As early childhood educators, our work always focuses on the children, and we honor the unique and wonderful stage of early childhood. We’re highly trained and we center our practice around play-based, developmentally appropriate learning.
We’re grateful to do this work every day — but we’re not sure if we can continue.
Right now, many early childhood educators are barely scraping by. Most early childhood educators are women, and chronic underfunding of the child care system as a whole has suppressed our compensation for decades — disproportionately affecting women of color.
A bachelor’s degree in early childhood education leads to the lowest-paying career of any college major. Early childhood educators have specialized skills, but our colleagues leave the field every day to work for higher-paying jobs at big box stores, bagel shops and banks.
It’s hard to leave a job you love. It’s even harder on families and our youngest children when their early childhood educator leaves the field and steps out of their lives.
Low pay leads to staffing shortages; staffing shortages cause program closures, which hinder parents’ ability to work and contribute to our economy. Staffing shortages also mean more stress and longer workdays for those who remain in the field. This past year, 86 percent of Vermont child care programs experienced staffing shortages. The disruption in child care services hurts our children, our workforce and our economy.
If we want to prevent more early childhood educators from leaving the field, and prevent more program closures in Vermont, we need to solve the child care crisis now. Every working parent and employer knows that access to early childhood education is essential for parents to go to work. More importantly, we know the early experiences of young children impact their growth and development well beyond the early years.
We can’t afford to wait any longer for the investment needed to stabilize Vermont’s child care system. We’ve been making do with Band-Aid funding, deferred investment, and state-implemented half-measures for too long, and the crisis has never been more dire. The necessary, transformative investment will take courage.
That’s why we — along with hundreds of our colleagues in the child care field — are heading to Montpelier on April 12 to call for change within our child care system because we care about the future of Vermont’s children, our profession, and our state’s economic viability.
This crisis impacts all of us. It cannot just be early childhood educators making their voices heard — we need you to join us at the Courage to Care Rally on April 12 as we support our lawmakers in passing a child care solution. This is the moment when we can truly come together to inspire action and create long-lasting, permanent change. We have a responsibility to come together now and ask for the long-term public investment to make sure every child has access to the child care they need. When early childhood educators are fairly and sustainably compensated for the essential and specialized work we do, Vermont’s children, families, employers, and economy will all benefit.
If we don’t stand up now and show our unified courage, we’ll never solve this crisis. It will only get worse.
Signing this commentary:
— Kelsey Guarino, infant teacher at Robin’s Nest Children’s Center in Burlington
— Melanie Harris, lead pre-K teacher at Bennington Early Childhood Center
— Hailey Livingstone, lead preschool teacher at Apple Tree Learning Centers in Stowe
— Courtney Lynch, early educator trainee at Northshire Day School in Bennington
— Christina Nelson, early educator at Mountain View Child Care in Troy
— Pearl Schramm, early educator at Northshire Day School
— Caitlin D’Onofrio, toddler teacher at Robin’s Nest Children’s Center
— Jesse Coutrayer, preschool teacher at Robin’s Nest Children’s Center
— Tammie Hazlett, early educator in Thetford Center
— Stephanie Muñoz Wells, early educator at Northshire Day School
— April Strock, early educator at Northshire Day School
— Jessica D’Adamo, lead preschool teacher at Apple Tree Learning Centers
— Maggie Rubick, preschool teacher at Northshire Day School
— Kristyn LaFrance, TEACH student in the pre-K classroom at Children Unlimited in Williston
— Suzanne Conrad, toddler teacher at Children Unlimited
— Tatianna Leblanc, preschool teacher at Next Generation in St. Albans
— Amber Bollman, early educator in West Burke
