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Biden’s pre-K universalization plan could mean at least 40,000 new teachers needed

But if passed by Congress as part of a sweeping social safety net bill, a major challenge for the implementation is to hire tens of thousands of new teachers at once when the school had Struggling to fill existing positions.
Follow an estimate from the National Institute of Early Education Research at Rutgers University. That does not include any additional classroom assistants, paraprofessionals, or other staff that may be needed.
Hiring too many teachers and staff will be very time consuming. Several states and localities currently fund some forms of public preschool, such as West Virginia and Washington, DC, already Teacher shortage report. Average number of college graduates who have completed a teacher preparation program down 24% between the 2009-10 and 2018-19 school years, according to the Association of Teachers Colleges of America.
Additionally, several K-12 school districts are struggling to fill vacancies, from teacher to substitute teacher and Bus drivers – a trend that predates the pandemic.

“We don’t really have a fleet of early childhood educators sitting still,” said Chad Aldeman, policy director at the Edunomics Lab. a research center at Georgetown University.

He added: “If the federal dollar promotes pre-K enrollment, that could lead to hiring, potentially leading to shortages and an increase in the number of new teachers entering the profession. and unlicensed, especially in low-income communities,” he added.

What Democrats & # 39;  Social spending plans may include

The proposal, part of the $1.9 trillion Democratic-backed spending bill that passed Congress, attempts to address those quality problems in the long term by requiring new teachers to before age K must have income. bachelor’s degree within six years.

The bill aims to attract more children and increase the quality of early childhood programs. It would also limit overall childcare costs for families with children under the age of 6 to no more than 7% of income for those earning up to 250% of the state median income. expand access to about 20 million children. Together, the bill would provide $381.5 billion in those provisions over six years.

Limits of state-funded pre-K

Democrats’ push for universal and affordable pre-K childcare comes about due to the economic impact of coronavirus The pandemic continues to hold some families back. In some states, low-income families qualify for affordable pre-K programs, but there is still a large gap in coverage.

Forty-four states and Washington, DC, offer state-funded preschool programs, but most do not have space for every 3- and 4-year-old.

The programs are very different. Most have income requirements and many do not provide a full day of instruction. Some pre-K programs are based on a combination of funding sources, including federal funds from a program called Head Start.

Nationally, nearly 34% of 4-year-olds and about 6% of 3-year-olds enrolled in the state-funded program during the 2019-20 school year. More than 1.6 million children in total, excluding students enrolled in privately run programs, according to National Institute of Early Education Research.

“Almost all of the issues are money-related, which is why this federal approach can work,” said Steven Barnett, senior co-director of the institute.

“But the big challenges will be developing the workforce and creating the infrastructure to support them,” he added.

How long does it take to get pre-K universal?

Universal pre-K is not something that can be built overnight. States will likely be responsible for designing their programs and distributing federal funds — a task that could progress more quickly in places where there are strong state-funded early childhood education programs. in place.

If the measure becomes law, the federal government will cover the costs of pre-K programs for the first three years. States will be required to pay a portion of the costs for the next three years, with the percentage increasing each year until the state pays about 36% of the costs in year six. The bill only provides funding for six years, leaving states completely submerged after that unless Congress reauthorizes more spending in the future.

Barnett said it’s unlikely that each state could serve every 3- and 4-year-old in six years, but added that federal funding would still speed up the process significantly.

“Without this, I don’t think we would have universal K money in this century,” he said.

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