As holidays approach during an extra stressful year, families with young children are no doubt extra grateful for the childcare providers in their lives. The local industry has adapted mightily to help kids and families, and the Delaware Early Childhood Council is responding to the times with its new strategic plan. The plan celebrates progress in early learning, but outlines the important work ahead. Below are five takeaways from the plan that highlight the Council’s desire to build on the progress made and continue to improve early learning in Delaware.

1. We’ve Come a Long Way

Since the first Delaware Early Childhood Council strategic plan in 2008, Delaware has made key improvements in early learning.

Investments in the quality of childcare programs and the workforce include:

• Increased access to high quality programs for children ages 0-3
• The expansion of pipelines, pathways, and scholarships for pre-service early learning teachers
• Resources for the early learning workforce to support retention and finances.

Developments in wrap-around, holistic services include:

• Wide expansion of developmental screenings for all families with children ages 0-5
• Integrated pediatric well-visits that focus on wrap-around supports for children ages 0-5
• A more coordinated effort to scale mental health services and screenings for children

Improvements in early learning and system-wide alignment include:

• Some consolidation of governance to streamline information for families and providers
• Investments in quality care through increased Purchase of Care subsidy rates
• Increased access to information with the launch of a resource portal and kindergarten readiness campaign

2. Early Learning is an Equity Issue

We know that when a child participates in early learning opportunities, they are more likely to thrive in school and in future endeavors. We also know that despite progress in the field, Delaware still faces significant challenges. Only about ½ to 2/3 of students enter kindergarten with the skills they need to succeed, such as literacy, math, and social emotional skills. That correlates with the fact that half of all Delaware 4-year-olds have no formal pre-K before entering kindergarten.

Geographic barriers create obstacles for families looking for quality childcare for their child. Childcare deserts exist where programs aren’t readily accessible across the state. For example, Sussex and Kent counties have almost half of Delaware’s birth through five population but only 38 percent of childcare programs.

Hours of service and age groups served at childcare facilities also pose problems for families with only three percent of childcare centers offering extended hours and only 77 percent of programs accepting infants under one year old.

Families also continue to have limited, insufficient access to holistic services across the state. Children with disabilities can wait up to three months for services due to an insufficient amount of service providers and lack of coordination. This barrier not only creates confusion for families, but could delay interventions, resources, and supports that students with disabilities require early on. Families who need dual language services will also experience delays in the process. For example, only 13-20 percent of programs employ staff who speak Spanish.

3. Families and Providers in Crisis

Even before COVID-19 and the financial hardships it brought, childcare in Delaware was restrictively expensive. Childcare for one child takes up approximately 20 percent of the median family income, or around $13,000 per year per child. State investments in Purchase of Care (POC), a subsidy that helps low-income families access high quality childcare, are helpful, but POC doesn’t come close to covering the true cost of care. The strategic plan highlights that parents who take higher paying jobs are penalized because they no longer qualify for POC but still have significant child care expenses.

The pandemic has increased challenges for families and childcare providers. Families are extra stressed balancing work, family demands, and childcare in a new way. The strategic plan states forty percent of employers are concerned that some employees will not fully return back to work because of childcare needs. Parents need reliable childcare to keep their jobs and many have expressed their concern that without open childcare facilities, children would lack social interaction and be unproductive at home.

Since March, many childcare facilities have closed or severely limited their capacity. Childcare providers’ expenses have also gone up 40 percent while enrollment is down 50 percent. To help childcare facilities survive, the government issued enhanced reimbursements through Federal CARES funding and will continue until the end of December. Many childcare providers and advocates are urging Governor Carney to continue enhanced reimbursements into 2021 in order to keep their doors open, continue to serve kids, and keep costs down for families.

4. Supporting the Workforce is a Dire Need

Central to high-quality early learning are talented, well-compensated teachers and leaders. Currently in Delaware, early childhood care and education professionals receive poor compensation and lack benefits, especially when compared to their K-12 counterparts. The average annual salary in Delaware for a pre-K teacher is $29,000, while the average salary for a kindergarten teacher comes in at $60,000.

About 13 percent of the early learning workforce maintain a second job to supplement their income and only 40 percent have healthcare benefits. In terms of professional development and training, only 61 percent of early childhood educators have a high school degree and most have limited training. Once in the profession, the support system is inconsistent at best with professional development offerings undervalued and inaccessible. In order to support the workforce, there must be an increased investment in compensation so we can pay early learning workers a living wage and retain more early childhood educators.

5. Bold Next Steps

Delaware must continue to sustain and grow investment in early childhood education and childcare. All families and children deserve access to holistic services and high-quality early learning while the profession deserves fair pay and professional support. The Early Childhood Council recommends a well-resourced, integrated early childhood system that streamlines information for families, supports the early learning workforce, and provides access to high quality programs and holistic supports for the development and growth of all children. To accomplish this, the plan outlines many actionable recommendations for next steps. Highlights include:

• Offer community-based mental health services and supports for all birth-8 children and their families, including integrating into pediatric well visits.
• Expand availability of high-quality services for children with disabilities and develop supports for families of dual language learners, including translation services.
• Increase state investment to reimburse all programs based on the cost of quality care.
• Simplify the number and increase the quality standards through the Stars Quality Rating and Improvement System and require publicly funded programs to reach a minimum level of quality.
• Invest in universal, mixed delivery pre-K for all three- and four-year olds and invest in extended hours and flexible models for childcare.
• Develop and expand existing pipelines to the profession and establish partnerships to offer professional development across systems.
• Increase compensation of early childhood professionals to K-12 educator levels and offer benefits such as healthcare and paid time off in tandem with increased qualification requirements overtime with support.

As has been widely reported, a settlement was announced last month in the ongoing lawsuit over Delaware’s school funding system. The agreement was reached between Delaware and civil rights groups Delawareans for Educational Opportunity and the NAACP of Delaware.

What does it all mean? Here’s how the settlement could impact the state legislature, state budget picture, and advocate reactions.

What does the settlement do?

The settlement requires specific commitments to invest in education over the next few years. While you can view the full agreement here, highlights include:

• Opportunity Funding: The settlement focuses on Opportunity Funding, an investment that Governor Carney first proposed and the legislature approved in 2018. Opportunity Funding provides schools with additional money for English learners and students who are from low-income families. The settlement proposes that Opportunity Funding become permanent and more than double resources to $60 million annually by the 2024-25 school year. The funding would grow to:
  • $35 million per year for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years
  • $50 million for the 2023-24 school year
  • $60 million for the 2024-25 school year
  • Following the 2024-25 school year, the amount would increase with enrollment of low-income students and English learners

The resources will be allocated to schools serving English learners and low-income students. Additionally, $5 million of the funds will be used for mental health and reading supports in schools with high concentrations of English learners and low-income students.

• Assessment of Current School Finance System: The proposal requires that the state hire an independent organization to conduct an assessment of the current public school funding system by January 2024.
• Investment in Early Learning: The agreement also proposes to double the Early Childhood Assistance Program funding to $12.2 million annually for Fiscal Years 2024 and 2025. This program is currently the state pre-K program for three- and four-year-olds in Delaware.
• Investment in K-3 Special Education: Beginning the 2023-24 school year, funding for basic special education students in K-third grade must equal funding currently in place for special education students in grades four through 12.
• Investment in Teacher Recruitment: Beginning in the 2022-23 school year, there will be an annual investment of $4 million to support teacher recruitment and retention practices and efforts in high-needs schools.

What comes next?

In order for the settlement to be official, the Delaware legislature must approve it. This means that Gov. Carney will likely introduce legislation for the General Assembly to review when session begins in January.

The good news? Delaware could be facing a projected budget surplus of $149 million if current assumptions stand. According to the most recent Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council (DEFAC) meeting, state most revenue sources are stable as of October. While much uncertainty surrounded the state budget in early spring, DEFAC has a more positive outlook now that more is known, though the group will continue to monitor revenue projections. Stakeholders remain hopeful that the legislature will back the proposal and agree to invest desperately needed resources for students.

School funding is an issue that the legislature has studied and debated over years, and the settlement presents an opportunity for returning and new legislators alike to make change. Six of the newly elected members of the General Assembly ran on platforms that highlighted funding equity as a core education issue in Delaware. The 151^st General Assembly will also be a younger, more diverse legislature—one that reflects the growing diversity of the student population and features many legislators who bring the perspective of an educator and/or parent.

How are advocates reacting?

Most can agree that additional funding for students is a good thing. Research supports this. There has also been alignment around the sentiment that the settlement is just the floor. Advocates and experts agree that more work must be done to fully reform Delaware’s funding system in order to better serve all students. The desire to go beyond the settlement and change the funding system is reflected in statements released from advocates in Delaware.

The funding advocacy coalition Education Equity Delaware said that the settlement does not go far enough. They note that “while we are supportive of more money for students with high needs, and recognize this settlement would provide much-needed resources to the students who need it most, this is just the floor.” The organization has been a strong advocate for an equitable funding system, citing Delaware as one of only eight states that funds schools based on adult needs rather than student needs. Delaware’s public education funding system is one of the oldest funding systems in the country making it what the coalition calls, outdated and inefficient.

Jea Street of Delawareans for Educational Opportunity expressed that “while we were not able to get everything we wanted in this settlement, it does provide support for children that is desperately needed in Delaware’s education system.” He also noted that “while this settlement is reasonable today, I must make it clear that the battle for fairness in public school education in Delaware is not over and advocacy for improvement will continue.”

The Redding Consortium for Education Equity applauded the work of the civil rights groups involved and said that the settlement “will make a tangible difference in the lives of our most disadvantaged students.” The statement also emphasized that “targeted funding can help fill some of the gaps in our system of education, but the structural inequities that prompted this case will persist until our General Assembly takes bold action to eliminate them.”

Many early childhood advocates also aspire for more. Currently, per-child funding in pre-K amounts to about 50 percent of K-12 funding. Even with the additional investment of $12 million from the settlement, Delaware would still rank 33^rd in the country by today’s ranking in terms of access. High quality pre-K will take an investment of $14,000-$15,000 investment per child, which is similar to Delaware’s K-12 funding and neighboring states’ pre-K investment. Advocates believe that in order to ensure high-quality pre-K for all children, the state must invest about $160 million total (which could be done gradually over five years, for instance), allowing us to serve 80 percent of four-year-olds.

What can I do?

• Read up on Delaware’s current public education funding system.
• Visit Education Equity Delaware to learn more about Delaware’s school funding system and sign up for their mailing list to stay up to date on school funding news.
• Attend a Redding Consortium for Educational Equity meeting to learn more about funding inequity and recommended solutions in Delaware.
• Attend or submit public comment at the next Delaware Department of Education Office of Management and Budget Ask legislators to adopt the provisions of the settlement and do more students by beginning the transition to a student-centered funding system.