can the idea spread further?
Taking a page out of DC’s playbook, Maine has similarly sought a dedicated funding stream to raise child care wages.
Maine’s Child Care Wage Supplement Program begins in September 2021 using American Rescue Plan relief funds. “Stability grants” provide about 7,000 child care workers an additional $200 per month, according to Tara Williams, associate director of primary care and education for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. Maine officials sought feedback on how best to distribute the dollars, and concluded that sending the money to program owners and managers, so they could put the funds directly into employee payrolls, made the most sense.
Beginning in October 2022, Maine incorporated the program into its state budget, continuing to fund it through general state revenue at a cost. $30 million annually.
It exists now As a three-tier program, While the lowest qualified level child care workers can earn an additional $275 per month, the second level can earn an additional $415 per month and the highest level providers can earn a Additional $625 per month.
“So that’s a bonus of over $3,000 a year for the first level,” Williams said proudly. “I’m really excited to see the expansion and implementation of this program.” As of June, more than 7,500 child care workers were taking the Maine supplement.
Williams has been sharing Maine’s experience with compensation reform with other states, including this past summer, at a conference hosted by the North Carolina-based Hunt Institute.
In Pennsylvania, Atty has been arranged for their own child care wage supplement programs, arguing that such investments are necessary to address state worker shortages. They point to Republican-led states like Alaska and Georgia that recently made new investments to support child care wages ($7.5 million and $23.6 million respectively) and Democratic-led states like New York and Minnesota that did the same ($500 million and $316 million respectively).
Some cities are also taking steps of their own. This past June, a coalition of care advocacy organizations launched an 18-month pilot in New York City To pay $1,000 per month To licensed home-based childcare providers. “Our educators are deciding every month whether to pay the bill, they’re deciding whether to stay open every month,” said Jessica Seger, CEO. All are our relativesA national group that trains and supports home-based childcare teachers and is involved in the pilot. “When educators don’t have that pressure they can fully focus on care.”
Policy requires sustained commitment
Wage supplements are not unique to childcare, and governments have long used them to boost workers’ pay in the sector. Health care, home careAnd agriculture.
Yet as promising as these wage supplements are, advocates are learning that even passing a dedicated funding stream isn’t enough to keep pay raises out of politics and annual budget battles.
Earlier this year, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser Recommended gutting Pay equity funds entirely as a way to balance the city’s budget between flat growth and declining revenue from vacant office buildings. Teachers and community allies rallied for months in protest and eventually reinstated the D.C. Council $70 million program, though it still represents a $17 million cut.
“We thought we were done with this kind of struggle — we found a non-lapsed funding source for the program, we couldn’t create more security,” said Rukiyah Anbar-Shaheen, director of early childhood at the DC actionA local advocacy group. “The challenge is having the political will to keep the program going.”
Strickland said she would have had to find an alternative job if the city went ahead with closing the program.
“I’ve been fighting this fight for a long time, but it shouldn’t be a fight, it should be given,” he told Vox. “It’s not a bonus, it’s owed to early childhood educators. We give a lot of time and we give kids a foundation that helps them in their future education.”
This work was supported by a grant from the Bainum Family Foundation. Vox Media had full discretion over the content of this report.
