FINAL Background salary scale

How and Why Section Menu

Understanding the work

What IS a salary scale?

Why are salary scales important

The North Carolina Model Salary Scale for Early Educators

Resources

Diverse Women Hugging Characters Illustration

Wavy or Zigzag Lines. Horizontal Thin Lines Wave. Dotted Line. Big Set Black Color. Vector Illustration.

Understanding the work

PART ONE

Children in the United States were once regularly included in the daily activities of work and life but as more women began working outside the home, child care became a necessity.

Over the years, a multitude of government and private programs have created both barriers and band-aids to solve the problem of who will provide care, when, how, and even at what cost.

As research expands on what we know is "best" for young children, our expectations of caregivers rise to meet the challenge. As a nation, we have made great strides on behalf of children developmentally... but is it at the expense of those doing the work?

Check out Early Childhood History, Organizing, Ethos, & Strategy Project (ECHOES), developed by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment. Explore the history of Early Childhood activism and more about how we got to where we are today.

PART TWO

Visit No Small Matter's YouTube page for more informational videos about issues in early education here: https://www.youtube.com/@NoSmallMatter

Understanding the need for change

Working in early childhood means facing high expectations without the wages to reflect the skill, commitment, or education of the workforce. As a result, recruitment and retention are difficult and turnover

is high.

Watch this short video from Child Care Aware of America to understand why costs are high, yet early educators are paid so little

$12.00

Average hourly wage for early childhood teaching staff

$15.00

Average highest lead teacher wage in NC

62%

Percentage of teaching staff with at least an Associates degree

Programs tend to determine wages based on their budget at that moment in time, which results in two teachers in the same program with similar credentials and roles potentially earning extremely different wages.

This approach to determining pay creates other challenges as program budgets are stretched thin, teachers may not be paid equitably, and there are limited funds to offer wage incentives or rewards for achieving more education.

Family child care owners tend to collect income and pay their expenses and allow the remainder to be their "pay," which can result in financial uncertainty. This situation makes it difficult to plan for increases in wages over time, access benefits as a sole proprietor, or plan for retirement.

As an employer, have you ever wondered if your starting wages were competitive with other programs?

As an employee, have you ever thought about changing programs in order to earn slightly more, just because you’ve achieved more education?

As a family child care home owner, have you wondered about how to create a path to earn more income in your business over time?

Having a salary scale in place sets us up for success by being proactive when it comes to pay While you may hear a salary scale referred to in other terms - such as a pay scale, or salary structure, throughout the toolkit we will use the term salary scale to refer to the same concept.

Research shows that providing a clearer career pathway, in addition to other workplace policies that support education and compensation, reduces turnover and increases longevity of staff.

Planning in advance for wages to grow over time and building substitute/floating staff into the budget are critical

steps for center based programs to address the most common reasons early childhood teachers leave the field:

low wages, too few supports, and no long term path for their careers.

Next topic: What is a salary scale?

What is a salary scale?

A salary scale is a range of wages you pay someone to work in a particular job. The scale is designed to reflect an employee’s base salary for their education but might include other criteria such as skills, certifications, longevity, and/or experience.

The lower side of the salary scale shows how much you would pay someone who meets the minimum requirements for the role, while the high end is how much you might pay someone who meets more or all of your requirements.

Ideally, a salary scale will also provide incremental steps that show how one can increase their pay based on that criteria over time…

Salary Scales are just ONE tool in the toolbox that builds a stronger, more stable early childhood workforce. Learn more about ways to improve recruitment and retention HERE.

Wages or compensation...what's the difference?

We sometimes use the words interchangeably, but wages and compensation are two different things.

WAGES	The actual dollar amount one earns in exchange for work, or their direct pay in dollar amounts. This can be paid hourly or as a salary. This number does not represent any taxes or other withholdings.
HOURLY WAGE	When a person is paid a predetermined amount in exchange for each hour of work. Earned pay will only reflect the hours one has worked, and this amount can fluctuate over time. When we talk about an hourly wage, it is the dollar amount a person can earn before taxes are taken out of that amount. When one works more than 40 hours per week, their hourly wage must be paid at time and 1/2. (Example: Joe earns $10.00/hour. Joe works 44 hours this week. Joe earns $10.00x40 = $400 PLUS $15.00x4=$60 for a total pre-tax amount of $460.00
SALARY	When one's WAGES are predetermined and paid consistently per pay period. This amount will be the same each pay period.
COMPENSATION	The larger "package" of all benefits earned in exchange for work (examples might include health insurance, child care discounts, paid time off, tuition assistance, etc.). The "total compensation" for a job includes the base wage/salary and the dollar value of of any benefits received beyond the base wage/salary.

In developing, revising or adapting a salary scale, salary additions should not be included in calculating the wage level. For example, salary supplements, bonuses, health insurance are not included in the wage amount. They are supplemental, not always consistent and can create unintended inequities in what staff receive in wages. They are a good way to reward staff but are not considered wages.

Next topic: Why are salary scales important?

Why are salary scales important?

RECRUITMENT

RETENTION

CAREER GROWTH

Job candidates know what to expect and they are able to see their potential within the program over time, while holding the same position.

Having a salary scale up front eliminates the need for programs to negotiate or pay what they can "afford."

When programs connect their main values to a structured pay scale that is publicly available, programs attract candidates who are a better fit right from the start.

Employees benefit from knowing what to expect in terms of growth and compensation within a given company and can plan a future for their career path more effectively.

Having a salary scale in place increases the likelihood that teachers will get more education and remain in their jobs.

Having a salary scale in place, consistently implemented, creates a more stable foundation for program budgeting and long term financial planning. Raises are possible and more frequent when wages are distributed equitably across staff.

Salary scales reflect career pathways within the program along with the lifetime earning potential.

Salary scales link growth, such as achieving more education, with increased income.

Family child care home owners may have employees, and find this useful, however the toolkit explains how to create a salary scale and apply it to your own income projections over time in the family child care home section of the toolkit.

ABOUT THE TOOLKIT AND RELATED TRAININGS HERE

Next topic: The North Carolina Model Salary Scale for Early Educators

to help reduce turnover and increase retention...

to reward early educators for achieving more education...

to provide a model SALARY SCALE for programs to consider...

The North Carolina Institute for Child Development Professionals initiated conversations around wage parity.

2007 -2014

NCICDP Initiates

Salary Scales for EC

Drafted a suggested scale

in 2007-2008

Revised the scale

in 2014

2017-2018

NC Participates in the

Moving the Needle Project

Completed salary scale survey,

collected information through

focus groups

Salary scale drafted

and shared for input

2021-2023

NC Early Childhood Model Salary Scale is released in 2021 & revised in 2023

Salary scale toolkit

released in 2023

as a resource

for EC professionals

See the 2014

scales by role

See the report about the multi-state Moving the Needle project here.

LEARN MORE

The Model Salary Scale was built on these principles:

Wage Parity with

Public School Teachers

Equity of Wage Levels

with Education

Advocacy Tool

Voluntary Tool

Adjustments over Time

for Inflation & Cost of Living

Consideration of Local

Variation & Context

The model scale suggests early childhood teachers with a B-K license have 100% wage parity for teachers with B-K license in the public school system. For those with an early childhood degree, but without a license, wages are based on smaller percentages of parity.

The model scale envisions early educator's wages being tied to education across all program settings, age groups, and program types, reducing competition between EC programs and with K12 settings. Your scale might reflect education and other values unique to your program.

Dedicating resources and defining professional career paths sends an overdue message to the workforce and the public. We can estimate the TRUE costs of quality when we know what it costs to pay early educators fair wages - which is not currently built into NC's early childhood system.

The model scale is meant to be a tool for goal setting, envisioning, and advocacy. It is not mandated nor required, but ONE way to support programs in stabilizing wage practices.

The Model Scale reflects the time period(s) in which it was created; the scale will change over time to reflect costs of living, inflation, or other factors. The toolkit is built around concepts related to salary scales, but the model scale will adjust over time.

The recommended scale and associated dollar amounts were based on specific principles to promote equity - and they may not reflect our current reality. The recommended scale is intended for the state of NC, but it does not take into account regional differences in the cost of living - we will talk about these points in more detail later.

The Model Salary Scale for Early Education Teachers...explained!

The following table is what you will see in the full document; here, we explain the principles and concepts that inform how the model scale is developed. Remember that this is the most recent version as of 2023. More resources are provided in other areas of the toolkit to consider living wages in your county, and NCDPI wages for the current year can be found here: https://www.dpi.nc.gov/districts-schools/district-operations/financial-and-business-services/compensation-public-school-employees

MODEL SALARY SCALE FOR EARLY EDUCATION TEACHERS

The first section provides the entry level wage defined by the North Carolina Department of Instruction. This number should be the goal for any teacher with a BK license working in your program. Remember, the Model Scale plans to be updated biannually.

This tier acknowledges other BA/BS four year degrees with early childhood coursework...we have set this at 95% of the Public School BK License salary. Remember this is a model, and you may need to have a wider range of pay to make this work in your program.

This tier acknowledges Associate's degrees with early childhood coursework...we have set this at 75% of the

Public School BK License salary.

Living wage should be the (minimum) goal. The suggested wage here is $14.92/hour, the Feb. 2022 living wage for

North Carolina, as defined by the Massachusetts Institute

of Technology (2022). Note, the living wage is even higher

for the year 2023. Be sure to consider living wages based on geographic location. We will talk more about the idea of local wage variations in the center based section of the toolkit.

Certificates are offered by the NC Community of Colleges and include 5 ECE courses.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology http://livingwage.mit.edu/states/37

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL

SALARY SCALE DOCUMENT

While individual salary scales may be based on various criteria, we believe teachers with more education provide more individualized and developmentally appropriate care. Many teachers have worked hard to obtain more education and these efforts deserve to be financially rewarded.

Learn more about how early childhood teachers’ education levels have a direct impact on quality HERE!