For better early childhood education, says HKS professor, raise teacher pay

A new mother tries to sign up her 5-month-old for daycare, but the only center with openings nearby would cost half her year’s salary. And despite the high cost for families, the teachers at that center are barely making ends meet. 

High child care costs and limited availability have put early education and care out for reach for many working families. As parents nationwide struggle with the cost of daycare, Massachusetts has made serious commitments to early childhood education. The state has invested significant funding in early child care, raising spending by more than 50% in recent years. Even so, there’s a gap between what the state system provides and the amount of child care parents want. 

In a recent working paper and policy brief, Jeffrey Liebman, the Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Public Policy at HKS, explores how much child care Massachusetts parents are looking for. He also identifies the gaps in capacity, quality, and affordability of early child care statewide. He offers a path forward in a policy brief, suggesting providing higher pay for teachers, subsidizing start-up costs associated with expanding child care center capacity, and increasing financial assistance for families making a low-income to help them afford care.

How many parents want formal child care in Massachusetts?

Liebman surveyed 1,001 mothers of children under 5 in Massachusetts. Eighty-nine percent said that, if formal child care were free, they would use it. Currently, just 53% of 0-5 year olds in the state are enrolled in formal early child care (such as a child care center or preschool). Mothers’ desire for child care was consistent across income brackets. “Parents,” writes Liebman, “don’t have widely different preferences; they have widely different access.” 

Across income brackets, parents feel strapped by the cost of care. A majority of mothers, both those with household incomes of above $100,000 and below it, said they agreed or somewhat agreed that “given how much of my salary goes to child care, it is barely worth working” outside the home. Some mothers would choose to stay home with their child if that caregiving work were subsidized; more than half of parents of infants said that, if they were offered a $15,000 benefit, they would consider staying home with their child.

How can policymakers close the gap? 

Despite the state’s increased early childhood funding, Massachusetts spends $4,000 per child under 5, compared to $23,000 per child in grades K-12. This disparity, argues Liebman, leads to gaps in capacity, quality, and affordability.

Liebman says that addressing the quality gap must come before further expanding capacity. Research from other jurisdictions has found poor outcomes for children when capacity is expanded without sufficient attention to quality. And he argues that raising early educator pay is the key to improving quality. The median lead teacher in child care centers across Massachusetts is paid $25 hourly, or roughly $50,000 a year. 

Low pay leads to high turnover for teachers and low stability for centers and children. Liebman suggests that raising the median wage by $6 hourly could stabilize the workforce, as the yearly median income of an early childhood teacher would then match that of a first-year kindergarten teacher in the state (though for true parity, wages would need to increase by $12 an hour to account for the greater number of hours that early childhood educators work).  

To address gaps in quantity, Liebman recommends that the state subsidize the start-up costs of child care providers looking to expand. 

Liebman also explored the state’s role in helping families pay for early childhood education. Existing state child care subsidies meet only half the needs of low-income  families. Though subsidies available from other programs, such as Head Start, fill some of this gap, Liebman estimates the amount of subsidies would need to double to meet needs.

If the state adopted these suggestions, Liebman estimates Massachusetts could enroll an additional 7,500 children in care each year for the next five years. Sixty-five percent of children aged 0-5 would be enrolled in formal child care, up from 53% today. This, he argues, would have wide-ranging benefits for the state.

“Offering high-quality early education and care to every child in the Commonwealth is essential to closing opportunity gaps that begin before kindergarten. It will allow more parents—especially mothers—to work and advance in their careers,” Liebman writes. “And it will help Massachusetts employers recruit and retain the workers they need.” 

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Photo by Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images