Biden Administration Raises Pay for Head Start Teachers to Address Workforce Shortage

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is raising wages for Head Start early childhood educators as part of an effort to retain current employees and attract new ones amid a labor shortage.

The administration’s new rules, released Friday, will require large operators to put their employees on track to earn what their counterparts in local school districts earn by 2031. Large operators will also have to provide health care to their employees. Smaller operators – those serving fewer than 200 families – are not required to meet the same requirements, but will be required to demonstrate that they are making progress in raising wages.

“We can’t expect to find and hire quality teachers to make it a career if they don’t get a decent salary as much as the kids might love,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra , in an interview. .

Many operators have had to reduce the number of children and families they serve because they cannot find enough staff. At one time, the federally funded program enrolled more than one million children and families. Now the programs only have about 650,000 slots. A quarter of Head Start teachers left in 2022, some lured by higher salaries in retail and food service. Some operators have closed centers.

Head Start teachers, most of whom have bachelor’s degrees, earn less than $40,000 a year on average. Their colleagues who work in support roles – like teaching assistants or classroom assistants – earn less.

Head Start, created in the 1960s as part of the War on Poverty, serves the nation’s neediest families, providing preschool children and support for their parents and caregivers. Many of those it serves come from low-income households, are in foster care or are homeless. It also seeks to provide well-paying jobs to parents and community members.

“This rule will not only provide fairer pay for thousands of Head Start teachers and staff, it will also strengthen the quality of Head Start for hundreds of thousands of America’s children,” said White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden .

The program has generally enjoyed bipartisan support, and this year, Congress increased its funding to give Head Start employees a cost-of-living increase.

The requirements, while costly, do not come with additional funding, which has led to fears that operators may have to cut slots to make ends meet. That’s part of the reason the administration modified the original proposal, exempting smaller carriers from many of the requirements.

The National Head Start Association, which advocates for the programs and their operators, applauded the new rule but said it worries how Head Starts will implement the rules without additional federal money.

The association said in a statement that it “remains concerned that if Congress and future administrations do not agree to such increases, the impact of the final rule could prove devastating by significantly reducing the number of children and families served by Head programs Start”.

But the administration has argued that it cannot allow an anti-poverty initiative to pay salaries that leave staff in financial precariousness. Like much of the early childhood workforce, many Head Start employees are women of color.

“For 60 years, the Head Start model has been subsidized primarily by women of color,” said Katie Hamm, assistant deputy secretary in the Office of Early Childhood Development. “We can’t ask them to keep doing this.”

The program is administered locally by nonprofit organizations, social service agencies, and school districts, which have some autonomy in setting pay scales.

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