HARRISBURG — On Tuesday, the state’s Early Childhood Education Caucus hosted a rally with child care and pre-K students, teachers and parents as well as other advocates to underscore the worsening impacts of the commonwealth’s early learning teacher shortage.
The caucus co-chairs include Sen. Pat Stefano, who represents Bedford County and surrounding areas. Also there were Sen. Judy Schwank, Rep. Pat Harkins and Rep. Shelby Labs, who are working with Stefano to build support for recruitment and retention investments that will help to remedy the teacher shortage and ensure that early learning supply can meet the demand from working families.
“This is an issue I have heard from early learning providers throughout my district,” Stefano said. “We must work together to prioritize funding to help the early learning sector attract and retain its workforce.”
“We all understand that the state of child care in Pennsylvania needs to change,” Schwank said. “Low pay for childhood educators, long waitlists and high prices for parents are just a few of the major problems we need to address at the state level, and we have an excellent opportunity to do that in this year’s budget.”
Speakers detailed how low teacher compensation fuels the shortage which leads to a growing number of child care and pre-K classroom closures, and drives up waitlists for working families.
Dr. Leah Spangler, CEO of The Learning Lamp Early Learning Centers, stated that child care in Pennsylvania is “on life support” as her organization is currently seeing 97 job openings and 546 children on the waiting list for care.
Spangler believes that with better pay leading to filled job openings, they would be able to serve an additional 1,286 children. She also noted that child care programs cannot pay wages that match those of other businesses, like convenience stores and grocery retailers, and that this causes a staff turnover rate of more than 50% annually.
“Other states have established revenue streams to better support their early learning workforce and it’s time we do the same,” Stefano said. “Though not everyone in the commonwealth has a young child at home, the aggregate effects of the early learning teacher shortage impact everyone. When a parent wants to work but cannot find child care and then needs to stay home full-time, our workforce, and thus our economy, suffers.”
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HARRISBURG – Today, the bicameral, bipartisan Early Childhood Education Caucus hosted a rally with child care and pre-K students, teachers and parents as well as other advocates to underscore the worsening impacts of the commonwealth’s early learning teacher shortage.
The caucus co-chairs, Sen. Pat Stefano (R-32), Sen. Judy Schwank (D-11), Rep. Pat Harkins (D-1) and Rep. Shelby Labs (R-143), are working to build bipartisan support for recruitment and retention investments that will help to remedy the teacher shortage and ensure that early learning supply can meet the demand from working families.
“We all understand that the state of child care in Pennsylvania needs to change,” Schwank said. “Low pay for childhood educators, long waitlists and high prices for parents are just a few of the major problems we need to address at the state level, and we have an excellent opportunity to do that in this year’s budget.”
Speakers detailed how low teacher compensation fuels the shortage which leads to a growing number of child care and pre-K classroom closures, and drives up waitlists for working families.
“This is an issue I have heard from early learning providers throughout my district,” said Stefano. “We must work together to prioritize funding to help the early learning sector attract and retain its workforce.”
Dr. Leah Spangler, chief executive officer (CEO) of The Learning Lamp Early Learning Centers, stated that child care in Pennsylvania is “on life support” as her organization is currently seeing 97 job openings and 546 children on the waiting list for care.
Spangler believes that with better pay leading to filled job openings, they would be able to serve an additional 1,286 children. She also noted that child care programs cannot pay wages that match those of other businesses, like convenience stores and grocery retailers, and that this causes a staff turnover rate of more than 50% annually.
“Other states have established revenue streams to better support their early learning workforce and it’s time we do the same,” Stefano said. “Though not everyone in the commonwealth has a young child at home, the aggregate effects of the early learning teacher shortage impact everyone. When a parent wants to work but cannot find child care and then needs to stay home full-time, our workforce, and thus our economy, suffers.”
Tim Fallon, CEO emeritus of Lehigh Valley Public Media and member of the Pennsylvania Early Learning Investment Commission called child care “the workforce behind the workforce.”
He presented findings from a new employer survey from the PA Chamber of Business and Industry and the Early Learning Investment Commission showing that 80% of Pennsylvania employers surveyed said they have moderate or significant recruitment and retention issues due to child care.
“Supporting families means making sure child care is open and available across the Commonwealth,” said Labs. “We must invest in our early learning teachers now, or we will see more classrooms close in the future, which will only serve to harm our children’s development.”
Other speakers included Indiana County Sheriff Robert Fyock, a member of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, and retired Army Lt. Gen. Dennis Benchoff, who spoke on behalf of Mission: Readiness.
Harkins referred to the business model of child care and early learning as “clearly broken” and called the Shapiro Administration’s budget proposals to increase child care subsidy a crucial step forward.
“It’s also critical that we tackle the teacher shortage side of the child care crisis head-on. Looking to other state models of how to effectively invest in recruitment and retention initiatives for the child care sector must be a top commonwealth priority,” Harkins said.
The event was held by the co-chairs in partnership with Start Strong PA, Pre-K for PA and the Pennsylvania Early Learning Investment Commission, to support of further investment in early childhood education across the commonwealth. This budget cycle, the caucus is focused on supporting the early childhood education workforce to better stabilize and meet the demand for child care and pre-K services for working families.
Click here to watch video of the event.
Harrisburg, PA (March 26, 2024) – Today, Governor Josh Shapiro and First Lady Lori Shapiro hosted high-quality pre-k classrooms from across the commonwealth at the annual Easter egg hunt at the Governor’s Residence. Preschool students from Montgomery County Intermediate Unit in Norristown, Summit Early Learning in Mifflinburg, and Touching the Future in Fleetwood were in attendance for the festivities.
MyChesCo: Shaping the Future of Pennsylvania: Examining Gov. Shapiro’s 2024-25 Budget Proposal
February 7, 2024
By: Maryann Pugh
Today, we delve into our analysis of the 2024-25 state budget proposed by Governor Josh Shapiro, an issue that is currently the focus of numerous discussions amongst Pennsylvanians and the Early Learning Pennsylvania (ELPA) coalition.
Gov. Shapiro’s budget proposal puts the spotlight on the young minds of our state, focusing significantly on pre-kindergarten programs and aiming to tackle the pressing matter of a historic teacher staffing shortage. With nearly $33 million allocated towards state-funded pre-K programs, the Governor’s office aims to alleviate inflationary pressures that pre-K providers grapple with while navigating the seemingly unending teacher shortage.
However, the ELPA coalition paints a concerning picture with pre-K classrooms closing throughout the commonwealth due to inadequate wages. These circumstances are forcing pre-k teachers to vacate their chosen field for higher-paying roles in other sectors. The fresh investment planned by the government is undoubtedly a critical initial step towards overcoming this issue.
While these initiatives are commendable, there’s a dire need for future investments to handle the teacher shortage and ensure the potential 87,000 eligible preschoolers in Pennsylvania receive the quality early education they need.
Another cornerstone of the proposed budget is increased rates for subsidized childcare, a move applauded by Start Strong PA. The hike in reimbursement rates aims primarily to support child care providers grappling with escalating costs and a worsening teacher shortage. States like Maine, Florida, Kentucky, and Nebraska have shown the way by investing in recruitment and retention programs to stabilize their child care systems, and Pennsylvania may need to follow suit.
The budget proposal also includes an increase in funding for Early Intervention programs, which work with children who have developmental delays. This funding is a crucial step in ensuring all children with developmental delays can receive the help they need, regardless of their family’s income.
However, the proposal has raised concerns among the Childhood Begins at Home campaign, which expressed worries about a potential cut in funding for home-visiting services due to the expected loss of one-time federal stimulus funds, and effects of federal sequestration on discretionary spending.
While Gov. Shapiro’s proposal outlines important advances in early childhood education and support, many advocacy campaigns believe further steps must be taken to fully address Pennsylvania’s child care and pre-K teacher shortage, and ensure the future generations of our state are afforded the quality early education they so rightly deserve.
Read the full article here.
PennLive: Oped: Get this Done – Pre-K for PA
January 26, 2024
By: Governor Rendell and Governor Schweiker
Few issues in Pennsylvania have united Republicans and Democrats over the years like the prospect of ensuring that our youngest learners are ready to succeed through high-quality pre-k programs like Pre-K Counts and Head Start. In fact, a September 2023 Susquehanna Polling and Research poll showed that 94% of PA voters believe that early learning is important, and 71% support increasing state funding to serve more eligible children in pre-K programs.
There is good reason for this support, research is clear that brain development from birth to age five sets the foundation for children’s future success. During these years, more than one million new neural connections form every second – more than any other time in life. This early foundation sets the stage for children’s cognitive ability, health, and behavior throughout life. Quality pre-kindergarten programs have been proven to reduce grade repetition and special education placements while increasing graduation rates.
We offer this piece together, as governors who championed state funding for pre-K programs during our time in office. We urge Gov. Josh Shapiro and the General Assembly to find the political will to offer this one-in-a-lifetime opportunity to all Pennsylvania children regardless of income and zip code. We know it makes a lifelong difference for children and families, we know other states are investing in universal access to attract families, and we know most Pennsylvanians support it. It’s time that we GET THIS DONE for Pennsylvania.
States (15) across the political spectrum have embraced universal access to pre-k. More conservative states like Florida, Georgia, and Alabama join states like Illinois, New Mexico, and California in this distinction. Lawmakers in our neighboring states of New York, New Jersey, and West Virginia have all pushed universal pre-k over the finish line for their youngest learners.
Research out of these states explains this move. A study published in 2021 analyzed the achievements of 458 Georgia students as they progressed through elementary and middle school while accounting for their participation in Georgia’s state-funded pre-K program at age 4. The study sought to examine the relationship between pre-K enrollment at age 4 and statewide mathematics test scores from grades 3 through 7, and then use the findings to predict student likelihood of achievement scores and performance levels. It was found that participation in the Georgia Pre-K program significantly predicted students’ mathematics achievement scores and performance levels in first grade as well as third through seventh grade. Students who attended pre-K were twice as likely as their peers who did not attend pre-K to meet the state’s minimum level of proficiency in elementary and middle school standardized math scores.
In Oklahoma, a 2022 study found that students enrolled in public pre-K went on to have many more positive outcomes in high school than their peers who never attended pre-K These outcomes include higher attendance levels, decreased likelihood of course failure, increased likelihood of enrollment in advanced courses (AP, honors, etc.), decreased likelihood of grade retention, and a slightly lower rate of absenteeism. These outcomes were strongest among students of color or students considered economically disadvantaged.
Pennsylvania has its own data! A study of our Pre-K Counts program by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found children who participated in the program had higher levels of language and math skills and gained between 4 and 5 months of learning compared to children who did not participate. These are significant gains for this age cohort.
As an election year, 2024 will likely focus more on what divides our commonwealth rather than what unites us. Focusing on our youngest learners and ensuring greater access to high-quality pre-K to the more than 87,000 children that are currently eligible but not served by Pre-K Counts and Head Start can serve as a bright spot of bipartisanship.
We can GET THIS DONE!
Ed Rendell served as the 45th governor of Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2011.
Mark Schweiker served as the 44th governor of Pennsylvania from October 5, 2001 to January 21, 2003.
