DC Action

When early childhood educators are paid low wages, early learning facilities struggle to recruit and retain staff, straining program operations and making high-quality care harder for families to find. New findings from our study of Washington, DC’s Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund (PEF) suggest that this pioneering initiative to address the substantial pay gap between early childhood educators and public school teachers is a sound public investment. 💸Our latest analysis finds that the program continued to generate benefits that exceeded its costs as it grew and evolved in its third year, with an estimated one-year return on investment of 21%. Owen Schochet, PhD, MPP, director of the study, presented these findings at a recent briefing at DC’s City Hall. The event was sponsored by DC Action and Under 3 DC, and this research was funded by the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative based at the Washington Area Women's Foundation. Read more about this analysis: https://lnkd.in/esEBVEVh 💡Interested in how the PEF is affecting early childhood workforce growth in DC? We explore the program’s three-year labor market impacts in another new report, funded by Klingenstein Philanthropies: https://lnkd.in/eZynm2Sw

Join DCAEYC and DC Action for Main Character Educator: One Educator Changes Everything, a Teacher Appreciation Week celebration honoring the powerful role of early childhood education professionals across Washington, DC. This special evening will bring together educators from center-based and home-based settings for appreciation, connection, food, music, and interactive activities designed to recognize the people who help shape strong beginnings for young children and families every day. Thursday, May 7, 2026 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM West Boardroom, 7th Floor 700 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, Washington, DC 20003 Registration is required. Register here: https://shorturl.at/uRZo3

I’m pleased to share a new working paper from Mathematica’s Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund Impact and Cost Effectiveness Study (PEF Impact): "Jobs in the Balance: The Three-Year Labor Market Impacts of Washington, DC’s Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund" https://lnkd.in/eAUdzB6m Launched in 2022, the PEF is the nation’s first dedicated public funding stream to address pay disparities between child care and early education (CCEE) educators and public school teachers. This working paper evaluates the three-year labor market impacts of the PEF using federal labor market data and a synthetic control design, allowing us to examine outcomes as the program both scaled and evolved. Key findings: ▪️ Through three years, the PEF had statistically significant positive impacts on CCEE employment, with effects emerging shortly after the launch of the program and growing to reach 341 additional educators, or about 11 percent relative to baseline. These findings suggest that the PEF increased labor supply in a sector long characterized by low wages and persistent staffing shortages. ▪️ Impacts on average employer-reported wages remained close to zero when payments were initially delivered directly to educators, but became positive and statistically significant following the shift to a facility payment model that routed program funds through employer payroll to implement a public school-based salary scale. Impacts reached about $9,300 annually (or $179 per week) among all CCEE workers, or roughly $15,000 per year among the estimated share of staff who were eligible for and whose facilities opted into the program. ▪️ Impacts on the number of CCEE establishments were not statistically significant, but grew more negative over time, suggesting that workforce growth occurred primarily within existing establishments. This pattern may reflect facility priorities to fill vacancies and increase staffing, as well as potential wage compression between educators and administrators that may weaken incentives to assume leadership positions or open new businesses. These findings arrive at an important time for decisions about the future of the PEF. As those discussions continue, it is important that they be informed by the growing evidence base on the program’s effectiveness. Learn more about PEF Impact here: https://lnkd.in/exwcA_yE Funding for this study was provided by the Esther A. & Joseph Klingenstein Fund. PEF Impact is supported by the Bezos Family Foundation, Klingenstein Philanthropies, DC Action, and the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative based at the Washington Area Women's Foundation.

“We’ve scored a touchdown and now we’re fumbling the ball,” said Berry. “States like New Mexico and New York are moving in this direction,” he gestured forward with his hands, “and we are moving backwards.” https://lnkd.in/e5FUjQ9F