Shapiro visits Verona to tout $25M in funding for child care workers

Gov. Josh Shapiro visited a Verona day care Monday to tout $25 million in new state-funded bonuses for industry workers, which he says will help attract and retain staff.

The initiative, part of the state budget passed last month after a lengthy legislative impasse, gives about $450 annually per employee to providers participating in the state’s subsidized child care program. It’s estimated to benefit 55,000 workers.

At a press conference inside Riverview Children’s Center, Shapiro affirmed his belief in higher wages as the answer for many of the state’s staffing crises.

“We see anecdotally how it’s working in other professions,” Shapiro told a small crowd of child care workers, elected officials and reporters. “I feel confident that it’s going to work in (child care) as well.”

Last year’s budget doubled state funding for student teacher stipends to $20 million, a step Shapiro touted as showing early promise.

He also claimed investments in law enforcement under his watch have created a “dramatic” increase in state trooper and local police officer applicants.

Pennsylvania’s child care sector has about 3,000 open jobs that, if filled, could create slots for another 25,000 children, Shapiro said.

The average child care worker in Pennsylvania makes roughly $15 an hour, according to a report last year from three of the state’s early education advocacy groups. That’s comparable to many entry-level service or retail jobs.

The report also found preschool teachers have an average salary of about $34,000 — roughly half of what kindergarten teachers make, despite some overlap in their qualifications.

Pre-K Counts, a government program where low-income families can get free preschool, received a $7.5 million boost in the state budget in hopes of improving preschool teacher wages, as well.

“I’m hopeful this is a turning point,” said Leah Lisowski, a preschool teacher at Riverview Children’s Center. “You lose really good people simply because of the pay.”

Shapiro also took the chance to criticize President Donald Trump for his Thanksgiving social media post calling Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz “seriously retarded” for supporting immigrants, using a slur for people with intellectual disabilities.

Trump doubled down Sunday, telling reporters “there’s something wrong” with Walz.

Walz, a former teacher who ran for vice president alongside presidential candidate Kamala Harris, has a son with a learning disability.

“There is not a classroom in America where if a young person walked into that class today and used the word that the president used, that there wouldn’t be some repercussion,” Shapiro said, pounding the podium as he spoke.