HARRISBURG, PA (February 6, 2024) - Today, the principal partners of Early Learning Pennsylvania (ELPA), a statewide coalition of advocates focused on supporting young Pennsylvanians from birth to age five, issued the following statements regarding Governor Josh Shapiro’s 2024-25 state budget proposal. ELPA operates four issue-based advocacy campaigns: Pre-K for PA, Start Strong PA, Childhood Begins at Home, and Thriving PA.
HARRISBURG (January 2024) – A recent survey conducted by The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Policy Lab on behalf of Start Strong PA demonstrates Pennsylvania’s ongoing child care crisis continues to threaten parents’ ability to work and the overall economy. The survey, conducted between August 29, 2023 and September 21, 2023, details the child care staffing crisis in 762 of Pennsylvania’s child care programs and its effects on working families' ability to access care.
According to the survey:
● Nearly 26,000 additional children could be served at child care programs’ sites if they were fully staffed.
● Programs reported 2,395 open positions resulting in the closure of 934 classrooms.
● Child care providers’ inability to recruit and retain staff is having a direct impact on the quality of their programming.
This historic shortage of child care workers is dramatically reducing the availability of care options for working families, and these incredible numbers are only those reported by a fraction of the total number of child care programs in the state.
By Eric Scicchitano
The Tribune-Democrat
Advocates say that it’s not a cliff awaiting Pennsylvania’s child care providers when a federal financial relief program expires on Saturday.
Rather, they say, what lies ahead is the continued erosion of an industry already beset by low pay, an unstable labor pool and an inability to meet public demand.
“In the last two weeks, I know about five programs that are closing. It’s all about staffing. They can’t find staff,” said Diane Barber, executive director of the Pennsylvania Child Care Association. “It’s more about attrition than it is about sudden closure.”
By Megan Tomasic
The Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Shannon Veltre knew something had to change as she watched the staff members at her early learning center scurry around the facility over the past few years, anxious to ensure that each child was cared for.
Staffing shortages caused timecards at the Forest Hills facility to reflect hours of overtime, hinting at the burnout staff were facing. New families hoping to grab a spot in the program were turned away because of a lack of workers while children already enrolled were shuffled around the facility to guarantee they received necessary services and attention.
Alison McCook
The Philadelphia Inquirer
This week, we will reach the edge of the so-called childcare cliff, when the pandemic-driven infusion of federal funds to save the childcare industry runs out. An estimated one in three childcare programs in the country — or 70,000 — may have to close their doors.
In Pennsylvania alone, nearly 3,000 programs are set to shut down, leaving 150,000 kids with nowhere to go. For many families, this may not be a big deal — they make a few calls, find another nearby place that has space for a new child, and after an adjustment period, everyone settles in to a new routine.
By Sarah Mueller
Lehigh Valley News.com
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Affordable child care could become further out of reach for more Lehigh Valley families if federal funding for day care centers and preschools expires at the end of the month.
Nearly $24 billion in pandemic dollars earmarked for day care centers and preschools nationwide will end on Sept. 30 unless Congress extends it.
Congresswoman Susan Wild said she is pushing for $16 million in additional federal funding over the next five years to help shore up day care centers and preschools in the Lehigh Valley and nationwide through the Child Care Stabilization Act, introduced this week. Wild is a co-sponsor of the measure.
HARRISBURG, PA (February 6, 2024) - Today, the principal partners of Early Learning Pennsylvania (ELPA), a statewide coalition of advocates focused on supporting young Pennsylvanians from birth to age five, issued the following statements regarding Governor Josh Shapiro’s 2024-25 state budget proposal. ELPA operates four issue-based advocacy campaigns: Pre-K for PA, Start Strong PA, Childhood Begins at Home, and Thriving PA.
HARRISBURG (January 2024) – A recent survey conducted by The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Policy Lab on behalf of Start Strong PA demonstrates Pennsylvania’s ongoing child care crisis continues to threaten parents’ ability to work and the overall economy. The survey, conducted between August 29, 2023 and September 21, 2023, details the child care staffing crisis in 762 of Pennsylvania’s child care programs and its effects on working families' ability to access care.
According to the survey:
● Nearly 26,000 additional children could be served at child care programs’ sites if they were fully staffed.
● Programs reported 2,395 open positions resulting in the closure of 934 classrooms.
● Child care providers’ inability to recruit and retain staff is having a direct impact on the quality of their programming.
This historic shortage of child care workers is dramatically reducing the availability of care options for working families, and these incredible numbers are only those reported by a fraction of the total number of child care programs in the state.
PA Senate Passes Budget with NO Funding to Address Early Learning Workforce Shortage
HARRISBURG, PA (June 30, 2023) — Today the Pennsylvania Senate passed its version of the state budget that fails to address the historic early learning workforce shortage. No new money was included for PA Pre-K Counts, Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program or efforts to stabilize the child care workforce. This means early learning providers will continue to lose teachers and close classrooms jeopardizing families’ ability to work.
Alison McCook
The Philadelphia Inquirer
This week, we will reach the edge of the so-called childcare cliff, when the pandemic-driven infusion of federal funds to save the childcare industry runs out. An estimated one in three childcare programs in the country — or 70,000 — may have to close their doors.
In Pennsylvania alone, nearly 3,000 programs are set to shut down, leaving 150,000 kids with nowhere to go. For many families, this may not be a big deal — they make a few calls, find another nearby place that has space for a new child, and after an adjustment period, everyone settles in to a new routine.
The Editorial Board
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Without federal action, three million children in America could abruptly lose access to childcare at the end of the month, a development that could push many parents — including, experts say, a disproportionate number of women — out of the workforce.
Roughly $37 billion in pandemic-era stabilization grants — which have ensured financial access to childcare for families — will lapse on Sept. 30, leaving families with no guarantee of continued care.
Eva Wood - Ligonier; Erin Schellenberger - Latrobe
Trib Review
The child care staffing crisis, caused by the sector’s low wages, is rapidly diminishing working families’ access to child care. Unfortunately, programs all across Pennsylvania are closing classrooms and further limiting families’ options as they look for a safe, high-quality learning environment for their child while they work.
Across Pennsylvania there are thousands of families sitting on waiting lists. This impacts the workforce in every other Pennsylvania industry. Child care teachers are the workforce behind the workforce, and we are failing them.
