On Friday, the US Department of Health and Human Services released a new Head Start Final Rule, Supporting the Head Start Workforce and Consistent Quality Programming. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) applauds this effort by the Office of Head Start to prioritize increased compensation, benefits, and mental health supports to advance the well-being of children and adults in the Head Start program.  

For nearly 100 years, and in partnership with approximately 60,000 members representing early childhood educators, advocates, and allies across the country, NAEYC’s mission has been to promote high-quality early learning for each and every child, birth through age 8, and advance a diverse, dynamic early childhood education profession. As such, we recognize the importance of this Final Rule and how it will strengthen the Head Start workforce while acknowledging the central role that qualified, supported, and compensated early educators play in providing high-quality care and education for young children. 

As the leading national professional association with members from all states and settings within the early childhood education field, NAEYC appreciates the attention the Administration for Children and Families’ proposed changes pay both to the critical role that highly qualified educators play in supporting young children’s development and to the link between educator compensation and quality. We know that young children thrive in a variety of care settings when they are supported by highly qualified early educators who understand the complex, rigorous, and rewarding work that goes into developmentally appropriate practice. We also know that, too often, the professionals and educators doing this work are severely underpaid compared to their similarly qualified peers serving older children and in other professions. Fair compensation—including access to health care, retirement, and other benefits and recognizing the value and complexity of the work early educators do—is critical to the growth and retention of the qualified early education workforce that helps children and families thrive. 

It is well documented that Head Start has faced challenges in recruiting and retaining qualified staff. In these studies and those conducted by NAEYC, educators consistently cite more competitive wages as the factor that would most help keep them in the field.  The Final Rule addresses these issues by Increasing wages to align with preschool teachers in public school settings; improving benefits for Head Start staff, including health insurance, paid leave, and enhanced staff health and wellness supports; and providing flexibility to small Head Start agencies on wage and benefit requirements to ensure that they can both increase compensation and continue to serve children within limited budgets. 

We also commend the Office of Head Start for building in flexibility and an extended timeline for implementation of these requirements in response to the need for Congressional action on appropriations, recognizing that without new investments, some programs will struggle to fairly increase staff compensation. 

We are pleased to see that the Final Rule incorporates many components that NAEYC has long championed, including the development of a salary scale and/or pay structure that provides competitive wages for all staff positions and considers responsibilities, qualifications, experience, and schedule or hours worked. The Final Rule also requires that programs adopt pay parity for educators on par with public schools, giving those teachers the recognition and compensation they deserve. 

The Final Rule also recognizes the importance of staff wellness and balances new requirements to ensure staff have regular breaks and supports while recognizing program autonomy and the unique design of each Head Start program as it responds to the need of the community it serves. 

The challenges facing the Head Start workforce related to low compensation and lack of benefits, and the resulting high levels of stress and turnover, are reflective of a broader crisis in our child care and early learning systems. As the nation’s leading publicly financed early childhood program, however, Head Start can serve as a model for the broader early childhood ecosystem by demonstrating the positive individual, programmatic, and societal benefits that accrue when compensating early educators more in line with the value of the complex work they do. As such, NAEYC is excited to work with the Head Start and child care communities to fully implement this Final Rule.