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Jodi Askins
272.444.1860
jodiaskins@gmail.com
HARRISBURG (June 24, 2025) – Today, Start Strong PA, delivered a petition containing 4,905 signatures to members of the General Assembly urging them to “Fix Child Care” by including sustainable state funds as part of the final 2025-2026 state budget to help address the child care sector’s on-going teacher shortage. The petition calls for, at minimum, the $55 million proposed by Governor Shapiro in new and recurring state funding to implement a child care teacher recruitment and retention initiative.
HARRISBURG, PA (May 1, 2025) — Just as the Pennsylvania 2025-26 state budget negotiations begin; partners of the Early Learning PA Coalition are releasing new polling data showing strong voter support for early childhood care and education programs and increased state funding to strengthen and grow these services.
The statewide poll, commissioned by the Early Learning PA Coalition and conducted by Susquehanna Polling and Research of 700 likely voters from March 17 – March 23, 2025, found that:
98% of PA voters believe that early childhood education is important.
73% of PA voters support increasing state funding to serve more eligible children in pre-k programs.
73% of PA voters support increasing state funding to help more low-income working families afford high-quality child care.
83% of PA voters support the use of state and/or federal government funding to pay for the Head Start program.
83% of PA voters favor allocating state funding to increase wages of child care workers.
72% of PA voters favor allocating state funding to increase compensation for pre-k teachers.
HARRISBURG, PA (February 4, 2025) – Today, the principal partners of Early Learning Pennsylvania (ELPA), a statewide coalition of advocates focused on supporting young Pennsylvanians from birth to age five, applauded the early education workforce investments included in the Shapiro Administration’s 2025-26 state budget proposal.
Investments that will stabilize and reverse the exodus of early educators will directly benefit tens of thousands of teachers and other professional staff and help provider businesses remain open. Additionally, these investments will help reverse the billions of dollars in lost productivity and earnings suffered by working families and employers when families don’t have the care they need.
By Lisa Scheid
LNP | Lancaster on-line
Lancaster Chamber President Heather Valudes and other local community leaders on Monday called on Gov. Josh Shapiro to include a $284 million program in the state’s next budget to address a child care workforce crisis they say is holding back businesses.
HARRISBURG, PA (July 11, 2024) – Today, the principal partners of the Pre-K for PA and Start Strong PA Campaigns issued the following statements regarding Senate Bill 1001 that awaits the expected signature of Governor Shapiro to become the enacted 2024-25 Pennsylvania state budget.
HARRISBURG, PA (February 6, 2024) - Today, the principal partners of Early Learning Pennsylvania (ELPA), a statewide coalition of advocates focused on supporting young Pennsylvanians from birth to age five, issued the following statements regarding Governor Josh Shapiro’s 2024-25 state budget proposal. ELPA operates four issue-based advocacy campaigns: Pre-K for PA, Start Strong PA, Childhood Begins at Home, and Thriving PA.
HARRISBURG (June 24, 2025) – Today, Start Strong PA, delivered a petition containing 4,905 signatures to members of the General Assembly urging them to “Fix Child Care” by including sustainable state funds as part of the final 2025-2026 state budget to help address the child care sector’s on-going teacher shortage. The petition calls for, at minimum, the $55 million proposed by Governor Shapiro in new and recurring state funding to implement a child care teacher recruitment and retention initiative.
HARRISBURG, PA (May 1, 2025) — Just as the Pennsylvania 2025-26 state budget negotiations begin; partners of the Early Learning PA Coalition are releasing new polling data showing strong voter support for early childhood care and education programs and increased state funding to strengthen and grow these services.
The statewide poll, commissioned by the Early Learning PA Coalition and conducted by Susquehanna Polling and Research of 700 likely voters from March 17 – March 23, 2025, found that:
98% of PA voters believe that early childhood education is important.
73% of PA voters support increasing state funding to serve more eligible children in pre-k programs.
73% of PA voters support increasing state funding to help more low-income working families afford high-quality child care.
83% of PA voters support the use of state and/or federal government funding to pay for the Head Start program.
83% of PA voters favor allocating state funding to increase wages of child care workers.
72% of PA voters favor allocating state funding to increase compensation for pre-k teachers.
HARRISBURG, PA (February 4, 2025) – Today, the principal partners of Early Learning Pennsylvania (ELPA), a statewide coalition of advocates focused on supporting young Pennsylvanians from birth to age five, applauded the early education workforce investments included in the Shapiro Administration’s 2025-26 state budget proposal.
Investments that will stabilize and reverse the exodus of early educators will directly benefit tens of thousands of teachers and other professional staff and help provider businesses remain open. Additionally, these investments will help reverse the billions of dollars in lost productivity and earnings suffered by working families and employers when families don’t have the care they need.
Alison McCook
The Philadelphia Inquirer
This week, we will reach the edge of the so-called childcare cliff, when the pandemic-driven infusion of federal funds to save the childcare industry runs out. An estimated one in three childcare programs in the country — or 70,000 — may have to close their doors.
In Pennsylvania alone, nearly 3,000 programs are set to shut down, leaving 150,000 kids with nowhere to go. For many families, this may not be a big deal — they make a few calls, find another nearby place that has space for a new child, and after an adjustment period, everyone settles in to a new routine.
The Editorial Board
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Without federal action, three million children in America could abruptly lose access to childcare at the end of the month, a development that could push many parents — including, experts say, a disproportionate number of women — out of the workforce.
Roughly $37 billion in pandemic-era stabilization grants — which have ensured financial access to childcare for families — will lapse on Sept. 30, leaving families with no guarantee of continued care.
Eva Wood - Ligonier; Erin Schellenberger - Latrobe
Trib Review
The child care staffing crisis, caused by the sector’s low wages, is rapidly diminishing working families’ access to child care. Unfortunately, programs all across Pennsylvania are closing classrooms and further limiting families’ options as they look for a safe, high-quality learning environment for their child while they work.
Across Pennsylvania there are thousands of families sitting on waiting lists. This impacts the workforce in every other Pennsylvania industry. Child care teachers are the workforce behind the workforce, and we are failing them.