The Bessie Tartt Wilson Initiative for Children (BTWIC) Ad Hoc Task Force on Early Education Compensation facilitated by Dr. Valora Washington, President of CAYL Institute, has released its Blueprint for Early Education Compensation Reform to guide states (particularly Massachusetts) in improving compensation in the early childhood field.
Currently, the early education field is largely underpaid and lacks a system for professional growth. The Task Force makes four recommendations to address these problems:
- Develop a career lattice (a career path that is more complex than a simple ladder) which links educational achievement to upward movement on a job ladder and to increased compensation. Require that the lattice increases compensation for career growth and includes both incremental wage increases and annual bonuses for achieving performance benchmarks and obtaining additional education.
- Create a refundable earned income tax credit for early education providers. This tax credit strategy begins to address the issue of inadequate compensation and immediately impacts the lowest paid workers in the field by allowing them to keep more of their income.
- Create an early education endowment fund to support a range of early education and care activities in the state including monetary support for compensation, the career lattice, and supplements the market rate for high quality programs.
- Develop a loan forgiveness program for early educators that requires a commitment to the field to attract and retain workers.
