ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

What has affected my program the most is the economy. I had to raise my rates in January to keep up with the rising costs of....well absolutely everything, and I've already lost one family that was with me for a long time. I can understand what they are going thru but I also need to be able to continue offering a High Quality program to their children. That is something I will absolutely not budge on. So the economy is the biggest threat to my program.

I feel that there is a huge tug of war between what parents are willing to pay vs educational requirements expected for the teachers.

I agree with Margo. For years we have been advocating for early childhood education and for our teachers wages, but now that federal money is available for K3 & K4 it is now public school domain. How did that happen? We accepted lower than public school wages and benefits for years because we believe in what we are doing and this is how we are thanked? Now, with NCLB schools are focused on scores, not children, ranking, not families. Parents cannot afford to pay any more than they already do, half day K3 & K4 will not solve the problem of all day childcare for families, isn't there anyone to advocate for us and for the families?

It is a difficult time for ECE. Those of us who have worked in the field for many years have always known the tremendous, life-long impact of high quality early education and care. But being "discovered" by the public policy wonks is a double edged sword. For the first time, early care and education has more access to funds then ever before, but accessing that money comes at a grave price. In order to recieve the funds, programs often have to accept oversight, often by bureaucrats with little or no background in what quality looks like for our youngest children. Instead of the focus being on individual children's strength and needs, the focus has changed to who produces the best paper documentation. Instead of focusing on hands-on, process-oriented, learning though actual experiences , it seems we are moving toward state approved, pre-scripted, purchased curriculums, that often have nothing to do with the children's actual lives or their individual strengths or needs. The beauty of this profession for me, the thing that drew me to it 35 years ago, was it's focus on children's uniqueness. But I am afraid we are moving toward a one size filts all educational system for young children.