Core Points
- Early care and education (ECE) reform is a priority issue for the majority of voters across partisan lines. They agree it is very important for state governments to improve opportunities for all children and that early childhood educators play a critical role in child development.
- The fact sheet details five facts that every state legislator should know about the ECE system, starting with its current collapse (what economists call a “market failure”).
- When pursuing policy change, it’s important for legislators to ask five questions related to their state’s workforce data, access to resources, oversight and governance, existing funding, and stakeholders.
- The fact sheet includes real-life state-based solutions and four action steps that legislators can take to improve ECE systems:
- increasing investments for ECE compensation
- enacting legislation for compensation reform
- partnering with the executive branch and
- convening to urge others to understand why supporting the ECE workforce is critical to a robust child care system.
