Equitable Access Workgroup Recommendation A Refundable Tax Credit for the Early Care and Education Workforce.
Past Recommendation: Quality Grants for Achieving and Sustaining Higher Ratings Double the number of children in high quality child care programs rated 4 or 5 Star under YoungStar. 2016 Recommendation Grants for Achieving Higher Star Ratings Grants for Sustaining Higher Star Ratings $10 Million Investment Requested
Current Recommendation: A Refundable Tax Credit for the Early Care and Education Workforce Provide hardworking Wisconsinites in the early care and education (ECE) industry with a tax credit which would promote high quality child care. ◦ Refundable ◦ Goes directly to the (ECE) workforce ◦ Targets those working in YoungStar programs ◦ Tied to individual educational qualifications
Urgency: The Early Care and Education Industry is in Crisis “A teacher with an Associate Degree in Early Childhood Education can expect to start at $10.00 per hour and will rarely make more than $13.00 – Turnover is compared to $18.57 per hour for others in the state workforce who hold an associate degree. occurring at a The gap for a bachelor’s degree is even larger.” (Wisconsin’s Child Care Workforce, 2016) rate of 36%
Evidence: This Approach Works “By laying the crucial groundwork for tomorrow’s workforce and supporting a strong workforce today, high- quality childcare builds our nation’s human capital two generations at a time.” (Workforce of Today, Workforce of Tomorrow Report) & Economic Development School Readiness
“Because the child A Strong Foundation to Build From care industry is composed of largely of small YoungStar: WI has invested in high quality early care and education through YoungStar - More than 75% of regulated programs businesses, it participate. makes sense to use Well-Educated: 52% of the child care workforce has at least an tax credits as a way Associate Degree or higher (Wisconsin’s Child Care Workforce, 2016), but wages and benefits remain well below others with similar degree for the government levels. to invest in The Registry : WI has a well-developed system for verifying economic educational achievements of the early care and education workforce. development.” Tax Credits: WI has extensive experience with tax credits. (Giving Credit Where It’s Due Report)
Family Support Workgroup Recommendation Expand evidence-based home visiting services to families in underserved communities.
Family Foundations Home Visiting 1,477 families served in 2017 31 counties and 5 tribes Only 2% of eligible families are receiving services, based on income eligibility requirements alone
Impact Improved parenting skills Stronger parent-child relationships Support for early brain development and school readiness Connections to other resources and support Proven return on investment Evidence PEW Charitable Trust Study: Reduced health care costs, less need for specialized education services and increased family self-sufficiency Numerous model-specific cost-benefit analyses Family Foundations Program Annual Report
Work Started DCF infrastructure Established Federal MIECHV partnership Workforce training system Continuous Quality Improvement Program evaluation partnership with UW-Milwaukee Feasibility • Strong bipartisan support and awareness • Opportunity to build on last state budget increase
Expulsion Workgroup Recommendation Establish a trauma-informed infant and early childhood workforce.
Establish a trauma-informed infant and early childhood workforce Create infant and early childhood trauma-informed care (TIC) learning communities for workforce Use existing infrastructures built by the DPI and Fostering Futures Embed coaching provided by infant/early childhood mental health consultants Resulting in a reduction in expulsions from early care and education settings and enhancement of all children’s social and emotional development
Impact/Rationale/Evidence Expulsion Data: • Preschool expulsion rates are more than three times higher than that of students in kindergarten through 12th grade • Preschool-aged boys are 4 times as likely to be expelled as girls • African American preschoolers represent about 18% of enrollment - 48% have been suspended on multiple occasions. • “Challenging behavior” is the number one reason cited for expulsion Trauma and Expulsion: • Children with challenging behaviors are often expressing the impact of toxic stress and trauma • Behavioral modification strategies are largely ineffective and often contraindicated for children with trauma histories • Once expelled, the child and family may experience feelings of loss, abandonment, and distrust making the next child placement more challenging Trauma Informed Care and Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation: • TIC environment builds caregiver relational capabilities which leads to stable, responsive environments and healing relationships for children • Preschool teachers who have access to ongoing mental health consultation are about half as likely to report expelling a preschooler as teachers without such support • Child care centers receiving consultation increases teacher-child positive interactions – a strong predictor of child care quality
Benefits Benefits to the child: • Identification (early) of adversity, trauma, and/or developmental needs • Reduction of disproportional expulsion rates • Increased adult capacity to teach and model emotional regulation skills • Increased opportunity for child and family to sustain and build on TIC learning through a continuum of consistent TIC support across early care and educational settings Benefits to the family: • Reduction of caregiver feelings of shame and blame • Increased parental/caregiver confidence in child and early care environment leading • Increased parent/caregiver’s ability to maintain employment as child is in a stable, responsive care center Community and state: • Increased state and community momentum and synergy in TIC transformation • Increased cost savings due to long term reduction in public care costs such as medical care, law enforcement, youth justice, special education, etc. • Increased healthy, productive workforce
PROBABILITY/FEASIBILITY Timing: Aligns with the executive and legislative branches support of children’s mental health and trauma - informed initiatives Would be supported by multi-year technical assistance grant from the National Center of Excellence for Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) Resources: Fourteen clinicians across Wisconsin hold Infant Mental Health Endorsement Fostering Futures has an existing TIC learning community infrastructure serving two tribal nations and twenty-two county health and human service departments WI Dept. of Public Instruction (DPI) has an existing infrastructure to support Trauma Sensitive Schools and multiple school participation across the state Geographic readiness: The learning communities would target child care centers located where there are local infant mental health consultants, Fostering Futures’ TIC learning communities, and/or, DPI Trauma Sensitive School activities.
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