In just a few weeks, the Senate and Assembly will release their own proposals, or “one house” budgets. Though Governor Hochul is proposing major investments to expand child care access across New York, truly universal child care can’t happen unless the State commits to raising the wages of child care educators. We need the Senate and Assembly proposals to tax the rich and include at least $1.2 billion for a permanent workforce compensation fund.
Across the state, child care programs are struggling to recruit and retain staff because wages remain far too low. Families want and need child care, but if educators – a majority of them women, and women of color – can’t afford to stay in the profession, classrooms remain dark or programs are forced to close.
Dedicated educators, like Sheila Cora at De Corazon Family Day Care in Green Island, just outside of Albany in the video below, love their work and the children they serve, yet financial pressure makes it difficult to remain in the field. A permanent workforce compensation fund would allow educators to stay in the roles they care deeply about and give programs the stability families rely on.
Send a message to Governor Hochul and your State Legislators urging them to tax the rich and include dedicated funding for child care educators in their one house budgets and in the final enacted budget. A permanent workforce compensation fund is how New York builds a child care system that is stable and accessible for all.
No comments:
Post a Comment