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Hundreds of Philadelphians rallied at City Hall on Monday demanding more support for what they say is an understaffed, underresourced, and underappreciated field: Early childhood education.
“We are the people raising your kids,” said Tyrone Scott, director of government and external affairs at First Up, an early childhood advocacy group. “Acknowledge us.”
Scott spoke about the challenges for early childhood education as part of the national Day Without Childcare protests. Child care centers in Philly have experienced severe staffing shortages and rising costs in recent years. That’s led to classroom closures and other strains that have restricted families’ access to free public pre-K seats and child care opportunities.
Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, who has used child care services for his two children and spoke at the event, pledged to launch a city task force to figure out how to make child care workers the “number one priority” in the city.
“Our teachers, our workers that come day in and day out, you deserve a high-quality raise. You deserve high-quality benefits,” Johnson told the crowd. “If we can provide subsidies and support for big time developers … then surely we can find ways to support what I believe is the most essential service here in the city of Philadelphia, that’s early childhood development.”
Though Johnson did not lay out how the task force would work, speakers at Monday’s rally said they’ll hold their elected officials to that promise.
To create such a task force, Johnson will need to draft and introduce a resolution laying out what it would do before bringing the measure to fellow council members for a vote.
Johnson wants to put the resolution to a vote before his colleagues leave for summer recess on June 12, said Vincent Thompson, Johnson’s communications director. If it passes, Johnson would then have to appoint people to the group. The soonest the task force could start work would be late summer or early fall.
Early childhood advocates like Scott are also asking Pennsylvania lawmakers to support Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed $55 million for child care workforce recruitment and retention grants that would raise wages for child care workers by about $1,000 per employee.
But state budget negotiations are tense. And Shapiro’s plan is just a start, Scott said. His group estimates that early childhood teachers in most Pennsylvania counties will need at least $5,000 more to earn a living wage.
In Philadelphia County, the estimated full-time hourly rate for these teachers as of 2021 was $14.37 for annual earnings of $29,884.
Last year, Philly Mayor Cherelle Parker added signing and retention bonuses for some early childhood teachers, but those in the workforce said they need more significant wage increases.
Lisa Burden, administrative director at Your Child’s World child care center, said costs to run a high-quality center are rising. She said many of her teachers rely on federal food benefits and other forms of government assistance to remain in their jobs because they love their work. But she’s lost staff to higher paying jobs at fast food restaurants and retail stores.
“We need more money, not only in order to pay our bills, but also to pay our staff,” Burden said. “There’s a lot of children now with special needs, and because of that, we need more teachers in every classroom.”
Erica Fitzgerald, an educator at Lovie Lee’s Stars of Tomorrow child care center, said “temporary” fixes like grants and bonuses may be nice, but they are no substitute for long-term, sustained wage increases.
“It’s time to stand on business,” she said. “We want stable wages.”
Sharmaine Wims used a day off from work to come to Monday’s rally with her grandson Zah-Fir.
Zah-Fir can be “all over the place” and is learning to manage his emotions, said Wims. Wims’ son, Zah-Fir’s father, was murdered when Zah-Fir was two months old and she’s since had to take care of him, she said.
Wims said Zah-Fir’s early childhood teachers at Whiz Kidz Developmental and Early Learning Academy have been crucial partners in helping her support him and her other grandchildren while she works to earn money for the family.
“It’s horrible, they get paid nothing,” Wims said of Zah-Fir’s educators. “My grandson has learned so much. They’re not babysitting him. He’s [practically] in school.”
Wims said she’s tired of hearing “all these words” from elected officials about how valuable early childhood educators are. She wants to see wages rise for the people who care for her grandson.
“I can’t imagine them not being there,” Wims said.
Carly Sitrin is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Philadelphia. Contact Carly at csitrin@chalkbeat.org.
