ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
For two years, child care workers in Washington, D.C., have enjoyed a boost in wages paid for by a tax hike on the wealthy. As NPR's Andrea Hsu reports, it's proving to be a great investment.
ANDREA HSU, BYLINE: On the second floor of what was once a row home in Washington, D.C., 2-year-olds run over from snack time to join Miss Jamie on the carpet.
JAMIE GIPSON: Are you ready?
(SOUNDBITE OF BLOCKS FALLING)
HSU: She pours out a bin of colorful building blocks, and the children get to work.
GIPSON: So let's see who can build the Eiffel Tower, and let's see who can build the World Trade Center.
HSU: Jamie Gipson has worked here at Ideal Child Care Development Center for 15 years. She takes pride in nurturing young minds, helping the little ones learn and grow through play.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I can't do it.
GIPSON: OK, let's do it together.
HSU: Over time, she earned a credential in child development, then an associate's degree. Still, after a dozen years, she was making less than $20 an hour.
GIPSON: You just felt like you was a babysitter.
HSU: But then, in 2022, things changed dramatically. A year earlier, the D.C. Council had voted to create the Pay Equity Fund through a tax hike on D.C.'s highest earners. The idea was to bring the wages of child care teachers more in line with educators in public schools. The first year, lead teachers got a lump-sum payment of $14,000. Assistant teachers got 10,000. For Gipson, the extra money was a cushion she never had. She and her husband finally felt secure enough to move out of their apartment and buy a house.
GIPSON: Now I have three bedrooms, three bathrooms, washer, dryer - so I don't got to go outside and wash clothes.
HSU: She's also putting away money for her own kids to go to college. About 4,000 D.C. child care workers have benefited from the Pay Equity Fund. Yves-Carmel Decelian-Cadet, who's run this center for 26 years, says they deserve it.
YVES-CARMEL DECELIAN-CADET: Working in child care, you have to love it to do it. You have to have tremendous amounts of patience, of love.
HSU: She knew what she could afford to pay teachers was not a lot.
DECELIAN-CADET: Somebody said to me one time, at Chick-fil-A, people are making $24, making $22. And I'm dealing here with kids.
HSU: And earning less - in fact, child care teachers are among the lowest-paid workers in the country. Now, Cadet says, morale is up, which benefits everyone.
DECELIAN-CADET: When the teachers are happy, they can pay their bills. They can perform better.
HSU: And not only that, she's no longer short teachers.
DECELIAN-CADET: I have people coming here looking for jobs all the time now.
HSU: And this is no fluke. Owen Schochet, with the data research firm Mathematica, has been studying D.C.'s Pay Equity Fund. He estimated a year of the program cost about $54 million. It boosted child care employment by nearly 7%. That's more than 200 additional teachers.
OWEN SCHOCHET: So I think it's important to consider the costs of this program, which are high, with the considerable benefits to society.
HSU: Teachers benefit from higher wages. Child care centers benefit from far less turnover. Families benefit from more slots and better care when teachers stay on the job.
SCHOCHET: Stability is very important with a caregiver and a child.
HSU: Quantifying the value of these benefits is complicated, but working with an economist, Schochet concluded that the Pay Equity Fund generated a 23% return on investment over a year. The program's early success has generated buzz. There's even a bipartisan bill in Congress that would award grants to places that want to try something similar. But where the evidence may be needed the most is right here in D.C.
UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: (Singing) The drivers on the bus go, move on back...
HSU: Earlier this year, D.C.'s mayor, who was juggling numerous budget priorities, zeroed out the program altogether. Only after fierce advocacy was the funding mostly restored. Next year could be another fight.
Andrea Hsu, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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