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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Child Care Advocates: Keep Working Parents Working in CT

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Wednesday, October 26, 2011   

HARTFORD, Conn. - As Connecticut lawmakers gather today for a special session focused on jobs, advocates for children want them to remember the state's 15,000 workers in child care and early-childhood education. Without them, they say, many parents couldn't work.

Darlene Raggozine, executive director of Connecticut Charts-a-Course, is in charge of the state's professional development system for these early-care workers.

"We would like a recognition that, in order for the economy in Connecticut to grow, it needs to be supported by a strong and stable and highly qualified early-childhood workforce that is well compensated for the work that they do."

The pay for full-time work in the field, even for highly trained teachers, is between $24,000 and $31,000 a year, she says, adding that low wages lead to high turnover, which impacts the quality of care.

Thousands of people make up the early-childhood system, Raggozine says, although they are spread out in different venues.

"That would cross (the) family child- care sector, center-based programs, private for-profit, private nonprofit, and publicly-funded."

Despite their commitment to young children, she says, many in the field can't afford to work for such low pay, which is equivalent to other jobs that require far less education.

"A locker-room attendant makes about the same amount of money as a person who works in child care."

Many working parents can't afford to pay the full costs of child care, Raggozine says. She'd like to see a funding model that is tax-supported, more like public education. Some economists also point out that high-quality early learning pays off by producing a highly skilled workforce.


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