Bill > S0239

This bill directs the departments of human services and education to collaborate on sustaining and strengthening workforce development and compensation programs for early childhood educators in licensed child care and early learning programs. The bill highlights the critical importance of early childhood educators by referencing survey data showing that many earn low wages (around $13.97 per hour) and struggle to meet basic needs, with many considering leaving the profession. To address these challenges, the bill mandates several key actions: continuing the Rhode Island T.E.A.C.H. scholarship program to support credential and degree attainment, maintaining registered apprenticeship programs for early educators, allocating at least $2.5 million to the Child Care WAGE$ program to provide education-based salary supplements, and establishing a quarterly $750 retention bonus for eligible educators working directly with children who earn $23 per hour or less and have been with the same employer for at least 12 months. The bill's broader purpose is to recognize the essential role of early educators in child development and create more sustainable career pathways in the early childhood education sector.

Education

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