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PR26-0357 • 2025

Early Childhood Educator Pay Scales Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2025

Early Childhood Educator Pay Scales Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2025

Children Education Labor
Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor
Mendelson
Last action
2025-10-31
Official status
Approved
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on how the resolution addresses financial feasibility or provides additional funding beyond incorporating recommendations from a task force and updating minimum salaries.

Emergency Declaration for Childcare Worker Salaries

This resolution updates the minimum salaries that child development facilities must pay to assistant and lead teachers starting in January 2026, as part of an effort to improve early childhood educator compensation.

What This Bill Does

  • Updates the minimum salaries for assistant and lead teachers working at child development facilities from January 1, 2026.
  • Incorporates recommendations from a task force on equitable compensation into the Day Care Policy Act.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Early childhood educators, including assistant and lead teachers at child development facilities in Washington D.C.
  • Child development facilities that receive funds from the District of Columbia for paying early childhood educators.

Terms To Know

Day Care Policy Act
A law that sets policies and standards for childcare services in the District of Columbia.
Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund
A fund established to provide additional payments to child development facilities to help them pay higher salaries to early childhood educators.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The resolution only updates the minimum salaries for a specific period and may require further adjustments in future budgets.
  • It is unclear how this change will affect long-term financial sustainability of the program beyond Fiscal Year 2026.

Bill History

  1. 2025-10-31 Council of the District of Columbia LIMS

    Resolution R26-0229, Effective from Oct 21, 2025 Published in DC Register Vol 72 and Page 011985

  2. 2025-10-21 Council of the District of Columbia LIMS

    Retained by the Council

  3. 2025-10-21 Council of the District of Columbia LIMS

    Legislative Meeting

  4. 2025-10-21 Council of the District of Columbia LIMS

    Approved with Resolution Number R26-0229

  5. 2025-10-20 Council of the District of Columbia LIMS

    PR26-0357 Introduced by Chairman Mendelson at Office of the Secretary

Official Summary Text

Early Childhood Educator Pay Scales Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2025

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
ENROLLED ORIGINAL

1

A RESOLUTION

26-229

IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

October 21, 2025

To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend the Day Care Policy
Act of 1979 to update the minimum salaries child development facilities must pay assistant
and lead teachers beginning in January 2026 to participate in the Early Childhood Educator
Pay Equity Program, to incorporate the Early Childhood Educator Equitable Compensation
Task Force and the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund into the act ; and to make
conforming amendments.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this
resolution may be cited as the “Early Childhood Educator Pay Scales Emergency Declaration
Resolution of 2025”.

Sec. 2. (a) Early childhood educators and child development facilities are essential to
providing children with foundational mental, emotional, and social skills prior to formal
schooling, while supplying a stable and reliable form of childcare for working families and a
more robust economy. Despite their importance to families’ and children’s wellbeing, early
childhood educators have historically been underpaid, affecting their ability to stay in the
profession and provide families with stable and quality childcare. To meet the needs of educators
and families alike, the Council adopted the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund
Establishment Act of 2021, effective November 13, 2021 (D.C. Law 24-45; D.C. Official Code §
1-325.431).
(b) The Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund (“pay equity fund”) was established
in the Fiscal Year 2022 budget to provide supplemental payments to child development facilities
to implement an Early Childhood Educator salary scale through the Early Childhood Educator
Pay Equity Program (“program”). The Fiscal Year 2025 budget necessitated reductions across
the District Government. Of the $70 million allocated to the pay equity fund in Fiscal Year 2025,
and annually over the next 4 years, 5% of the fund is allocated to administrative costs and $12
million is allocated to the DC Health Benefit Exchange Authority.
(c) In September 2024, the Early Childhood Educator Equitable Compensation Task
Force (“task force”) released a new lead and assistant teacher compensation scale based on the
Fiscal Year 2025 appropriation. These financial parameters required changes to the program
formula and salary scale to keep early childhood educator salaries comparable to District of
ENROLLED ORIGINAL

2

Columbia Public Schools and other local education agencies in the District. The Council codified
the recommended salary scales on October 15, 2024, through emergency and temporary
legislation, and they were later made permanent through the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Support
Act of 2025, enacted on September 4, 2025 (D.C. Act 26-148; 72 DCR 9825).
(d) Over the course of Fiscal Year 2025, it became apparent that the policy measures in
the legislation and the compensation scale recommended by the task force were inadequate to
alleviate financial pressures, and expenditures for the program totaled $77,342,319. The Council
appropriated additional funding to the program for Fiscal Year 2026, but it was insufficient to
cover the projected discrepancy of $9 million between program costs and appropriated funds. .
Emergency legislation is therefore needed to reduce program costs to offset the gap in funding
for the program.
(e) Therefore, there exists an immediate need to amend the Day Care Policy Act to
update the current compensation scales to ensure the District has the new, financially feasible
minimum educator salaries in place by December 31, 2025. This amendment would provide
child development facilities in the District with an updated salary structure that keeps the
program viable and within the limits established by the Fiscal Year 2026 budget.

Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances
enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Early
Childhood Educator Pay Scales Emergency Amendment Act of 2025 be adopted after a single
reading.

Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.