Salary Scale information for Technical Assistance (TA) Specialists, Higher Education Faculty, and Professional development (PD) providers to support salary scale development across programs
This section of the toolkit assists TA providers, higher education faculty, and providers of professional development for early educators. Resources are offered for you to support center based programs and family child care homes to consider a salary scale, revise a current salary scale and/or implement a scale based on the Model Salary Scale.
Navigating This
Section of the Toolkit
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Technical Assistance/Faculty/Professional Development providers Menu
No matter your area of expertise, there are some common aspects across roles for all those who support early educators. Faculty, technical assistants, and providers of professional development all rely on relationships to identify, support, and help programs and providers achieve individual goals.
Your work relies on
RELATIONSHIPS
TRUST
CULTURAL
COMPTENCE
RECIPROCITY
UNDERSTANDING
FLEXIBILITY
Framework for the North Carolina Technical Assistance Practitioner Competences. (2013). NC Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Child Development and Early Education. Retrieved from: https://ncchildcare.ncdhhs.gov/PDF_forms/TACompetenciesApril232013.pdf
COACHING
The foundation of success rests with building relationships, working with the current leadership, and being responsive to the needs and context of the program or provider.
GOAL SETTING
FEEDBACK
MENTORING
IMPLEMENTING
CHANGES
The nature of your work puts you in a position to be a trusted resource. Using the information and resources provided in the Model Salary Scale toolkit is one more way to provide support to programs. We want to be clear in stating that using the toolkit does not make one an expert on the topics we highlight; the toolkit is a resource where you can build your own understanding of early childhood business and pay practices and share resources with the early educators you support. We hope you consider the following goals as you explore the toolkit:
- Understand the differences in business practices between center based programs and family child care home businesses
- Be able to explain the purpose and benefits that using a salary scale offers as it relates to recruitment, retention, and sustainability
- Learn about resources in your county or region that focus on business practices (specifically for program types: for profit, non-profit, federally or state funded, etc.) and for family child care owners
- Gain awareness of considerations when discussing financial matters that help maintain trust between you and the early educator or program you are supporting
Early educators, administrators, or family child care owners may approach you with questions, or you may be working with a program or provider and situations arise that lead you to believe the program or provider could benefit from financial resources.
- Those working in higher education settings or providing professional development can learn more about business and pay practices and pull resources, information and more from the toolkit to add to your session or course materials.
- Assume all information discussed is confidential until further clarification. Keep in mind that financial information is sensitive - emotionally and legally. Maintain privacy and confidentiality just as you would in any other conversation with early educators.
- You are not expected to have the answers or be an expert, but you can begin with guiding questions to learn more about the context of the program financially.
Assist programs in connecting their goals and values to their salary decisions.
This will look very different depending on the relationship with the provider or program, your own level of comfort and understanding of child care business and payroll practices, and the context of where programs are and where they want to go.
While it is important to acknowledge and discuss challenges raised by program leadership, know that you are not responsible for having all the answers.
Based on what you learn, support the program leaders in reaching their salary goals just as you would support their goals revolving around your area of expertise, but to the extent you feel most comfortable. Begin by sharing the toolkit or resources you've discovered here, and connect the program or provider to specialized financial supports.
How can I support programs with their pay practices?
Explore more about WHY salary scales are important and what they have to offer for the field of early education.
Understand the main differences in the business practices between family child care and center based programs.
Continue conversations with program owners and leaders to learn more about their goals, beliefs, and current practices.
Based on what you learn, you will have a better understanding of where the program is today, what resources you can offer to best support their needs, and maintain strong relationships with them throughout their journey.
Here are a few ways you can share the salary scale toolkit and webinar as a resource:
- Share links to the Level One Salary Scale Toolkit Webinar with your programs or students
- Embed the Level One Salary Scale Toolkit Webinar in EDU 261 & 262 courses for administrators
- Get to know the content of the toolkit, especially if you work with specific program types, in order to include relevant information in your trainings & conversations
- Include links to the Level One Salary Scale Toolkit Webinar on your website or where you share other relevant, free professional development opportunities
- Offer incentives for administrators or family child care owners in your area to complete the Level One Salary Scale Toolkit Webinar
Next topic: Unique aspects of family child care businesses
Family Child Care and the unique components
of operating as a business
Family child care owners offer individualized settings that we must remember are shared spaces: every family child care business is situated in the context of the provider's home and family. No two homes are alike, and no two family child care businesses will look alike or operate in the same ways. We have a responsibility to acknowledge and respect the range of what care and education not only looks like in these spaces, but that these spaces are first and foremost a family's home and deserve to be treated as such throughout professional relationships with family child care owners.
Family Child Care owners are in a unique position with their work; they operate as a business out of a home, and typically as a sole proprietor. They hold the responsibility of being the business owner yet maintaining all aspects of daily operations. They have a unique and important role in the landscape of early childhood education, and while it first appears to be a individually owned business, there are specific tax rules that apply only to family child care programs.
Some family child care programs operate with one owner, while others may have one or more employees - often their own family members. No matter the structure or who is directly involved in the daily operations, all family child care homes exist as an extension of the providers family and the relationships built between the provider's family and families enrolled in their program.
Many Family Child Care owners do not always have access to the resources larger businesses have, especially when they begin. Some centers may have companies or third parties that manage income, expenses, and/or payroll, the business aspects of family child care fall solely on the provider.
One way we can be a support is to learn more about a provider’s business habits and resources, and connect them to business supports.
Primary differences between the business aspects of family child care and center based programs
- While many centers have a budget and payroll projections for multiple staff, family child care home owners may or may not have systems in place to provide themselves with a set amount of pay from their home business
- While record keeping is important in ANY child care business, for family child care homes, record keeping is directly related to their potential income as it relates to tax implications
- Many family child care home owners have some form of “employee(s)” and despite common practice, all help that is paid and under the direction of the owner is an “employee” and must be paid as such
- In some cases, spouses and children of the owner act as an employee and may or may not be considered an employee per legal definitions
- While teachers in center based programs know what they can expect to earn on a check based on their salary or hourly wage, not all family child care owners will immediately be able to state their income as an exact figure; for some owners this may fluctuate and for others, they may not yet have the business resources to be able to identify an average wage
- Not all family child care owners separate their personal and business finances. While this is not ideal from a financial or legal standpoint, always remind owners that starting somewhere is still a start!
Ask questions to understand their current practices.
Acknowledge what is going well.
Business and personal finances and goals often collide in family child care businesses. Assume any information is confidential. You may hear or see private or sensitive information, and you should proceed just as you would with any other information that you learn in your professional relationships.
If there are any practices that raise legal concerns,
our role is to support by offering opportunities and resources to learn and not simply correct their practice.
The nature of the approach is critical.
Next topic: Unique aspects of center based programs and salary scales
Unique aspects of center based programs & salary scales
The extent to which salary scales can be discussed, made, or implemented depends on the program structure and the program's leadership mindset
Program structures can dictate salaries in multiple ways: private for profit (corporate) programs often make decisions at levels beyond the individual program. Many of these programs have no control or handling of payroll and they are not involved in financial decisions. Federally and/or state funded programs (Head Start, NCPreK) may not have decision making power with payroll/wages, and even private programs where owners hire a separate on site administrator may or may not be transparent with programs about wages.
Center based programs can be structured in many ways, including those who share space with other businesses (faith based programs who may or may not be affiliated with the churches where they are housed), non-profit programs who operate with a board of directors, and even private for profit programs may have another layer of decision making stakeholders beyond the person acting as administrator. There may also be multiple administrators with varying levels of input and power in decision making processes.
Program administrators are the “next level” of salary scale implementation. If the structure allows the administrator to have access to but not inform wages, you may be in a role to provide advocacy supports to the administrator as a stepping stone to building a salary scale in the program.
- Not all programs have identified a starting wage offered to new hires based on criteria (such as education, etc.).
- Depending on their pay practices, many programs may need to focus on restructuring current pay rates to create a more equitable "floor and ceiling." When programs pay what they can afford to get a teacher in the door, this creates WAGE COMPRESSION. Wage compression creates more inequitable pay gaps between more seasoned and newer staff and typically across most other criteria in comparison. Learn more about how addressing wage compression is important here.
- Not all programs openly discuss wages with staff.
- In fact, you may experience staff or programs that state they don't allow staff to talk about pay. Technically, this violates the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which can be seen here. Our goal is to help programs learn about legal practices they may not be aware of; remember that people are not their actions and to approach with the assumption that people are unaware rather than intentionally breaking employment laws.
Next topic: Salary scales as a tool to attract and retain staff
Salary scales as a tool to attract and retain staff
So what's the benefit of having a salary scale in place?
When programs have a salary scale in place, it allows everyone involved to have a clear understanding of:
- The dollar amount teachers can expect to earn based on education and other criteria across roles
- The amount of money programs can expect to allocate towards payroll
- The exact increases teachers can expect to earn and strive for over time
Salary scales create fair and justifiable increases tied to specific criteria, truly serving as a reward and incentive, which is not currently built into NC’s early education system
Salary scales create parity with K-12 systems, our larger goal, and reduces competition between ECE and K12 settings
Dedicating time, resources, and professional career paths sends an overdue message to the workforce and the public
The process of creating and/or adapting a salary scale is a visible action with tangible results, both of which reflect the values of our state, programs, and all those working to support early care and education
Next topic: Where to begin: Gathering information
Where to Begin: Gathering information
"Where to begin: Gathering information" section looks at the first steps you might take in supporting a program or owner to achieve larger financial goals with their salary scales or personal income. We will talk about each step in the process individually.
Gather information
Provide resources
Support the implementation
ASK QUESTIONS
~ learn about the program's structure and who is typically involved in making financial decisions
~ learn more about the program's or family
child care owners current pay practices
~ remember that this is not a topic
to address the first time you work
with a provider or program - these
conversations rely on relationships first!
Questions you will find helpful
working with center based programs:
- How do you decide what to offer new employees and who makes that decision?
- What criteria do you factor into your pay? (examples include education, experience, longevity, performance, work assignment, etc.)
- When do wage increases occur? What is that based upon, and for whom?
- Do you have a structured salary scale? What are the components? How long has it been used? Who has access to the scale?
- How do your salaries reflect the program’s goals and values?
- How does the scale promote equity and fairness? (Are staff with the same education across similar roles compensated at the same level? If not, what are the variables?
- How do your salaries help you recruit and retain qualified teachers?
- If money was not an issue, what would you change about how you pay your staff?
Questions you will find helpful working with family child care owners:
- Do you keep records of your income and expenses for your business?
- Do you have a process in place to pay yourself first?
- Tell me a little bit about how you prepare for filing your taxes...
- Do you have a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) who is familiar with the unique aspects of family child care businesses to file or review your taxes?
- How do you keep track of the hours your work for your business, even when children are not present?
Next topic: Providing resources: supporting programs to revise or create salary scales
Providing resources: Supporting programs to revise or create a salary scale
"Providing resources: Supporting programs to revise or create salary scales" section considers how you support the program or owner to access and understand the information they need to set goals based on the context of their business.
Gather information
Provide resources
Support the implementation
Creating or revising a salary scale
Depending upon the context of the program, they will be creating or
revising a salary scale. As you work with providers and programs, here
are some prompts you will find useful in the process.
- What do you feel needs to change and why?
- How is equity addressed internally? Is similar work paid equally?
What needs to change?
- Are there specific values, certifications, or criteria that support
he program's mission to help define salary scale increments?
- How will using the Model Salary Scale (or any salary scale) improve
the current salary structure? What changes will be necessary to make this happen?
- Who will be involved in the creation/revision process?
- Where is the program now and what is the long term goal?
- What are smaller steps to take on the path to get there?
Just as you ask questions to better understand early educator's needs within the scope of your work, you would ask questions to better understand financial and business needs. Once you know what you are looking for, the toolkit offers resources on nearly all topics related to business practices, compensation, and salary scales.
We want to be clear that the taking time to use the toolkit as a learning tool is necessary for technical assistants, providers of professional development, and higher education faculty to understand the range of concepts required for developing salary scales or planning for wage increases over time.
The toolkit isn't a "lesson" or meant to be approached as a test of your knowledge. It's here for educational purposes, and you can learn as much as you would like at your own pace. Our hope is that you come to the toolkit for resources you can share with programs and providers to strengthen their business practices and work towards improving compensation. We don't expect you to be a salary scale expert!
Be mindful of the sensitive and critical nature of program/owner finances. No matter how well we "know" the concepts included in the toolkit, it's always best to suggest programs/owners seek financial advice from Certified Public Accountants (CPA's) who are familiar with common business practices for early childhood programs.
No matter the type of program you are working with, you will want to be familiar with what's in the toolkit, why it is important, and how to use the resources we provide.
Cost estimation and the toolkit calculator
To support child care administrators and family child care home providers to review and analyze their budgets and hiring practices and ensure a consistent and fair approach to ECE workforce compensation, an interactive calculator has been developed.
For center based programs, you will be able to add information on monthly income and payroll expenses for your teaching staff. The calculator will then assist you in creating budget projections for those staff so you can determine how much it would cost to achieve a certain wage level over time.
You can try out the calculator at any point in time, but it's going to be most helpful as you set your goals as it helps identify what's possible and helps you attach goals to targeted dates. To get the full benefits of the calculator, it will be helpful to have the following information and technology:
- Download and reference the USER GUIDE (this will be on the page with the calculator)
- Ability to open Excel files
- Staff roster, wages, and their education levels
- All sources of income/revenue
You enter the information...
and the calculator is designed to
do the math for you!
This calculator should not take the place of other budgeting and accounting tools as it is just a planning tool and does not include all aspects of expenses for programs. The calculator can also be used as a first step prior to using another tool such as the Provider Cost of Quality Calculator (PCQC). The PCQC helps you estimate the annual costs and revenue of operating a center or home-based child care program at different quality levels.
Family child care programs with employees can find the calculator particularly useful - but we also recommend they have a budget in place, too. Check out this budget template from Tom Copeland HERE.
Next topic: Support the implementation process
Implementation of the program’s salary goal:
"Supporting programs to revise or create a salary scale" section looks at your role in the implementation process.
Support the implementation
Gather information
Provide resources
- Assist program leader in finalizing the salary scale, including the rationale.
- Estimate cost of adopting the new or revised salary scale. If not able to fully implement immediately, plan steps to full implementation.
- Discuss how to present to board, staff, owner and/or whoever needs to approve or support. Encourage starting with the purpose of the changes and how they connect to the values and goal of the program, including being able to hire and retain well-educated teaching staff.
- Discuss the continuum of transparency with their salary scale.
- Continue to use the Model Scale, and their process, as leverage with policy makers and as an advocacy tool.
We will talk more about advocacy in the next section!
Implementation of the family child care owner's salary goal:
- Understand the family child care owners goal and rationale so you can provide feedback on goals being SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.
- Know what opportunities exist in your area for family child care owners to network with peers. If there is not a local group of owners that gathers together, find what other opportunities exist to support owners to connect online or in virtual meetings for peer support.
- Continue to use the Model Scale, and their process, as leverage with policy makers and as an advocacy tool.
Next topic: Special topics
Special topics:
"We don't have the funds to give increases. We can't raise tuition."
We think of tuition as the first place to look because it's where the majority of most program's income comes from. There are many ways to increase income and/or lower expenses. Some strategies rest at the program level, while fully funding increases will require local, state, or federal support. In the program, we can consider alternative staffing models, enrollment/tuition models, and other services that could impact the amount of income we can allocate towards payroll.
Locally, we can use the Model Salary Scale as a tool for advocacy. Letting our county commissioners, city council, representatives and state legislature see the gap between what we CAN pay and what we SHOULD pay helps us explain the situation and the need. Locally, some counties allocate funding towards early childhood initiatives through taxes or re-allocate existing funding streams in different ways.
Innovative Financing for Early Childhood Education. State & Local Options. (2015). Save the Children Action Network: Retrieved from: https://savethechildrenactionnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/state-local-toolbox-financing-solutions.pdf
Thriving Providers Project: First of its kind effort uses guaranteed income to address compensation of early childhood eduaction workforce. (2022). Early Learning Nation. Retrieved from: https://earlylearningnation.com/2022/06/thriving-providers-project-first-of-its-kind-effort-uses-guaranteed-income-to-address-compensation-of-early-childhood-education-workforce/
This concludes the content section of the Salary Scale Toolkit for technical assistants, higher education faculty, and providers of professional development. You may continue scrolling to find more
resources below or use the buttons to the right
to return to the TA/PD/HE menu or the home page.
Resources for technical assistants, higher education faculty, and providers of professional development for early educators
Remember that all business focused support begins with a strong relationship.
Revisit the Technical Assistance Competencies for North Carolina HERE.
To learn more about salary scales, the history of the field, and why salary scales are important, visit the introductory section HERE.
Visit the FAMILY CHILD CARE section of the toolkit HERE for more specific information related to family child care businesses.
Visit the CENTER BASED section of the toolkit HERE for more specific information related to centers.
This concludes the resources section of the Salary Scale Toolkit for technical assistants, higher education
faculty, and providers of
professional development.
You can return to the TA/PD/HE menu
or to the home page.
Disclaimers
While we strive to always provide accurate, current and helpful resources and information in our salary scale toolkit, it's important to stress that this information is not a substitute for tax and legal advice from a tax preparer or attorney. You should always consult a professional with experience and knowledge of child care businesses to assist you with specific questions or needs. The content and resources we have included in this toolkit is merely meant to be informational and does not constitute legal advice.
In addition, although the NC Salary Scale Toolkit (toolkit) is a product of the NC Institute for Child Development Professionals (the Institute), the toolkit website may contain copyrighted content not owned by the Institute. The materials, resources and information in the toolkit is provided for educational and informational purposes and thus is believed to fall under the "Fair Use" guidelines of section 107 of the US Copyright Act of 1976. All rights and credit go directly to the rightful owners. No copyright infringement intended.
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