Project Summary
The Colorado Teacher Salary Increase Pilot provided a higher wage to lead and assistant teachers working in Colorado child care centers where at least 40 percent of children served are receiving Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP) subsidies. Given that funding was not available to serve all teachers, a subset of eligible centers was randomly selected to receive the funds for the wage increase. The wage increase will be evaluated to assess its effects on Early Care and Education (ECE) teacher recruitment, retention, and economic well-being.
The program’s goal is to help understand the effects of supplying livable wages for ECE teachers, including the potential implication for a “cliff effect,” meaning the financial loss when a wage increase results in reduced eligibility for public assistance programs like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The outcomes of the program will help inform whether and how changes in public funding streams may be made to help Colorado’s ECE centers pay teachers livable wages, and how these funding streams might interact with other public assistance funding streams.
Data Partners
- Colorado Department of Early Childhood
- Colorado Department of Human Services – Office of Economic Security
- Colorado Department of Labor & Employment