Despite Hardships for Child Care Workers, Childhood Education Programs Growing

Wednesday, July 19th, 2023 -- 10:01 AM

(By Jenny Peek, Wisconsin Public Radio) Low wages have pushed many child care workers out.

Nationally, 100,000 child care workers have left the field since the start of the pandemic. That's contributed to a growing crisis for parents and day care providers. It makes it all the more surprising that early childhood education programs at the state's tech schools are stable, if not growing.

Katy Pettersen is the director of strategic advancement for the Wisconsin Technical College System, which oversees the state's 16 tech schools. "Last year, we saw a 10 percent increase in enrollment over the year before," Pettersen said. "Now, we're not to pre-pandemic levels yet, but that does tell me that we are going in the right direction."

She said part of that success has to do with robust state funding for students who get degrees in early childhood education. Run through the T.E.A.C.H. program, more than 10,000 early childhood education students have gotten state scholarships since 1999. In 2022 alone, 1,052 students received a scholarship, according to the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association.

Jessica Cioci, the dean of Madison College's School of Human and Protective Services, said the program is a game-changer. "I think our full-time equivalency has increased 40 percent this year, because we've been able to award scholarships to help students go through our program," Cioci said.

But alarmingly high turnover among child care workers, both in Wisconsin and across the nation, is making it clear that scholarships alone aren't enough. A survey by the National Association for the Education of Young Children found that 32 percent of the state's child care workers are considering leaving their jobs.

They tie that to low wages, where the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the median hourly pay for child care workers is just $14 per hour.

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