It’s about time that light be shed on our state’s dedicated and unwavering early care and education workforce, including its teachers, administrators and support staff in the child care industry.

These individuals have proven to be the backbone of a robust and prospering economy and are owed a great deal of respect. They sacrifice daily and are living on poverty-level wages as waitlists grow and demand increases for quality education and care.

These qualified teachers should get to fair pay (commensurate with credentials and experience); paid professional development (including higher education and certifications); health and dental benefits (including mental health), and furthermore, a safe and conducive work environment similar to that of their counterparts in the public school system.

Private child care programs rely on what parents and state subsidies can afford to pay, and it is not enough. Similarly, families should not have to absorb the costs of rising tuition rates, simultaneously paired with price inflation of everyday staple necessities such as milk, food, diapers and heating oil.

Temporary props, including federal and state stipends and grant monies, will soon falter unless long-term, sustainable solutions are realized. It is time we rehabilitate our broken system from the catastrophic effects, further exacerbated by this crippling pandemic, or our burned-out, ever-diminishing workforce will continue to collapse under insurmountable pressures leaving additional job and childcare vacancies. Investing $12 million for child care wages through the supplemental budget is a good start going forward for Maine’s child care system.

Beth Stacy
Eliot

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