KEWANEE, Ill. — President Joe Biden has set forth a plan to help make education more affordable and accessible for Americans. He first presented the plan during his first joint address to congress back in April.
Here in the Quad Cities, Project NOW’s Head Start program provides early childcare education for children aged three and four that come from low income families. Misi Birdsall is the program director.
She says the president’s plan would be a game changer. “An early education is extremely important. Teachers and early educators are all underpaid and this plan can bring some more money to the table so we can pay our teachers and our staff better salary.”
The $1.8 trillion-dollar plan focuses on education, childcare, and paid family leave. It would increase pre-kindergarten worker wages up to $15 dollars an hour, control the cost of childcare for low income families, and invest $200 million dollars in universal preschool for all three and four-year-olds.
Birdsall says it would allow Head Start to increase salaries, which would make them more competitive with public schools in the area. Birdsall says they often miss out on employees due to their lower wages, but that could change with this influx of resources. “To be able to give that raise to my staff when they go get their bachelor’s degree, to be able to give them more money and show them that we appreciate them.”
Congresswoman Cheri Bustos visited the Head Start childcare center in Kewanee, Illinois on Monday. Program directors shared they need more resources.
Bustos shared her hopes of getting the legislation passed to help programs like Head Start. “If you look at the success rate of kids that have gone through Head Start they have been more successful then kids that did not get that extra help before kindergarten.”
The universal plan is being negotiated now, with details about how to create more childcare facilities as well as available slots for those incoming students. Bustos saying, “That is what we are taking a look at as members of Congress. Now that takes resources and so we've got to make sure we have a way to pay for that.”
Representatives now working out the details to get more kids into the classroom as soon as possible.