The child care crisis is a wage crisis – WBUR
By Ayanna Pressley & Sarah Siegel Muncey
By the time Tasha Jackson was 9-years-old, she was taking care of her younger siblings. Tasha realized very quickly that she was good at it, and that she loved it. It wasn’t a surprise that Tasha grew up to become an early educator. She took an internship at the Ellis Early Learning Center and has been there ever since. Educating children is her passion.
But during our recent visit to Ellis’ new Jamaica Plain location, Tasha shared a gut-wrenching decision she is facing. Because teaching wages are so low, Tasha worries that she cannot afford to start a family of her own. She lives with her parents and has taken on second and third jobs. But it’s not enough. Choosing a career caring for others’ children means she can’t afford to have her own.
Tasha’s experience as an early educator is unfortunately not unique. Not by a long shot…
Fortunately, change is within our grasp. The Build Back Better Act, passed last week by the House, ensures that eligible families will not pay more than 7% of their incomes on child care and would make unprecedented investments in raising the wages of early educators. Additionally, in Massachusetts, the Common Start legislation would put the Commonwealth ahead of nearly every other state when it comes to transforming our early education and care sector into a system that offers affordable, high-quality care to families and pays educators the wages they are rightfully due. The bill would increase the affordability and quality of early education and child care by providing funding to help reduce costs for families, while compensating providers for the true cost of providing quality care.