Thousands of Pennsylvanians Call on Governor Shapiro to Fix Child Care

HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Start Strong PA, delivered a petition containing 5,077 signatures to Governor Shapiro urging him to "Fix Child Care" by including sustainable state funds as part of his 2025-2026 state budget proposal to help address the child care sector's on-going workforce crisis. The petition calls for $284 million to create a child care teacher recruitment and retention initiative.

"As Pennsylvania businesses continue to seek qualified, dependable employees, tens of thousands of working parents are struggling to find the child care they need to remain in the workforce," said Cara Ciminillo, Executive Director, Trying Together. "This is due to a staffing crisis within the child care sector, resulting in closures of classrooms and even entire facilities. Currently, there are 600 fewer child care programs in the commonwealth than there were at the start of the Pandemic."According to a September 2024 survey of 1,140 Pennsylvania child care programs, over 3,000 child care staffing positions remain unfilled. This staffing crisis has closed or significantly reduced capacity in these programs eliminating more than 25,300 child care slots statewide. These unfilled positions are a direct result of the industry's low wages caused by the system's broken business model.

"The average wage for a child care teacher in Pennsylvania is $15.15 per hour. This rate fails to meet the cost of living of ANY county across the state," said Jen DeBell, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children. "If we don't allocate funds to directly address our teacher recruitment and retention crisis, child care classroom and program closures will continue to disrupt thousands of families' ability to work."

Start Strong PA is launching FixChildCarePA.com to highlight critical information surrounding this compounding  crisis and share the stories of the families who are struggling to find care and the child care programs desperately trying to keep their doors open to provide it. 

"This staffing crisis is not a Pennsylvania only problem. The difference is Pennsylvania lawmakers have only offered solutions to one side of the issue – the demand side – in the form of tax credits to help families better AFFORD child care," described Diane Barber, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Child Care Association. "Solutions to fix the supply side – to make sure families can FIND care  – are desperately needed. About 20 other states have prioritized funding for child care teacher recruitment and retention initiatives. Pennsylvania must act!"

About Start Strong PA
Start Strong PA is an initiative of Early Learning PA. Through a statewide collaboration of partners, Start Strong PA aims to support healthy child development, working families, and the economy by increasing access to and affordability of high-quality child care programs for young children. Learn more at www.startstrongpa.org.

SOURCE Start Strong PA