From Start Strong PA (https://startstrongpa.org/):
We Can Do Better. We Must Do Better.
Child care providers and advocates gathered in the Pennsylvania Capitol Rotunda this morning to release the results of a new survey showing that the historic child care staffing crisis – caused by low wages – continues to contract the capacity of Pennsylvania’s child care system.
This new survey, conducted by partners of the Start Strong PA Campaign between March 8, 2022 and April 3, 2022, details the current child care staffing crisis in 994 Pennsylvania child care programs across 60 counties and its effects on working families’ ability to access care.
According to the survey:
- Nearly 32,500 children currently sit on waiting lists.
- More than 30,000 additional children could be served at respondents’ sites if they were fully staffed.
- 91% of respondents reported staffing shortages.
- Programs need to fill nearly 7,000 open child care positions.
- 48% of respondents have closed at least one classroom.
The Start Strong PA March 2022 survey results depict a deepening crisis in the child care sector. In September 2021, Start Strong PA released a similar survey showing that Pennsylvania’s child care centers were experiencing a staffing shortage resulting in more than 25,000 children sitting on waiting lists. In just six months, the waiting list numbers have increased by nearly 10,000 children with 169 fewer providers reporting.
In response, advocates are calling on the General Assembly and the Wolf Administration to “Raise Child Care” by allocating $115 million in sustainable state and/or federal funds as part of the final state budget to provide a $2 per hour wage supplement for child care teachers and staff.
These problems will not sort themselves out, they will not just go away, and the child care industry should not continue to be subsidized on the backs of the teachers and staff that work in it.
Sign our petition at https://startstrongpa.org/raise-child-care and join us in our fight to Raise Child Care!
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