Poverty and The Early Childhood Educator: My Story
Ed. note: today’s post is the first in a week-long series of blog posts on the early childhood education work force – a series we are running in honor of Worthy Wage Day, which we celebrate this year on Friday, May 1.
We attribute many stereotypes to “those in need”: jobless, maybe homeless, lazy, struggling, etc. I would be surprised if a tidy-looking, professional person was the image that popped into your head at the mention of this phrase. However, the reality of many early educators is just that: In need. I am one of those in need, and I never thought I’d be able to actually admit it.
What could we possibly be in need of, you might ask? The picture of an educator can also be so stereotypical! A woman, right? And one in professional attire, who only has to work like 6 hours a day, who doesn’t even have the children in their classroom the entire time due to library and gym, etc., who has summers off and let’s face it, doesn’t really deserve to earn as much a doctor or lawyer or engineer, right? Oh, so wrong!
I encourage every teacher from early education through elementary, middle and high school and even higher education to push back against anyone who says we don’t deserve a living wage. We need to help them think differently. We are the professionals who nurture the doctors and lawyers, who set them on the path for success, as we work with their families and communities to create thinkers. Our job is to improve the lives of children who will soon become our leaders and professionals. Many educators can tell a personal story of struggle or can think of a colleague who is struggling to make ends meet. Here is my story:
I graduated with a master’s degree in teaching in 2012. That same year, I was laid off from my job teaching pre-K in a public school. I began applying for jobs. There were over 100 applicants per job for the K-3 positions I was interviewing for in the public school system.. I was scared that I wouldn’t even get an interview.
My mother ran a home-based child care center my whole life. I never planned to follow in her footsteps so closely, but I knew that families in our town desperately needed quality early education, so within a month’s time I had found 6 families to fill my new program and quickly transitioned from public school to working on my own by opening a home-based child care program. Being my own boss came with one truly terrifying downside: I went from making $36,000 a year as a public school teacher to having an adjusted gross income of just over $18,000 in 2013!
I have since had to expand and now run a licensed home program with another teacher, who also has her master’s and her Vermont teaching license. We run a multi-age preschool program and participate in public pre-k partnerships through a grant-based program run by the state. We plan and implement a variety of curricula and observe and track the children through a state-mandated data program.
We work more than nine hours a day with nine children, and we do it all covered in boogers, food, paint, and other substance best left to the imagination. There is no more dressing up to teach,- instead, we’re teaching children how to dress! It’s a messy job, but also rewarding. It’s fun to watch the world through the eyes of innocent children as they explore and learn about so many things in so many ways.
I am only able to offer this over-qualified teacher $12/hour, leaving me to support a family of four with an adjusted gross income of just over $20,000. We’ve have functioned as a family of four on my single salary while my husband has been finishing his degree. We’ve been fortunate enough to make ends meet, but not without jumping through hoops, and relying on Vermont Medicaid.. I used to be ashamed to talk about my health insurance, but I think it’s important for people to realize the economic reality of early childhood educators.
The fact of the matter is, I am proud to call myself an early educator. I love what I do; changing children’s and family’s lives for the better by working collaboratively to brighten our future through the next generations. Unfortunately, in the country we live in today, being an early educator (or any educator in general) isn’t viewed as a valuable career – or much of a career at all. Politicians pay lip service to the value of education, but there is no money where their mouths are. Many public school teachers make just enough to make ends meet, and many early educators make poverty-level wages. It’s time to stand up and make our voices heard to make teaching a middle-class career that can support a family again.Poverty and The Early Childhood Educator: My Story | Voices from the Classroom: