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Final report of the Early Childhood Educator Equitable Compensation Task Force

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Author: 
Early Educator Equitable Compensation Task Force
Format: 
Report
Publication Date: 
23 Mar 2022

Excerpted from executive summary

The Early Educator Equitable Compensation Task Force (referred to throughout as the Task Force) had its
first meeting on October 14, 2021 and is pleased to provide its final set of recommendations in this
report. These recommendations reflect the expert input of the fourteen Task Force members, each of whom also brought the perspectives of their respective networks of interested stakeholders. The report also benefits from public testimony provided as part of a December 11th Roundtable hosted by the Task Force and from conversations with and the written work of a wide range of researchers and practitioners.

Note regarding this report
This report is the second and final report the Task Force is submitting to the Mayor and Council, thereby completing our charge. Our first report, submitted on January 14th, 2022, focused particularly on the more time-sensitive recommendations related to the short-term mechanism for delivering Pay Equity Fund (PEF) resources to educators, starting in the current fiscal year. The Council used the recommendations from that initial report to provide OSSE with the necessary authorities to begin work on the short-term mechanism of direct-to-educator pay supplements. This report builds on our January submission, further fleshing out recommendations related to the long-term mechanism for
implementing the Pay Equity Fund.

Background and guiding principles
The Task Force sought to put in context the bold objectives of the Pay Equity Fund, which builds on D.C.’s national leadership on universal Pre-K, and has its legislative foundation in the Birth-to-Three Act. What the District is embarking on with the Pay Equity Fund, with its focus on compensation equity for early educators working with infants and toddlers (along with PK aged children) in child development homes and centers, is once again groundbreaking. It is also a complex endeavor. Understanding that it will be necessary to make dozens of consequential decisions about the design and implementation of this compensation effort, the Task Force established a set of principles to guide not only our own work, but
also the ongoing work of OSSE and its partners well beyond the life of the Task Force.

Topline recommendations regarding administering the Pay Equity Fund
The Task Force recommends one relatively simple short-term funding delivery mechanism that gets supplemental payments to eligible early educators in the current fiscal year, and a more complex and robust long-term mechanism, which would include implementation of a new salary scale. The chart on the following page summarizes this two-phase strategy.

The report that follows provides additional detail about these two recommended funding mechanisms, including a definition of educator eligibility for compensation funds, and a proposed salary scale that takes into account role, credential, and experience. It also includes priorities for accountability and oversight, and anticipated program and administrative costs for the long-term mechanism. Also of particular note is the section identifying potential risks and unintended consequences, along with potential mitigation strategies. We hope that going in with eyes open about these potential risks will
make for wiser design decisions along the way.

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