[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 479 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]


109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 479

  Supporting the goals and ideas of a National Child Care Worthy Wage 
                                  Day.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 15, 2006

 Mr. Menendez (for himself, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. Feingold, Mrs. Boxer, 
 Mr. Kerry, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Bingaman, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Inouye, and Mr. 
  Dodd) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and 
                               agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Supporting the goals and ideas of a National Child Care Worthy Wage 
                                  Day.

Whereas approximately 13,000,000 children are in nonparental care during part or 
        all of the day while their parents work;
Whereas the early care and education industry employs more than 2,000,000 
        workers;
Whereas these workers indirectly add $580,000,000,000 to the economy by enabling 
        millions of parents to perform their own jobs;
Whereas the average salary of early care and education workers is $18,060 per 
        year, and only \1/3\ have health insurance and even fewer have a pension 
        plan;
Whereas the quality of early care and education programs is directly linked to 
        the quality of early childhood educators;
Whereas the turnover rate of early childhood program staff is roughly 30 percent 
        per year, and low wages and lack of benefits, among other factors, make 
        it difficult to retain high quality educators who have the consistent, 
        caring relationships with young children that are important to 
        children's development;
Whereas the compensation of early childhood program staff should be commensurate 
        with the importance of the job of helping the young children of the 
        Nation develop their social, emotional, physical, and intellectual 
        skills, and be ready for school;
Whereas providing adequate compensation to early childhood program staff should 
        be a priority, and resources may be allocated to improve the 
        compensation of early childhood educators to ensure that quality care 
        and education are accessible for all families;
Whereas additional training and education for the child care workforce is 
        critical to ensuring high-quality early learning environments, and 
        whereas child care workers should receive compensation commensurate with 
        such training and experience; and
Whereas the Center for the Child Care Workforce, A Project of the American 
        Federation of Teachers Educational Foundation and other early childhood 
        organizations recognized May 1 as National Child Care Worthy Wage Day: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) designates May 1, 2006, as National Child Care Worthy 
        Wage Day, and
            (2) calls on the people of the United States to observe 
        National Child Care Worthy Wage Day by honoring early childhood 
        care and education staff and programs in their communities.
                                 <all>