[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 122 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 122

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the President should designate 
        May 1, 2003, as ``National Child Care Worthy Wage Day''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 29, 2003

   Mr. Corzine (for himself, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Feingold, Mr. 
     Kerry, Mrs. Murray, and Mr. Kennedy) submitted the following 
    resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the Senate that the President should designate 
        May 1, 2003, as ``National Child Care Worthy Wage Day''.

Whereas approximately 14,000,000 children are in out-of-home care during part or 
        all of the day so that their parents may work;
Whereas the average salary of early childhood educators is $16,000 per year, and 
        only one third of these educators have health insurance and even fewer 
        have a pension plan;
Whereas low wages make it difficult to attract qualified individuals to the 
        early childhood education profession and impair the quality of child 
        care and other early childhood education programs, which is directly 
        linked to the quality of early childhood educators;
Whereas the turnover rate of early childhood educators is approximately 30 
        percent per year because low wages and a lack of benefits make it 
        difficult to retain high quality educators;
Whereas research has demonstrated that young children require caring 
        relationships and a consistent presence in their lives for their 
        positive development;
Whereas the compensation of early childhood educators must be commensurate with 
        the important job of helping the young children of the United States 
        develop the social, emotional, physical, and intellectual skills they 
        need to be ready for school;
Whereas the cost of adequate compensation for early childhood educators cannot 
        be funded by further burdening parents with higher child care fees, but 
        requires instead public as well as private resources to ensure that 
        quality care and education is accessible for all families; and
Whereas the Center for the Child Care Workforce and other early childhood 
        education organizations recognize May 1st as National Child Care Worthy 
        Wage Day: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved,

SECTION 1. DESIGNATION OF NATIONAL CHILD CARE WORTHY WAGE DAY.

    (a) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate that the 
President should designate May 1, 2003, as ``National Child Care Worthy 
Wage Day''.
    (b) Proclamation.--The Senate requests the President to issue a 
proclamation--
            (1) designating May 1, 2003, as ``National Child Care 
        Worthy Wage Day''; and
            (2) calling on the people of the United States to observe 
        ``National Child Care Worthy Wage Day'' by--
                    (A) honoring early childhood educators and programs 
                in their communities; and
                    (B) working together to resolve the early childhood 
                educator compensation crisis.
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