Fix Child Care
The Crisis
As Pennsylvania businesses struggle to find employees, tens of thousands of working parents are struggling to find child care. This is due to a workforce crisis within the child care sector that is resulting in closures of classrooms and entire facilities.
51 Local Chambers of Commerce Support Funding for a Child Care Teacher Recruitment and Retention Program
Child care teachers are the workforce behind the workforce, and it is critical that funding is appropriated to providers, so they are able to fully staff their programs and serve more working families. It is important that we address the supply side of the child care crisis. There are now 51 local chambers of commerce and/or economic development organizations that have signed a letter that went to the General Assembly supporting investments in the recruitment and retention of child care teachers to address the staffing shortage that is impacting working families and employers.
The Necessary Action
There are two sides to the child care crisis, the demand side which is families affording care and the supply side which is families finding care. While the recent child care tax credit programs will help families who currently have child care better afford it, they do not address the availability for families who can not find the child care they need to work.
Start Strong PA urges Pennsylvania lawmakers to invest $284 million in new and recurring state funding to implement a child care teacher recruitment and retention initiative to provide monthly payments to providers maintaining a subsidy agreement with the commonwealth. These payments would be restricted for initiatives to help programs retain and recruit staff such as, hiring bonuses, benefit packages, wage increases or retention incentives for staff staying for a certain length of time or for staff achieving certain credentials or degrees. Accountability measures would be included to ensure program efficacy.
Fixing the child care crisis requires funding that will directly support the workforce behind the workforce in an industry that is the backbone of our economy.
“92% of child care programs reported challenges recruiting child care teachers. ”
Additionally, the current staffing crisis has decreased the capacity of the Commonwealth’s child care system by more than 25,000 slots.
State and county fact sheets from the September 2024 survey of PA child care programs
The Facts
Inadequate compensation for child care professionals is driving this crisis.
Programs are unable to compete with rising wages and benefits offered by companies requiring less specialized skills.
The average child care teacher makes less than $15.50 an hour.
Child care teachers with degrees can find higher pay and benefits working in the k-12 school system
The average child care teacher is paid 22% less than teachers with similar degrees working in school district Kindergarten classrooms.
Child care pay is so low that 21% of the child care workforce relies upon Medicaid for their health care coverage and SNAP to put food on the table..
The average child care teacher lives in poverty at nearly twice the rate of Pennsylvania workers in general.
Providers’ Stories
Hear directly from PA child care providers and parents on this newly released video how the staffing crisis is impacting their business and ability to work.
Share Your Story
By sharing your experiences, you will help us inform Pennsylvania legislators and advocate for the necessary changes to make healthy development outcomes for infants and toddlers possible.