Guest Opinion by Kristi Moreno
I have worked in early education for nearly 20 years, so I see the challenges our skilled and experienced teachers face up close.
Supporting the physical, emotional, social, and cognitive development of young children is hard. Ensuring a nurturing, secure, and inclusive setting where children feel safe to explore and learn takes work. Meeting each child where they are – and tailoring approaches to meet diverse needs – requires patience and understanding.
Yet these aren’t the greatest challenges early educators face right now.
For many, their single greatest challenge is how to survive when their wages don’t cover the cost of living.
Despite their crucial role, early childhood educators in Bucks County are profoundly undervalued and underpaid, with the average teacher earning less than $30,000 a year. The vast majority of these teachers are ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), struggling to provide for themselves and their families.
As a result, we are seeing high turnover in the field. This destabilizes programs, leading to closed classrooms and, worse, closed sites.
Simply put, early childhood education in Bucks County is in crisis. And it is increasingly becoming a crisis for other sectors, too. Without reliable and affordable care, we see are seeing parents and caregivers in all sectors drop out of the workforce.
Childcare workers are the backbone of our workforce; work simply doesn’t work without them.
We have repeatedly called upon legislators to increase wages in publicly funded programs like PreK Counts. There has been some movement, but not enough.
What can we do to support early childhood educators? First, we must continue to raise public awareness about the importance of early childhood education. This is not “babysitting;” this is building a foundation upon which all future success rests. We need people to understand that because community support is vital for driving legislative change.
Next, we must advocate. Call your legislators. Tell them that early education is essential and early educators deserve a living wage. Help us ensure that our educators receive the respect and compensation they deserve.
This issue affects our entire community’s future. If we want real change, we must become champions and advocates for early education. Together, we can ensure a brighter future for our children and create a more stable and supportive environment for those who educate them.
We all need to start advocating like the future of Bucks County depends on it, because it does.
Kristi Moreno is Impact Director of Pre-K Education at United Way of Bucks County.