Lehigh Valley officials, leaders call for increased child care and early education funding to address worker shortage

Lehigh Valley officials and community leaders are calling for increased funding for early child care and pre-kindergarten education to address a worker shortage exacerbated by the pandemic.

Lehigh Valley Children’s Centers hosted a discussion Thursday at one of its Allentown locations in partnership with Pre-K for PA and Start Strong PA Campaigns to urge state policymakers to provide an additional $115 million in state and federal child care funding in the 2022-23 Pennsylvania budget. The money would increase the hourly wages of child care workers by $2. Right now, the average child care worker makes less than $11 an hour.

Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed budget would keep child care services and assistance funding flat for the third year in a row.

“The workforce marketplace has changed dramatically,” said State Rep. Peter Schweyer at the talk, noting the impacts of the pandemic on the economy. “We have to be competitive, and we have to acknowledge that it’s the commonwealth’s responsibility to do that.”

Schweyer said the state should not use federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to increase child care workers’ pay because this funding is not guaranteed in the future. Instead, the sector needs sustained financial investment from the state, he said.

Charles Dinofrio, president and CEO of Lehigh Valley Children’s Centers, said the organization has suffered staff shortages because workers are more easily able to seek higher wages elsewhere since the pandemic.

“It was just burnout, not enough pay and not enough time to themselves,” he said of staff leaving. “When you’re working in childcare. . . it’s 365 days every year, and it’s nonstop.”

The centers have programs for infants and children up to 12 years old.

Prior to the pandemic, Lehigh Valley Children’s Centers had about 15 open staff positions at 34 locations in Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties. Now there are about 50 open positions, Dinofrio said.

LVCC’s nursery at William Allen High School for the children of students was closed due to the staff shortage, he said.

Before the pandemic, LVCC served 1,400 children, but due to loss of staff, the centers now only serve 1,100. There are more than 300 children on the centers’ waitlists.

These statistics fall in line with state trends. According to a March survey from Start Strong PA, 91% of Pennsylvania’s 994 child care programs reported having staffing shortages because of low wages and a lack of benefits. This has left more than 32,000 children on waitlists.

Don Bernhard, executive director of the Downtown Allentown Community Development Initiative, said if the state makes investments in the child care sector there will be positive ripple effects on the economy.

“This isn’t purely philanthropic,” Bernhard said. “There’s a return on this, and the return comes in the form of how many more workers you’re going to put back to work.”

He referenced a 2021 report by the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry that found 54% of employers believe they lost employees during the pandemic because of inadequate child care access.

Panel members also voiced support for Wolf’s $70 million increase for pre-K line items to provide services to more than 2,300 additional children and address rising costs to providers.

“Community support for children in need, especially on the education side, is important and the result is good citizens,” said Jeffrey Dimmig, Lehigh County chief deputy district attorney and Southern Lehigh school board member.

State lawmakers must make budget deal by June 30.

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