MAAC, one of San Diego’s largest and long-serving nonprofit organizations, is increasing Early Childhood Program pay rates for teachers and key support staff by an average of 24%, a move that will impact 224 positions.
MAAC San Diego President & CEO Arnulfo Manriques said that the need for more childcare in San Diego is at an all-time high. In the San Diego region, more than 90% of families with infants and toddlers cannot access childcare because of cost and lack of availability. For the past three years, staff recruitment and retention has been a significant and persistent problem for the early education sector – in San Diego County and across the country.
“As a society, we need to place a higher value on the work that early childhood educators do. They are highly educated and dedicated individuals who care for and teach our children during the most pivotal years,” said Manriquez.
MAAC estimates the total number of children served through their programs will be 35% higher than last year. Salary increases are expected to help fill 42 current teacher vacancies, which will result in 21 additional classrooms opening.
“Today’s action directly reflects MAAC’s commitment to its staff and the communities we serve,” said Manriquez. “This ensures that we can continue to provide the high-quality care and education that families have come to expect from MAAC for generations.”
Manriquez said most of its childcare staff is in North County but has some childcare staff in San Ysidro.
“Our goal, and our focus on what we think this will do is that it will begin raising the standards for salaries of preschool teachers,” he said. “It has been difficult to hire childcare providers and teachers across the county. Not just our program. In the South Bay there are other childcare providers having trouble hiring people. Because we went to the place where childcare salaries need to be, we wanted to get to where the school districts were for their universal transitional kindergarten. We know that this is going to have to increase the wages for all childcare providers. It may raise the costs of some childcare programs, but without any teachers, people cannot go to work. They cannot take their children to preschool.”
Manriquez said this will put pressure on South County for providers to start paying classroom teachers a higher salary.
“That is a good thing. We must raise the salaries of preschool teachers,” he said, adding that it would add pressure to both public and private providers. “People started leaving positions because they were finding better salaries somewhere else. We decided that we could not stay with what everyone else was paying. We need to set a new bar for these salaries. Which is why, in the classrooms, our salaries jumped by 35%.”
Manriquez said to address the pressing needs of families for full-time childcare services in our communities, many of whom work full-time and require reliable care options, MAAC worked internally and with the Office of Head Start, one of MAAC’s primary funders, for nearly a year to plan for and provide these salary increases and transition part-day care slots to full-day care for MAAC’s Head Start programs.
Manriquez said MAAC is proud to be part of the solutions recently outlined in the San Diego County Child Care Blueprint and hopes this is the first step of many to create “an equitable system that simplifies the child care equation for working families and makes it possible for child care providers, a vital component of our economy, to earn a competitive wage.”
“This historic investment emphasizes MAAC’s overall commitment to economic development, improving the health and well-being of the community and furthering education within the San Diego region,” he said.
MAAC Head Start, Early Head Start and State Preschool programs deliver national school readiness programs at no cost to eligible families, which is determined based on family size and income. The programs serve 1,355 children (0-5) and their families in San Diego County in the communities of Carlsbad, Escondido, Fallbrook, Oceanside, San Marcos, Valley Center, Vista, Chula Vista, and San Ysidro.
Learn more at www.maacproject.org.
