Task force would study early childhood education workforce

The Education Committee heard testimony Jan. 19 on a proposed task force that would recommend measures to increase the supply and quality of professionals providing early childhood care and education in Nebraska.

LB773, introduced by Sen. John Stinner of Gering, would create the Early Childhood Workforce Development Task Force. Stinner brought an amendment to the hearing that would clarify the makeup of the task force, which would include representatives from child care providers, schools, businesses, higher education and state government, among others.

Stinner said the state’s early childhood care and education workforce is deficient both in quantity and quality. This shortage of qualified professionals leaves thousands of Nebraska children at risk of falling behind in school, he said.

“Early childhood experiences build the foundation for a skilled workforce and a thriving economy,” Stinner said. “We cannot afford to ignore the costs and consequences associated with not developing our young children.”

The group would be responsible for submitting a report to the Legislature by Dec. 1, 2017. The report would outline the state’s current need for early childhood care and education workers, assess the current system for training them and make recommendations for improving that system. The task force would dissolve on Dec. 31, 2017.

The report would include:
• a description of statewide needs for early childhood care and education professionals;
• the professional competencies necessary to help children from birth through third grade to succeed in school;
• an evaluation of the state’s current system for training early childhood care and education professionals; and
• a statewide plan for training early childhood care and education professionals.

Jen Goettemoeller, a senior policy associate at First Five Nebraska, testified in support of the bill. Goettemoeller said that more than 64,000 Nebraska children younger than age 5 are at risk of failing in school. A strong early childhood care and education workforce is critical to ensure students enter the K-12 system with the skills they need to succeed, she said, but schools face a shortage of qualified workers.

“Schools are telling us that they simply can’t find the early childhood professionals to staff their early development classrooms,” Goettemoeller said.

Julie Miller, speaking on behalf of the Nebraska Community College Association, also testified in support of the bill. Miller, the program chair for early childhood education at Southeast Community College, said the program’s placement rate for graduates is 100 percent. She said graduates work in child care centers, teach in Head Start programs in schools, become nannies or start home child care centers.

No one spoke in opposition to the bill and the committee took no immediate action on it.