Thousands of daycare workers in Washington, D.C., are set to receive checks of at least $10,000 after the city council passed a measure reallocating tax dollars from the richest residents to those who work in childcare.
The Council of the District Columbia on Tuesday voted unanimously to disburse the funds, available to any eligible childcare worker who applies for it. Workers will receive personal checks anywhere between $10,000 to $14,000, depending on their current position. The one-time payment is the first step toward raising childcare workers’ salaries, as city officials argue they are underpaid.
“Child care is the backbone of our economy,” tweeted Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, who represents Ward 4. “The predominantly Black and Brown women who do this work have been underpaid for decades despite being asked to educate our children during their most foundational years. Today we start paying them much closer to what they deserve.”
The additional pay was proposed by the Early Childhood Educator Equitable Compensation Task Force, a group created last year to submit a report to the council on how to use tax revenue to raise daycare workers’ salaries. The funds were accrued from increased taxes on wealthy families aimed at addressing social problems such as funding childcare programs and increasing wages.
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The increase in taxes on high-income residents was passed in last year’s fiscal budget, as city council members argued those who were unaffected financially by the pandemic could afford to pay more.
The equitable compensation task force was set to give its first report to the city council Tuesday on how to allocate this revenue to boost daycare workers’ salaries. With the checks, which can be delivered as a one-time payment or in increments until the fiscal year ends in September, task force members estimate that it “would equate on average … something like a 25% annual income enhancement for educators,” according to their report.
Council members say they believe the pay increases will help retain employees in the childcare industry, noting that they are looking for permanent increases to workers’ salaries. This may include implementing a program that would subsidize their paychecks, making their salaries more comparable to school teachers.
“Higher pay for child care teachers is a key part of a healthy childhood system & something I’ve been fighting for since joining the Council,” said Councilmember Robert White in a tweet.
The news was met with cheers from early childhood educators and advocacy groups.
“Today’s consensus vote put an exclamation point on the early learning community’s historic budget win last August,” said Ruqiyyah Anbar-Shaheen, director of the Under 3 DC Coalition, in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “However, it is only part one of a longer-term plan to permanently increase compensation for early educators who have carried so much during what feels like a never-ending pandemic.”
Under 3 DC is a group that advocates for early childhood caregivers, boosting efforts for public investments in education and care programs for infants and toddlers.
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The D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education will hire a company to spearhead the application process for workers to receive their checks, the council voted Tuesday. In addition to her celebration, Anbar-Shaheen called on city officials to ensure that no one falls through the cracks.
“Our coalition hopes OSSE will prioritize paying educators this year,” Anbar-Shaheen said. “Educators will need generous assistance to help them apply for the supplemental pay and understand, in their preferred language, how the salary boost could impact their benefits and taxes.”
