The childcare package, led by Sen. Patty Murray of Washington and Representative Bobby Scott of Virginia, addresses a basic math problem. There are not enough places in childcare centers for those who need them and child workers earn less as workers in 98 percent of occupations. However, care for many families is out of reach, so providers cannot significantly raise prices. As Finance Minister Janet Yellen he said in September, “Childcare is a textbook example of a ruined market.”
This dynamic is therefore most other rich countries subsidize childcareand many European countries actually start public school at the age of three.
The proposal also requires that teachers in childcare classrooms be paid a living wage equal to the salary of primary school teachers with the same qualifications. Now, the average salary for elementary school teachers is $ 34 an hour, compared to $ 15 for educators and $ 12 for child workers. as stated Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California, Berkeley. It also leads pre-K as part of the proposal teachers must have a degree in pre-school education or a related field, although they would be given six years to obtain a degree, with some exceptions based on professional experience.
“You can’t sustain a workforce with wages at the poverty level,” said Lea Austin, the center’s executive director. “These reforms will be the best proof of how valuable the childcare workforce is for the public good.”
States would develop a formula for how much childcare should cost, taking into account high-quality care and higher wages. The parents would then pay their share, similar to the surcharge at the doctor’s office, and the rest of the money would be transferred to providers, mostly funded by the federal government and partly by the state. If parents decided to send their children to more expensive kindergartens, they would pay the difference.
There is also the possibility of countries being excluded from the programs, although local governments can join, even if their country does not.
Subsidies could be used in all licensed childcare centers and kindergartens that also meet new federal quality requirements, including those in homes, churches, and public schools. The proposal includes money to improve the quality of care, launch new centers, expand supply in existing ones and improve capacity. To begin with, states should spend a quarter of federal subsidies to increase supply because many parts of the state they do not have enough places to look after childrenand demand is expected to increase.