State Policies Overview

Policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic—especially major increases in federal funding through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in March 2021—have demonstrated greater recognition of the essential role early childhood educators play in our society. Nonetheless, policy actions at federal and state levels continue to fall short of transforming early childhood jobs into respected, well-compensated positions throughout the United States (see Early Educator Pay & Economic Insecurity).

At the federal level, ARPA and other COVID-19 relief funding provided a crucial lifeline to state and program leaders in the context of the pandemic, which initially forced many early care and education (ECE) programs to close and resulted in the loss of thousands of ECE jobs.¹ This major influx of federal funding demonstrated that given the funds and the flexibility, state and program leaders will choose to invest in the workforce (see Pandemic Relief Funding).

But COVID-19 relief funding was never sufficient nor intended to sustain the ECE system or the workforce over the long term, much less transform the system into one that supports all educators, children, and families to thrive. In the absence of major new federal investments to make sustained, transformative change across the country, states must rise to the challenge to come up with solutions of their own.

This report documents the many ways that state leaders have creatively used federal and state funding to advance the preparation, support, and compensation of the early childhood workforce, even while working within the challenges of the existing system.² This progress has been long in the making and continued advances are not guaranteed (see How the Fight for Better ECE Working Conditions ECHOES On). While concerted effort at both federal and state levels is needed, state leaders can look to the Index for examples of how to take steps toward transformative change.

Key Issue

How the Fight for Better ECE Working Conditions ECHOES On

The inequities and injustices that early educators face are not new. Today’s progress is a step forward in responding to a crisis that has long characterized ECE employment.

CSCCE’s Early Childhood History, Organizing, Ethos, and Strategy (ECHOES)¹ project connects early care and education today with its history and activism. ECHOES highlights the overlooked histories of the women who have cared for and taught young children for generations. It explores the visions and voices of women of color, immigrant women, and working-class women who have made significant contributions but have been left out of dominant historical narratives.

ECHOES also explores critical questions about how we came to have our present-day ECE system and how systemic inequities have echoed through time. Inspired by the Worthy Wage Movement led by early educators in the late 20th century, the project highlights how individuals have built collective power to demand a just ECE system in response to these conditions and inequities.

What States Can Do: Five Policy Areas to Improve Early Childhood Educator Jobs

State leaders can play a powerful role in reshaping early childhood jobs. States can choose to prioritize the ECE workforce with state dollars, move beyond minimal federal requirements for funding eligibility and program standards, and invest in higher education and data collection infrastructure. Across five essential policy areas, the Early Childhood Workforce Index examines state-level policies that can spur progress on the status and well-being of early childhood educators:

Qualifications and educational supports: Policies and pathways that provide consistent standards and support for educators to achieve higher education.
Work environment standards: Standards and funding to make sure ECE programs can provide safe and supportive work environments for early educators.
Compensation and financial relief strategies: Initiatives and investments to ensure compensation is commensurate with that of a skilled professional, accounting for the educator’s qualifications, expertise, and experience.
Workforce data: State-level collection and use of key data on the size, characteristics, and working conditions of the ECE workforce.
Public funding: Public investment in the ECE workforce and broader ECE system.

Figure 3.1.

Five Policy Areas to Improve Early Childhood Educator Jobs

Image of all 5 key policy icons: Qualifications and Educational Supports, Work Environments, Compensation and Financial Relief, Workforce Data, Public Funding

There is no single ingredient to reform. The five policy areas combine to benefit children, families, and early educators, as well as society as a whole. Each of the five essential areas of early childhood workforce policy must work together to produce the guidance and resources needed to appropriately prepare, support, and compensate early educators. Adequate preparation is necessary for teachers to develop the skills required to provide high-quality learning experiences for children, while work environment standards are needed to ensure educator reflection, development, and well-being. Similarly, appropriate compensation is indispensable for recruiting and retaining skilled educators. Making progress in each area of preparation, support, and compensation also requires solid foundations for policymaking: quality, comprehensive workforce data and sufficient public funding. A state that fails to move forward in one of these five essential areas will struggle to fully advance the others.

Broader social and labor policies outside the sector continue to be important levers for transforming the quality of ECE jobs. Increases in the minimum wage, paid sick days, and paid family leave can improve early educators’ economic security and well-being.³ Additionally, broad-based coalitions that call for investment in worker and family well-being can support reform of the early care and education system.

An educator showing an image from a book to a group of children.

How the Early Childhood Workforce Index Assesses States Across the Five Policy Areas

In each of the five policy areas, the Early Childhood Workforce Index assesses states based on measurable policy indicators that represent state-level opportunities to enhance the lives of the many children and adults affected by ECE employment conditions. To summarize overall state action in each policy area, states are assigned to one of three tiers, based on their performance on the indicators:

Stalled: The state is making limited or no progress;
Edging Forward: The state is making partial progress; or
Making Headway: The state is taking action and advancing promising policies.

For more information about each of the indicators and the data sources used, see Appendix 1: Data Sources & Methodology.

State Progress Across Five Essential Policy Areas

The majority of states were appraised as stalled or edging forward across early childhood educator workforce policy categories related to qualifications, work environments, compensation, and public funding (see Figure 3.2), as was the case in 2020. Workforce data remains the strongest area, with 31 states making headway: nearly all states have implemented workforce registries and/or workforce surveys to understand the size and characteristics of the ECE workforce. No states are making headway in all five policy areas (see Figure 3.3). Only seven states (California, Michigan, Nebraska, North Carolina, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin) and the District of Columbia are making headway in two policy areas.

Despite this overall assessment, there have been meaningful advances since 2020. Federal pandemic relief funding enabled most states to take new actions to better support the workforce. Bright spots include:

Qualifications and Educational Supports

Washington State made standout progress on their minimum qualification requirements by changing their licensing rules to require an initial ECE certificate or equivalent, like the CDA credential, as a minimum for all early educators to work in center- or home-based programs. This change is an important move toward more consistent requirements for early educators, and crucially, the state is providing financial support for educators to meet the new requirement.
Fourteen states added new scholarship programs since 2020 (Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Vermont). Many states used pandemic relief funding to bolster, expand, and/or maintain scholarship programs, but with these funds discontinuing in 2024, the impact of their loss remains to be seen.

Work Environment Standards

While there has been little change in how states are addressing work environments in their Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS), some are pursuing other ways to improve educator work environments.

States like Indiana, Minnesota, Washington, and Wisconsin are turning to the Model Work Standards⁴ to guide their thinking and planning about what early educator work environments should look like.

Compensation and Financial Relief Strategies

The District of Columbia earned the first and only assessment of making headway in this policy area. The most significant advancement in early educator compensation occurred with the implementation of the District’s Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund,⁵ in which dedicated local funding from a wealth tax is being used for grants to ECE programs to meet minimum salaries aligned with the District’s public school salary scale. The District’s HealthCare4ChildCare⁶ program also provides free and reduced-price health insurance premiums for early educators working in licensed child care programs.
California became the first state in the nation to offer a retirement fund⁷ for early educators, through a contract negotiated by the Child Care Providers United (CCPU) union.
Thirteen states (Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington) and the District of Columbia have developed salary scales. The scales have been actively implemented in the District and are being piloted in Arizona. Illinois has been piloting their scale and is now implementing a minimum required wage, or “wage floor,” through their Smart Start Workforce Grants.⁸
Notably, many states temporarily advanced compensation or financial relief for the early educator workforce using pandemic relief funding that expired between 2021 and 2023 (see Appendix Table 3.8).

Workforce Data

As states continue to invest in workforce registries and workforce surveys, there are now 31 states making headway, more than in any previous edition of the Index.

Public Funding

Some states are pointing the way toward a public system of early care and education for all children birth to five with substantial new state investments, such as Vermont’s payroll tax⁹ or New Mexico’s Early Childhood Education and Care Fund.¹⁰
Several states improved their assessment related to public funding since the 2020 Index. This progress is most likely influenced by pandemic-era funding: 12 additional states reported extra CCDF spending during 2018-2020, compared with previous years, with the majority doing so in 2020 when CARES Act funding became available.

Despite progress with pandemic relief funds, efforts to prepare, support, and compensate early educators continue to be sidelined and underfunded. With the expiration of ARPA funding, it is imperative that state leaders step up, not back, for the ECE workforce.

Figure 3.2.

Number of States Making Progress Across Five Policy Areas

Figure 3.3.

Number of States Making Headway in the Five Policy Areas

Table 3.1.

Overview of ECE Workforce Policy Progress, By State, 2024

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Next Section: Pandemic Relief Funding

State Policies to Improve Early Childhood Educator Jobs