Since 2022, Washington, DC, has raised public funds to improve the wages of early educators in licensed child care settings. In this brief, we document patterns in early educators’ take-up of supplemental payments in the first two years of DC’s initiative, and we explore whether educators remained engaged with the initiative over time.
Why This Matters
Researchers have linked low wages among early educators to high turnover, limited supply, and uneven access to quality care. To address these challenges, the Council of the District of Columbia and the mayor crafted legislation and raised revenue to enhance early educator wages. In FY 2022 and FY 2023, the DC Office of the State Superintendent (OSSE) began distributing payments directly to educators. Understanding who received these payments, and how consistently, can help policymakers and program administrators improve outreach, retention, and future compensation efforts.
What We Found
- Overall, from the launch of the program, participation was high, especially among full-time lead teachers.
- Of educators who received wage supplements, most received all five payments and most remained engaged in the program after receiving their first payment.
- New educators joined the program throughout its first year, pointing to expansions to the overall workforce and increased saturation among eligible educators.
How We Did It
Through the DC Child Care Policy Research Partnership, we analyzed administrative payment data from AidKit, the third-party vendor responsible for distributing wage supplements in FY 2022 and FY 2023. The data, which were provided to our team through an ongoing data-sharing agreement with OSSE, covers five payment points: one in FY 2022 and four quarterly payments in FY 2023. We examined take-up patterns across facility types and educator roles and experience.
