Even before the pandemic pushed the early childhood sector into crisis, California educators were paying a wage penalty for working with younger children, according to a new report from the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) at the University of California at Berkeley.
Preschool teachers and child care workers earn 38% less than their colleagues in the K-8 system, the report says. This explains why 17% of early childhood educators live in poverty in California. That’s almost 7 times the poverty rate for the state’s K-8 teachers. Those are some key findings from the 2020 Early Childhood Workforce Index, a biennial report that tracks pay for early childhood jobs, the state poverty rate and a range of other workforce policies. All across the country, the research reveals, childcare workers often earn poverty wages.
Children play at a family child care home in Oakland.
Credit: Michael Collier/EdSource Today
Children play at a family child care home in Oakland.
February 5, 2021
In response to the escalating child care crisis, one of many pressing social issues exacerbated by the pandemic, the new Biden administration has pledged to offer relief to child care providers struggling to stay open, as well as to help parents struggling to pay for child care.
Early childhood advocates cheer the relief package but also warn that deeper reform may be needed.
The core of Biden’s early childhood relief proposal involves a $40 billion pot of money, including $25 billion earmarked to stabilize the child care industry. The money would go toward helping providers pay for rent, utilities and payroll, as well as increased costs due to the pandemic, such as personal protective equipment and ventilation.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is making strides toward realizing his vision of preschool for all the state’s 4-year-olds in the proposed budget he released Friday for the coming fiscal year.
Newsom hopes to increase access to transitional kindergarten, or TK, programs by giving $250 million to school districts as an incentive to expand these programs, as well as $50 million for teacher preparation and $200 million to build out the necessary facilities for TK and other early education programs.
Funded by the state, transitional kindergarten is an extra year of kindergarten that principally serves children who turn 5 between Sept. 2 and Dec. 2. In some districts, children who turn 5 even later in the school year have been able to attend what is called “expanded transitional kindergarten.” But school districts have to cover the costs themselves until a child turns 5. The funding Newsom is proposing is intended to cover the up-front costs of expanding these programs.
Coronavirus Vaccine
Updated
Published
File: A pharmacist at UCI Health Center preps a COVID-19 vaccine. (Chava Sanchez/LAist)
All 16,000 Los Angeles County firefighters and paramedics should receive their first dose of COVID-19 vaccines by Sunday.
That includes first responders who work for the cities of Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach, which operate their own independent fire departments, as well as emergency medical technicians with private ambulance services. City of Los Angeles firefighters have also begun receiving the vaccine.
Dr. Marianne Gausche Hill, medical director of the county s Emergency Medical Services Agency, says the effort to fast-track those vaccinations comes as local hospitals continue to be inundated with COVID-19 patients. The state reported earlier that intensive care unit capacity throughout Southern California remains at 0%, and the stay-at-home order for the region has been extended indefinitely.