Why Early Childhood Educators Like Me Deserve More
I have worked at a university-funded child development center in Mississippi for the past two years, and I love it. But that love of the profession, developing relationships with children and their families, and fostering early learning hasn’t translated into a sustainable wage. I earn just $8 an hour as an early educator. That’s $2 to $4 an hour less than my siblings make working in the retail and food service industries.
My experience is, sadly, normal. Nationwide, the median hourly wage for full-time child care workers is $14.60, with 98% of occupations paying higher wages. Early childhood educators also lack access to essential benefits such as health insurance, paid time off, retirement plans, and professional development. Their compensation simply does not reflect the critical role that they play for children, communities, and our economy.
Despite better-paying opportunities, I choose to stay at my center because I care about the children and value the experience I’ve gained as I grow into a child development professional. However, few early childhood educators can afford the luxury of staying. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, filling open positions has become even harder for providers, as low wages and insufficient benefits set up impossible choices for current staff and deter potential new staff, despite rising needs in every community for child care workers.
In my home state of Mississippi, a recent survey showed one-third of child care workers admitted to looking for a new job in the last three months, and 78% considered leaving the workforce altogether. Many of the respondents agreed that an additional $5 per/hour could prevent them from considering a career change.
Inadequate pay discourages skilled professionals, resulting in a less effective workforce, high turnover, and destabilized caregiving environments for children. Frequent hiring and training costs also drain resources from improving program quality. From my experience, high turnover causes children to struggle with forming secure attachments to new teachers, increasing their anxiety and disrupting their sense of security. These early disruptions often make transitions into new classrooms more challenging.
It’s time for policymakers to put in a real effort to address these issues and help retain talented educators, reduce turnover, and ensure the consistent, quality care children need to thrive. At the state level, strategies to improve compensation in early childhood education can take many forms. Some of these include funding mentorship programs, setting minimum wage levels, and improving compensation with benefits and tax credits.
However, robust federal investment in child care remains essential. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 allocated $24 billion to stabilize the child care sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, helping nearly 225,000 providers and improving wages and benefits. This demonstrated that federal support can bolster early education and retention. However, since this funding expired in 2023, the child care crisis has worsened, while Congress has failed to take the bold action needed.
My experience at a university-funded child care program reveals a common issue: child care is often overshadowed by other priorities. Despite our center director’s dedication to improving staff wages and benefits, early childhood funding is not a top priority for those in power. At my university, sports facilities often take precedence, and at the federal level, tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy are prioritized over child care investments.
But we don’t have to continue this way. Congress can make our tax code more equitable and use the revenues to support child care. This would ensure affordable, quality child care for all families and fair compensation for early educators. And I could continue in my chosen career path…and maybe someday brag to my siblings that I earn more than them.
