‘Impossible math’ Business leaders call for state investment to help alleviate child care teacher shortage
Courtesy of Little Rascals Early Learning Center
The Judy Early Education Group could be serving up to 342 children in Fayette and Westmoreland counties in its child care centers, but it has only 197 enrolled.
The reason?
They would need to recruit nine additional teachers, according to Christina Saunders, the director of administration for the organization. And trying to find – and keep – teachers for child care classrooms is no easy task.
The average starting pay for a child care teacher is just a little bit more than $15 an hour, which is comparable to – or less than – the pay that is being offered at fast-food restaurants and some retail outlets. And since the profit margins for most child care providers are small, raising wages would almost certainly result in increased tuition rates for parents or guardians, pricing some out of the market.
“Child care runs on impossible math,” according to Stephanie McAdoo, director of the Indi Kids program in Indiana County.
Saying that it is an urgent issue for both families and the broader economy, a collection of child care providers and business leaders urged state lawmakers to include $55 million in the 2025-26 Pennsylvania budget for child care teacher recruitment and retention in an online press conference Wednesday afternoon.
They argued that the lack of child care teachers – and, in some places, a paucity of providers – ripples out through the commonwealth’s economy. Ron Aldom, president and CEO of the Somerset County Chamber of Commerce, cited a statewide survey that said 81% of employers had reported moderate or severe recruitment and retention issues due to employee issues with child care. He also said that more than $6 billion in earnings and productivity is lost in Pennsylvania’s economy every year due to child care issues.
“This crisis is holding back our workforce, our businesses and our entire economy,” he said.
Saunders said the problem “demands a public solution.” She also pointed out that the starting wage for child care teachers “does not meet the cost of living for any county in Pennsylvania.”
To illustrate just how hard it can be to find teachers for child care centers, McAdoo said that when Indi Kids has advertised for open positions, they usually get few or no applicants. In the child care center she operates, a lack of teachers resulted in a classroom for 2-year-old children having to close.
She explained that, given the “poverty wages” teachers are paid, “they are forced to look for another job.”
Darleta Cole, the owner and director of Little Rascals Early Learning Center in Washington, was not part of the online press conference, but said she has experienced similar issues when it comes to finding and keeping staff. She said that low wages limit the number of applicants.
“You certainly should make more taking care of people’s most prized possession, which is their children,” Cole said.
Gov. Josh Shapiro has proposed that $55 million be placed in a new and recurring budget line item that would be used for child care recruitment and retention. If approved, that amount would boost the pay of child care teachers by about $1,000 per year.
Budget negotiations have been continuing among lawmakers, even though the deadline to deliver the 2025-26 budget was June 30. Shapiro, a Democrat, the Republican-controlled state Senate and the House, which has a one-vote Democratic majority, have reportedly been wrangling over such issues as public transit funding and taxing skill games.