III 109th CONGRESS 2d Session S. RES. 479 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

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.