BATON ROUGE, La. (KLFY) — The Louisiana Department of Education has funded two rounds of the Teacher Support Grant for open Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) for childcare providers to give teachers one-time stipends or wage supplements. The most recent grant of over $17 million was distributed to over 700 open child care providers in February of 2022.
The first round of the grant distributed over $10 million to 600 open child care providers in August of 2021. The La. Department of Education said the Teacher Support Grants are providing critical support to the early childhood field as it rebounds from the impact of COVID-19 through incentives for teachers to remain in the field.
According to the La. Department of Education, the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the child care field and specifically child care teachers. Research conducted by the University of Virginia found that more than 50% of early educators in child care report being unable to pay for medical expenses, 40% are food insecure, and 30% report difficulty paying rent. There is considerable concern about these and other stressors that contribute to teacher turnover.
These grants have been issued in response to an early childhood workforce report that was submitted by the Department to the Louisiana Legislature. The report presents key information about the costs and funding mechanisms for early childhood care and education in Louisiana and the impacts on the early education workforce.
The report states that about 35% of teachers in early childhood classrooms leave their sites each year. That rate is closer to 44% in child care centers. Just one-third of teachers observed in Louisiana’s publicly-funded early childhood classrooms are still there three years later.
Recent Louisiana data suggest that child care teachers make about $20,000 annually, less than half of what their school-based counterparts earn. This salary is less than the federal poverty level for a family of three in 2020; nearly 27% of child care teachers also report working a second job.
The Department continues to study the issue of teacher retention and compensation and is committed to a multi-year strategy of stabilizing the early childhood workforce.
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