Department of Early Learning and Care outlines workforce crisis, professional learning investments

The Department of Early Learning and Care (DELC) told the Joint Ways and Means Subcommittee on Education on Feb. 5 that Oregon’s regulated early childhood workforce faces sustained low wages, high turnover and elevated rates of anxiety and depression, and that DELC is directing federal and state funds toward professional learning, higher-education pathways and regional technical assistance.

DELC Director Alyssa Chatterjee opened the session and John Reeves, DELC professional learning system director, told the committee that “professional learning is 1 of the, foundational services that the department offers to the early childhood educator workforce.” Reeves and DELC staff described the size and shape of Oregon’s mixed-delivery early learning system, workforce demographics and a set of investments aligned to a four-pillar framework: prepare, grow the workforce, strengthen specialized supports, and retain.

DELC officials summarized labor-market measures and a November–December report DELC commissioned (titled in the presentation as A Path Forward: Examining and Overcoming Barriers for Oregon’s Early Childhood Workforce), noting that roughly 24,000 people work in regulated early learning and care (centers and family childcare) and that median wages and benefits are substantially below…