Posted on April 22, 2021
In a recent Op-ed published by the Star Ledger, The person who cares for your child should be paid a living wage, Meghan Tavormina, President of the NJ Association for the Education of Young Children (NJAEYC), made three critical points about the child care staffing crisis:
- The current child care staffing crisis is directly linked to programs' inability to pay their child care teachers what they are worth.
- The pandemic has added additional responsibilities to the daily work of the child care staff, with most being paid at the minimum wage rate.
- Child care programs are competing with employers like Costco and Amazon that offer higher wages and benefit packages--and child care programs are losing.
But now we have an opportunity to end the child care staffing crisis and #ReimagineChildCare.
Through the recent federal COVID-relief dollars, New Jersey can address the workforce compensation issue. As our state plans on how best to use the funds, policymakers need to hear from you. It is important that they hear what you have experienced over the last year and how you want to help #ReimageChildCare!
Here is one easy thing you can do to help end the child care staffing issue!
Share Meghan’s Opinion piece and your experiences with Governor Murphy, Acting DHS Commissioner Adelman and your state legislators. Just click here to help make New Jersey’s child care system the nation’s best for children, their families and the staff who care for them!
