The first of its kind in the country, Mayor London Breed announced a landmark pay raise initiative for early childhood educators on Thursday.
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Part of the San Francisco Office of Early Care and Education (OECE), the new initiative will invest up to $60 million annually to improve salaries and benefits for the more than 2,000 early educators employed by the city, according to a Thursday press release.
These educators work in programs that take care of more than 6,500 children up to age 5 every year, and with this new investment, each educator's salary will increase anywhere from $8,000 to $30,000 annually.
"San Francisco needs to do more to support children and families, and that includes attracting and retaining the early educators who do the critical work of caring for our youngest," said Breed in the release. "We know early childhood experiences lay the groundwork for later success in academics and beyond."
The goal is to ensure that by 2025, the city's early childhood educators will make a living wage of no less than $28 an hour.
"When early educators are fairly compensated and have the resources they need, children thrive," Ingrid Mezquita, Executive Director of OECE, said in the release. "For too long, society has undervalued the critical role of early educators, a workforce primarily comprised of women of color. Increasing wages for early educators will ensure that the people who care for our youngest children can continue to provide them with high-quality care and education."
The funds for the initiative have been gathered from a commercial rent tax approved by voters in 2018.
Along with an increase in wages, the funds will also be allocated to improving workplace conditions at the city’s various childcare centers. The program also aims to expand subsidized enrollment in childcare centers to help working and middle-class families.
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