PENNSYLVANIA, April 5 - WHEREAS, Many early childhood educators earn poverty-level

wages and do not have basic workplace benefits, including health

insurance and paid sick leave; and

WHEREAS, Twenty-one percent of child-care workers in this

Commonwealth make so little that they live in families accessing

public benefits; and

WHEREAS, Paying the costs of high-quality early childhood

education is a revenue-generating investment over time resulting

in a broad range of benefits that accrue to individuals and

society at large; and

WHEREAS, Payment rates provided to early childhood programs

to provide high-quality early care and education services to

low-income children do not cover the costs of quality; and

WHEREAS, The continued staffing crisis can be detrimental to

the quality of the environment, impacting the development of

young children and families' ability to work; and

WHEREAS, The lack of sufficient and sustained public

investment results in staffing shortages caused by low

compensation, which are leading to child care supply shortages

that negatively impact families' ability to work, children's

access to safe and quality care and educators' health and well-

being; and

WHEREAS, Young children need skilled, educated, competent,

consistent and compensated early childhood educators; and

WHEREAS, Working families need sufficient high-quality child-

care spaces beginning at birth to be available in the community;

and

WHEREAS, Early childhood educations need the ability to earn

a family-sustaining wage that is commensurate with the required

education and skills they bring to the complex and valuable work

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