This brief explores state-by-state variation in Head Start educator salaries and variation in early care and education policies about combining funds from different sources.

Why This Matters

Early care and education teachers and assistant teachers who receive lower salaries are more likely to leave the early care and education field than those with higher salaries. Low staff salaries are also associated with lower health and well-being outcomes for early care and education teachers and assistant teachers. Policymakers and researchers are considering how to efficiently and effectively fund high-quality early care and education that offers competitive salaries for educators. Studies suggest that by combining a range of funding sources, programs can offer higher salaries.

What We Found

We found large state-by-state variations Head Start Preschool teachers’ salaries and assistant teacher salaries. The range and variation among Head Start Preschool teacher salaries by state is more pronounced than among Early Head Start teacher salaries. Head Start programs in more than half of the states and Washington, DC, were eligible for direct state funding. Twenty-two states and DC planned to allow Head Start programs to combine Child Care and Development Fund dollars with Head Start funds. We found some correlations between state policies that allow combining Head Start funds with state preschool or child care subsidy funds and Head Start salaries. More research is needed to explore why these differences exist. 

How We Did It

We analyzed data from the Head Start Program Information Report, the National Institute for Early Education Research, and state 2022–24 Child Care and Development Fund Plans. We performed descriptive analyses of the data to show differences by state and performed inferential analyses to determine if differences were statistically significant.