Take Action to Help Early Childhood Education, We Need Your Voice
I receive calls nearly every day from early childhood directors, executive directors and congregational leaders. They want to find out what resources are available to help early childhood centers struggling to find qualified staff, how can they manage budgets while keeping in line with current COVID-19 protocols and ratios as well as keeping a balance between enrollment and staffing. Times are tough right now for the field of early childhood education. Sara Wasserman of Sh’ma Koleinu shares some information on the current situation and what we can do to help.
Please take a moment to read and take action. We need every voice. Now more than ever before.
Early childhood centers across the United States are struggling with staffing, enrollment and finances. While this is not new, the COVID-19 pandemic has shined a spotlight on many of the long-standing issues affecting early childhood education, including, for example, affordable access to early childhood education, low teacher wages, and the lack of financial support from the government. The Build Back Better plan, which is being negotiated in Congress, seeks to address some of these issues.
One of the key objectives of the Build Back Better plan is to provide free or low-cost half-day preschool education for three- and four-year-old children across the country. As currently proposed, the Build Back Better plan would expand access to early childhood education for families across the country by offering parents program choice, infusing funds into schools both for improvements and increasing teacher salaries, offering teachers support to pursue higher level degrees, and stressing the importance of early childhood educators’ work on a national scale.
The key to the Build Back Better plan, and the future of early childhood centers, is a mixed delivery model. As currently proposed, the federal government will support the existing childcare infrastructure with an infusion of funding intended to provide access to high quality preschools to 75% more families than currently have such access. Public schools, licensed center-based childcare providers, licensed family care providers, community childcare providers, and Head Start programs will all be eligible to receive funding from the federal government.
This bears repeating: EVERY early childhood center will be able to apply for federal funding to increase teacher salaries, invest in the quality of the school, and reach so many more children.
We therefore need everyone to advocate for the field of early childhood. Contact your elected officials so we can get this bill passed! To find out who you should contact, visit: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/map
Sh’ma Koleinu (Hebrew for Hear our Voices), is a coalition dedicated to listening to and advocating for children, families, and early childhood education.
