The Build Back Better Act is a Critical Step Forward for Education

The Council for Professional Recognition applauds the critical investments in early care and education included in the Build Back Better Act.  This historic move will help children return to stable, developmentally appropriate, high-quality care, and help parents, particularly moms, return to the workforce.

The Build Back Better Act will make quality child care more affordable for American families.  It also provides long overdue and desperately needed increases in wages for professionals in a field plagued by workforce shortages. For far too long, child care workers facing low salaries and poor benefits have struggled to achieve financial stability and to find child care for their own children.  This legislation will ensure that child care workers in programs funded by the Build Back Better Act are paid salaries commensurate with public school teachers in their state who have comparable qualifications and experience.

The pandemic has had a particularly devastating impact on the early childhood workforce, and the ripple effects are being felt throughout the larger economy as parents search in vain for reliable, quality child care for their young children. The Council advances the careers of early childhood educators and is eager to continue and expand equitable access to its Child Development Associate® credential through affordable online coursework, academic preparation, and practical mentorships available in every community in the country.

This pandemic has underscored that without access to quality child care and education, families suffer, and children fall behind.  The Council urges Congress to pass this vital legislation without delay.

The Council for Professional Recognition is the non-profit administrator of the Child Development Associate® credential, the most widely-known and valued credential in early childhood education.