Appreciating Early Childhood Educators

Another Teacher Appreciation Week is about to end. Mugs were unwrapped, handmade cards were lovingly hung on walls, and cakes were eaten in the staff lounge. The gratitude bestowed upon teachers on this day from families, students, and their schools, is appreciated, but the tip of the iceberg for what teachers truly deserve. We are adding our voices to the chorus, sending our utmost respect and recognition of the critical work that educators (of infants, toddlers, prekindergartners, and school-aged children) across the nation do each day.

But what happens next week? Paychecks remain stagnant; no bonus is added for this celebratory day, and apple pins have a limited market value. If we want to truly appreciate educators, federal, state, and local governments should invest in their education, ensure fair compensation, and guarantee benefits.

When we don’t pay teachers a liveable wage, they flee the field. At a recent New America event, early childhood educator Danny Vasquez shared his cycle in and out of education. “I left because I couldn’t afford to pay for everything. I couldn’t live a comfortable life, it was very tight. I was given the opportunity to work at a corporate job and make about double what I was making.”

Danny’s love of teaching eventually drew him back. “I did that for about a year and a half and I wanted to die because it was just not - the environment and who I am, it didn’t mix. That’s when I realized alright, I need to go back to education, because this is where I feel the most comfortable. I can make up for what I’m not gaining with the interactions, and the impact, and how I feel, and the energy I get back from working with the kids.”

The positive impact that Danny is having upon his students’ lives is undoubtedly rewarding. But his dedication to improving children’s lives should also be rewarded with a liveable, comfortable wage.

In 2018, the average child care educator’s salary was $23,240 and the average pre-K teacher’s salary was $29,780. The average entry level salary for business and financial jobs was $68,350. These occupations require a bachelor’s degree; the same credential that early childhood educators are being encouraged and even required to obtain without any promise of equitable pay. Currently, early childhood educators who do have a bachelor’s degree such as elementary school teachers and center directors only earn $57,980 and $47,940, respectively.

Inadequate compensation can make bachelor’s degrees unaffordable. Dr. April Torrence runs a child care center in Pennsylvania. She identified finances as one of the biggest hurdles for early educators hoping to earn their bachelor’s degree. “When it comes down to the challenges, I can identify three. That is: the time, the finances, and the support.”

Dr. Torrence shared how integral the support of mentors and cohorts were along her journey, despite the looming debt. “Student loan debt for [my] PhD, we won’t even talk about that, whether it’s at the undergraduate level or the doctorate level, you’re going to have some. I think that support that I received from people cheering you on, having coaches, having mentors, having someone to just get in your ear and continue to tell you ‘you can do it, you can do it, you can do it,’ is critical and it will allow you to forget about the challenges and look at the goal.”

Dr. Torrence took a circuitous route to education, working as a bank teller, pursuing business, and becoming an office administrator at Sharon Coating steel mill. When the steel mill closed in her town, she qualified for the Trade Readjustment Act which paid the tuition for her associate degree in full, but this is an unusual scenario. Other efforts to help pay for early educators to earn an associate or bachelor’s degree, such as the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Scholarship program operating in 22 states and the District of Columbia, are few and far between. (You can find more about what other states and localities are doing on this front in our recent report “Putting Degrees Within Reach.”)

When asked what she’d like policy makers to know, Dr. Torrence stressed the importance of benefits. Many early educators lack access to health, retirement, and other benefits such as paid leave. They also may not have paid planning time or paid time for professional learning opportunities. According to the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment’s recent series on work environment conditions, in New York, “of the 83 percent of teaching staff who had health coverage, less than one-half reported receiving it through their employer.” And according to CSCCE’s Early Childhood Workforce Index, in 2018 only 10 states required paid sick leave, although many employers do still offer these days. In the New York study, 84 percent of staff members participating in the study said they got at least some leave.

The lack of health insurance is absurd to the point of irony, as anyone who has stepped in to a child care center and uttered the phrase, “germ factory,” can attest. Sick employees at a center can put teachers, children, and infants in jeopardy.

Maria Martinez, an infant and toddler teacher at a child care center in Maryland, shared her experience working at a center without sick leave. “They said it doesn’t matter if you’re sick, it doesn’t matter if you can’t come to work, I need your person over here.”

Danny was also asked about what he would say to policy makers. “So we’re sacrificing more, by going to school and investing more into the schools and even into our own classrooms. We’re barely making ends meet, yet we’re still buying supplies for the kids. It’s hard sometimes, because you care so much... If you’re in education, then you care. You’re not in there to make money, realistically. And it’s like, it’s frustrating sometimes because you want to do so much, but you also have to live.”

At New America, we appreciate teachers this week and every week. We are honored to research, report, and advocate for education ideas and policies that will best serve teachers and students. We’ve been writing about the need for better compensation, proposing parity to K-12, expansion of innovative compensation strategies, and multiple pathways for building their knowledge and competencies that meet the needs of current teachers.

Yet, another year goes by and another Teacher Appreciation Week passes. With teacher pay legislation on the horizon and bipartisan interest in early education, hopefully this new year will bring the gratitude, compensation, and benefits that educators deserve. As Danny said, “It all comes back to, well, if I’m getting paid crumbs, it’s hard to keep that motivation up, you know?”

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