DC’s Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund serves as a national model for how states and localities can address the child care crisis by funding DC’s child care directors to ensure competitive wages for their staff.
When asked for their perspectives, most DC families eligible for child care subsidies gave the highest ratings to access to quality child care but the lowest ratings to affordability.
Because of their centers’ participation in DC’s Pay Equity Fund, educators were “somewhat” or “a lot” more motivated (74 percent) and better able (72 percent) to pursue education, training, or other professional development opportunities.
Educators whose employers participated in DC’s Pay Equity Fund were 18 percent less likely to be at risk of food insecurity. They were also less likely to report depression or anxiety.
More than two-thirds of DC child care educators agreed that the Pay Equity Fund contributed to their plan to continue working in their current job and in DC child care at large.
Between March 2023 and March 2024, 64 percent of educators remained employed at the same licensed child care center. When educators left their jobs, most left the DC child care field altogether.
If DC’s federal matching assistance were reduced from 70 percent to 50 percent, DC would have to increase its spending on Medicaid by 63.2 percent to maintain current Medicaid program support.
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