Early child care providers seek first salary increase in five years

Hundreds of pre-school teachers and child care providers packed the capitol Tuesday and pressed lawmakers to allocate $25 million to boost the salaries of early education teachers who serve low-income families.

State reimbursement rates for programs serving children subsidized through the Department of Early Education and Care have not been raised in five years, activists said, leaving the average early educator salary at $23,500, increasing the difficulty of retaining talented staff, and failing to address rising costs.

A $25 million rate reserve would increase the average salary by $1,600 to $25,100, according to the Early Education and Care School Age Coalition, a group that includes the Massachusetts Head Start Association, Horizons for Homeless Children and Action for Boston Community Development.

“Our early educators aren’t getting rich on this pay increase,” William Eddy, executive director of the Massachusetts Association for Early Education and Care, told early care providers before they visited the offices of lawmakers who are reviewing Gov. Deval Patrick’s proposed fiscal 2013 budget.

Early Education and Care Commissioner Sherri Killins said early care providers should be proud that Massachusetts received a $50 million federal Race to the Top grant and expressed hope that debates about closing achievement gaps will transition to a “conversation about promise” for children and families.

Killins told providers that some of them work in “crappy buildings” that affect the health of children and staff and said the administration would work over the next year to 18 months on a “solid way to think about the rates.”

“I can’t tell you why the rates are what they are,” Killins said, calling for a better understanding of the cost of quality early education. Killins said she had not forgotten early care providers and nor has Gov. Deval Patrick. “We will work on these salary issues,” she said.

Coalition members are also seeking $10 million in the fiscal 2013 budget for low-income family child care vouchers. According to the coalition, access to vouchers for eligible families has been closed for more than a year because funding is not available, causing a wait list to grow to 27,000 children.

Eddy told educators who arrived on Beacon Hill to lobby lawmakers to be courteous when visiting legislators but also urged them to press for pledges. “This year we need to be aggressive,” he said.

Eddy cautioned the large group of citizen lobbyists that lawmakers would likely tell them they’re facing “tough times” and “difficult choices.” But he urged them to press their case. “It’s time,” Eddy said. “Five years is enough. It’s time to stand up for early educators’ salaries.”

State tax collections continue to rebound after plummeting during the recession but growth in high-dollar accounts like Medicaid, pensions and debt service are consuming most of the new tax dollars, leaving less for investments in the many other accounts in the state budget, which totals more than $30 billion.

According to rate reimbursement supporters, the Legislature increased funding for child care workers by nearly $100 million between 1996 and 2006, helping raise the average salary from about $18,000.

On Tuesday morning, Eddy said 15 House members had signed a letter to Speaker Robert DeLeo requesting the salary reserve. The letter is being circulated by Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry (D-Dorchester) and Rep. John Binienda (D-Worcester). A Forry aide said 25 members had signed by mid-afternoon.

While activists looked for 80 House commitments, representing a majority in the branch that currently features 158 members, Eddy said 11 senators had already signed onto a similar letter authored in that 40-member branch by Sens. Karen Spilka (D-Ashland) and Michael Moore (D-Worcester).

Forry called the rate reimbursement increase “critical” and told child care providers that her colleagues understand the importance of their work. While assuring them “we are trying to do right by you,” she warned, “This is a tough economic time, a tough budget time.”

The mother of three children, Forry said she’s expecting a fourth, adding, “I know the work, the work can be tough at times but you are on the front lines. You are dealing with our children every day.”

Karen Frederick of Community Teamworks in Lowell and president of the Massachusetts Association for Early Education and Care urged child care providers to persevere. Referring to adequate salaries, she said, “It feels like I’ve spent my entire career advocating for something that has not yet happened.”

Frederick said high quality subsidized care saved her when she was a single mother raising four children. “If you don’t have quality education and care, you can’t work and if you can’t work you can’t support your family,” she said.

Article source: http://www.milforddailynews.com/newsnow/x1679445904/Early-child-care-providers-seek-first-salary-increase-in-five-years