Understanding State Policy Efforts to Increase Pay and Benefits for Early Care and Education Professionals

• In Event: Compensation for the Workforce: The History, the Policies, Attempts at Increase, and the Teacher's Point of View

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this presentation is to document and assess the landscape of state policies designed to increase pay and benefits for early care and education (ECE) professionals over time, including the recent impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Literature

This research is informed by and contributes to literature that has documented the pervasive problem of low wages of early childhood educators and the impact these low wages have had on educators themselves, children, and the wider community through decreased financial well-being, increased stress, and increased turnover (Totenhagen et al., 2016; Whitebook, Phillip & Howes, 2014).

Methods & Data

Federal and state policy documents including legislation, regulations, agency press releases and other online communications from state agencies that oversee childcare and early education programs were collected to construct a unique dataset of state policies. These policies cover the time period between 2016 and part of 2022. Analysis follows a mixed methods approach, including both quantitative descriptive analysis and inductive qualitative content analysis.

Key Findings

• Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, few states enacted policies to increase pay or benefits for ECE professionals.
• The influx of federal funding from the American Rescue Plan as well as explicit guidance from the Administration of Children and Families in 2021 contributed to a substantial increase in the number and variety of state policies to increase the pay of ECE professionals.
• These policies can be categorized into direct-to-program or direct-to-educator strategies that include providing grants to programs with various stipulations regarding how to pay educators as well as stipend, bonus, or tax credit approaches.
• Due to a lack of sustained public funding for ECE at federal and state levels, the vast majority of these policies are time-limited and/or do not address root issues of base pay and the full array of benefits (health insurance, paid leave, retirement), instead offering short-term bonuses or stipends that have the potential to be eliminated once ARP funding is exhausted.

Significance

This is the only known body of work systematically tracking these policies over time. This work informs current and future efforts to develop sustainable policies to address the low compensation of ECE professionals, who continue to face gender and racial inequities in pay and lifetime wealth as a result of their chosen profession.

Author

• Caitlin McLean, University of California - Berkeley
  Presenting Author