Ahead of Shapiro’s budget, poll stresses funding for early child care
Eighty-five percent of providers said they face staffing shortages; blame low wages
March 2, 2023 by John Micek
With Gov. Josh Shapiro’s first budget address now less than a week away, a new poll underlines the staffing shortage facing Pennsylvania’s child care providers and, advocates say, the need for policymakers to step up to help them.
Eighty-five percent of provider respondents to the poll commissioned by the advocacy groups Start Strong PA and Pre-K for PA said they face staffing shortages, while 50 percent said they’ve shuttered at least one classroom in response to the staffing gap.
In the meantime, providers need to fill nearly 4,000 open staffing positions, with more than 38,000 children statewide now on waiting lists for child care placements, according to the poll.
“One-hundred-and-twenty of our YMCA sites responded to the survey and the numbers are staggering,” David John, the vice president of governmental affairs at the PA State Alliance of YMCAs, said in a statement. “Those programs have 382 open staffing positions that have caused the closure of 269 classrooms. Across 36 counties there are nearly 4,700 children on waiting lists. That means thousands of families without care.”
The new findings mirror a May 2022 poll, where 32,500 children were on waiting lists. Then, as now, advocates pointed to low wages as the main driver for the worker shortage.
“It is not surprising that this industry, with pay averaging less than $12.50/hr and 50% of professionals who work in it qualifying for government benefits, cannot compete for staff with other industries offering higher wages for less specialized skills,” the advocacy groups said in their statement.
More than 1,100 programs across 54 counties responded to the survey, the advocacy groups said.
On the campaign trail last year, Shapiro spoke broadly about the need for “building opportunity” for all of the commonwealth’s students — from the very youngest to those about to graduate from high school.
Research has consistently shown that access to quality, early childhood education puts students on the path to a successful academic career, and can impact such factors as graduation rates and whether they experience the criminal justice system later in life.
That need has become particularly pressing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which “[erased] a decade of growth in preschool enrollment,” according to the National Institute for Early Education Research, at Rutgers University in Newark, N.J.
“We no longer can offer school-age care because of staffing. If we can’t get some help soon, I don’t know how long we can continue. Someone else just left our program to take a job in housekeeping at a local hospital night shift making $16/hr.” Jocelyn Kreig, the owner/director of Sunshine and Rainbows Child Care in Lackawanna County, said. “I can’t compete and there’s just not enough money to go around. Everyone is already working overtime and I am now the cook and relief staff along with being the director.”
Read the full article here.
New Survey: Historic Staffing Shortage Eliminates At Least 30,000 Early Care and Education Slots; Over 38,000 Children Sit on Waiting Lists – Low Wages to Blame
Advocates call for increased investment to stabilize and strengthen early care and education sector for PA working families
HARRISBURG (March 1, 2023) – Partners of the Start Strong PA and Pre-K for PA advocacy campaigns released new survey results detailing the historic staffing crisis in the early care and education sector that continues to contract the capacity of child care, Pre-K Counts and Head Start State Supplemental programs. Advocates are calling on Governor Shapiro and the General Assembly to increase investment in early care and education programs using recurring funds as part of the 2023-2024 state budget.
The new survey, conducted between January 31, 2023 and February 12, 2023, details the current staffing crisis in Pennsylvania child care, Pre-K Counts and Head Start State Supplemental programs and its effects on working families’ ability to access care.
More than 1,100 programs across 54 counties responded to the survey. According to respondents:
Staffing Crisis:
- Programs need to fill nearly 4,000 open staffing positions.
- 85% of child care respondents reported staffing shortages.
- 50% of child care respondents have closed at least one classroom.
Impact on Working Families:
- Nearly 35,500 children currently sit on child care waiting lists.
- More than 30,000 additional children could be served at respondents’ sites if they were fully staffed.
- Over 2,200 children currently sit on Pre-K Counts waiting lists.
- Over 650 children currently sit on Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program waiting lists.
The February 2023 survey results depict a deepening crisis in the early care and education sector. In May 2022, Start Strong PA released a similar survey showing that Pennsylvania’s child care centers were experiencing a staffing shortage resulting in nearly 32,500 children sitting on waiting lists. These new survey results show that over the past 10 months, waiting list numbers have continued to increase across Pennsylvania. It is not surprising that this industry, with pay averaging less than $12.50/hr and 50% of professionals who work in it qualifying for government benefits, cannot compete for staff with other industries offering higher wages for less specialized skills.
“One hundred and twenty of our YMCA sites responded to the survey and the numbers are staggering,” said David John, Vice President of Governmental Affairs, PA State Alliance of YMCAs. “Those programs have 382 open staffing positions that have caused the closure of 269 classrooms. Across 36 counties there are nearly 4,700 children on waiting lists. That means thousands of families without care.”
“Our early care and education programs need more than one-time funds to begin to solve this crisis. While we are thankful for the federal monies that have helped stabilize many programs, those funds are running out. We must give this industry long-term resources,” said Jen DeBell, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children (PennAEYC). “The partners of Start Strong PA believe that immediate and sustained action is required to boost pay for Pennsylvania’s child care teachers and staff to stem this tide of closures and wait lists.”
“We no longer can offer school-age care because of staffing. If we can’t get some help soon, I don’t know how long we can continue. Someone else just left our program to take a job in housekeeping at a local hospital night shift making $16.00/hr.” said Jocelyn Kreig, Owner/Director of Sunshine and Rainbows Child Care in Lackawanna County. “I can’t compete and there’s just not enough money to go around. Everyone is already working overtime and I am now the cook and relief staff along with being the director.”
“This current situation is unsustainable. With tens of thousands of families sitting on waiting lists, how can those parents return to work? said Diane Barber, Executive Director of Pennsylvania Child Care Association (PACCA). “The partners of Early Learning PA just released results from a new poll last week that an overwhelming majority of voters believe funds invested in child care and child care teachers is money well spent. Our elected leaders must prioritize additional investments in the early care and education sector to address the systemic issues causing this staffing crisis.”
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The Daily Item: Editorial: Funding Early Childhood Education is Always Money Well Spent
February 25, 2023
New analysis from the Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children presents a lot of the same conclusions and data stakeholders have long known about the impact of funding early childhood education. Essentially, you can never go wrong putting money into programs that boost high-quality programs and make them more accessible to more people.
The number of families with access is slowly returning after they cratered early in the COVID-19 pandemic. The new polling also shows near unanimous support for increased funding in the next budget, the first under new governor Josh Shapiro. According to the poll conducted in the first week of February, 98 percent of those who responded said early childhood education is important.
In that same poll, 78 percent supported spending more to increase public funding for the programs.
The list of things 98 percent of Pennsylvanians agree on is incredibly small.
There is clearly a want, perhaps only topped by availability.
It is incredibly troubling to read that more than 60 percent of Pennsylvanians ages 3 and 5 had no access to proven programs like Pre-K Counts or Head Start. To fill that need, an additional 5,075 additional classrooms are needed to serve those children, the study found.
In that same poll, 78 percent supported spending more to increase public funding for the programs.
As we have noted time and again in this space, it is money well spent.
According to the National Education Association, the benefits from a solid foundation built on programs like Pre-K Counts are immense. Consider:
Children in high-quality programs are projected to make roughly $143,000 more over their lifetimes than those who didn’t take part in such a program.
School districts can expect to save more than $11,000 per child because participants are less likely to require special or remedial education.
Read the full editorial here.
Tribune-Democrat: Pa. poll finds voters overwhelmingly support early childhood education investments
February 23, 2023 by Eric Scicchitano
HARRISBURG. Pa. – New polling of Pennsylvania voters shows near unanimity on the value of early childhood education, results advocates hope will lead to increased funding in the commonwealth’s next budget.
An estimated 101,500 children ages 3 and 4 in the commonwealth, or 61% of those eligible, had no access to high-quality, publicly funded pre-kindergarten such as Head Start and Pre-K Counts in October 2021, according to a data analysis by the Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children.
An additional 5,075 classrooms are needed to serve those children, the study found.
Partners of the Early Learning PA Coalition are seeking support for building out pre-kindergarten and high-quality child care. They point to the polling data as evidence that they have backing from the public and they hope it translates to support within the state legislature and the governor’s office.
In a poll of 800 voters conducted Feb. 1-7 by Susquehanna Polling and Research, 98% of respondents said early childhood education is important. Asked about state funding, 78% supported spending more to increase access to pre-kindergarten programs. And, 78% supported increasing funds for working low-income families to afford child care.
“Even more amazing is that this level of support is consistent across all age brackets, education levels, ethnicity, and gender. There is also no discernable difference between the views of Republicans or Democrats, conservative or liberal – they are all at or above 98% in agreement. The same goes for voters in different regions of the state,” Steve Doster, state director of Mission: Readiness, said during a press conference Tuesday at the state Capitol.
“Gov. Shapiro knows high-quality early childhood education and child care are essential for putting Pennsylvania children and families on the path to success from an early age. The governor strongly supports efforts to improve access to early childhood education and child care in our Commonwealth – and we are reviewing all options ahead of sharing more information soon,” said Emily Roderick, the governor’s director of press operations.
Staffing shortages and program closures following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic are blamed, in part, for the limited access to pre-kindergarten and child care, though challenges already pre-dated the pandemic.
A survey from March by Start Strong PA found that 91% of programs had staffing shortages, with low wages and lack of benefits cited for nearly 7,000 job openings.
Read the full article here.
Erie News Now: New Poll Suggests Increased Support Among Pa Voters for Child Care Investments
February 21, 2023 by Brendan Scanland
Erie News Now | WICU & WSEE in Erie, PA
HARRISBURG, Pa. (ErieNewsNow) – Today at the state Capitol, a coalition of early education advocates held a press conference to highlight findings from a new poll that shows increased support for investments in early childhood education.
The Early Learning PA Coalition consists of several advocacy organizations with the goal of enhancing and investing in early child care and education. Advocates said today, a recent poll of 800 Pennsylvania voters, indicates an increase in bipartisan support for these investments.
For parents like TaTyana Abreu, childcare and early education are so important for young children, including her daughter.
“Their exposure to early childhood experiences has a lot to do with how they adapt and how they are prepared for future success,” said Abreu. “As a first-time mother back then, that was very reassuring to know that my child was taken care of in a safe environment setting with certified teachers and staff that knew exactly what they were doing,” she added.
Findings from a recent poll conducted by Susquehanna Polling and Research shows 98-percent of Pennsylvania voters agree that early education is important.
“The poll shows strong support across the political spectrum,” said Kristen Rotz, President of the United Way PA.
However, child care and early education professionals face several barriers, like low wages. Rotz says increased wages promote more qualified professionals.
“Pennsylvania childcare businesses are experiencing historic shortages in staffing, so they are unable to maximize their potential for open classrooms and capacity to care for children,” said Rotz. “These poll results demonstrate that Pennsylvanians understand that low wages in childcare are threatening the ability of anyone responsible for raising children to engage productively in the workforce,” she added.
With budget season approaching, advocates and lawmakers are highlighting the need for more funding.
“I think it’s critical that we invest in Pre-K, Head Start, early intervention. When you see the work that these agencies and these groups and these people do across the state, it bears out the investment,” said Rep. Pat Harkins (D-Erie). “It’s something that we really, really need to address more funding towards. More than half of Pennsylvania residents live in child care deserts, and less than half of Pennsylvania’s child care is considered high quality,” Harkins added.
Read the full article
here.
