In a city known for its innovation and commitment to progress, DEC is taking bold steps to ensure San Francisco’s future is brighter than ever!
Research shows that investing in educators pays off for children. We are proud to be the first city to put our money where the evidence is. San Francisco voters approved Proposition C in June 2018. It established a gross receipts tax that would provide additional City funding to support early care and education (ECE) for 0-5 year-olds. Approximately half of the revenue generated by Prop C is dedicated to providing much-deserved compensation increases for early educators.
DEC administers these funds through our Early Childhood Educator Workforce Compensation Initiative, supporting a living wage for both center-based and family child care educators, working with children from birth to five years old.
We invested $46 million last year to increase early educator wages at Early Learning For All programs across the city. Close to 1,000 educators working at programs where at least half the children come from low- to moderate-income families, now earn 30-47% more. Another 1,632 educators received an average annual wage increase of $12,336 through stipends.
Paying educators more means they can afford to stay in the field they love, and San Francisco can better recruit new educators to the field. Families benefit from having caring and highly skilled teachers caring for our youngest residents. A stable, well-compensated, and highly qualified early care and education workforce creates a better San Francisco for all.
We are proud to pay educators more because when educators thrive, children thrive. It’s that simple. And it’s possible because our city, our neighbors, and our voters have made equitable, accessible, high quality child care a reality.
Watch our video to hear how the Workforce Compensation Initiative has made a difference for some of San Francisco’s dedicated educators. And to learn more about the impacts of the initiative, check out the workforce section of our 2023 Annual Impact Report!