Arkansas legislators discuss bill aimed to improve early childhood education
LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — The Early Childhood Education Workforce Quality Incentive Act, was presented before the taxation and revenue committee on Tuesday morning at the capitol to discuss early childhood education.
"This issue is extremely important to the state of Arkansas because we have a crisis regarding early childhood education," Rep. Julie Mayberry (R) District 92 said. "We don't have enough places, we have long waiting lists across the state. We have counties that have no childcare available at all, and we have low level of quality of that care."
Geania Dickey with Arkansas Early Childhood Association said that the minimum licensing for someone to work in early childhood education is 18 years of age with a High School diploma or GED.
Dickey said the bill is modeled after one that Louisiana implemented in 2007.
"They've seen an increase in workforce obtaining education," Dickey said "We see [this bill] as an investment in supporting people in going back to school and then providing some type of compensation for that."
House Bill 1158 provides tax credits to qualifying childhood education program directors, teachers, and instructional staff:
- Those who are employed in a program that meets the requirements of the Better Beginnings quality rating system of the Department of Health and Human Services
- Those who earn less than the state's minimum salary for K-12 public school teachers
Tax credits for those who qualify range in amount from $1,800 to $2,400 and $3,000 based on credentials and education.
The bill also offers tax credits for business childcare expenditures not to exceed $50,0000 to provide care for its employees.
"We would allow a business that's trying to recruit workers the opportunity to give back to that worker, the employee the benefit, either completely providing that childcare or compensating that childcare, "Mayberry said. "We're also allowing the business the opportunity to maybe fund a facility in their neighborhood."
Childcare facilities that receive at least a quality rating of 2 from the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education of Department of Human Services are eligible for a tax credit ranging from 5% to 25%.
Overall, Mayberry said improving quality of childcare would also help improve success at the grade school level.
"The most critical stage for a human being is really birth to 3 where our brain grows the most and we put less emphasis on that stage of development than any other stage," Mayberry said. "If we want to improve care for K-12 education, we need to start at birth."
Mayberry said the bill 'needs some work' and that she invites input to help make a stronger bill.
