Establishes Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Program in DHS.

A2241

ASSEMBLY, No. 2241

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman SHANIQUE SPEIGHT

District 29 (Essex and Hudson)

Assemblywoman SHAMA A. HAIDER

District 37 (Bergen)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblyman Kearney

SYNOPSIS

���� Establishes Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity
Program in DHS.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.

��

An Act
concerning early childhood educators and supplementing
Title
30 of the Revised Statutes.

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� The Legislature finds
and declares:

���� a.��� T
he childcare workforce plays a critical role in the
State by providing foundational education and skills development for children,
while supporting working parents.
�Despite their indispensable role, childcare
and early learning workers in the childcare setting - who are predominantly
women of color and immigrants - consistently face low wages compared to workers
in other sectors, with limited access to health insurance, retirement plans,
and other essential employment benefits.

���� b.��� The childcare industry
is a critical component of the State�s local economy and societal functioning.�
While heavily regulated, childcare providers often operate without any
supplemental public assistance.� Without sufficient support, these small
businesses - many of which are owned by women - struggle to maintain operations
and sustain sufficient staffing levels, directly impacting parents' ability to
participate in the workforce and the availability of quality early education
for children.

���� c.��� Investing in the
childcare industry is essential to the economic stability and well-being of New
Jersey's families and communities, and a robust childcare system starts with a
strong and thriving workforce. �Increasing the wages of early child educators
in the childcare setting to better reflect the wages of their counterparts in
the public school setting will enable New Jersey to better support this
critical workforce, reduce economic inequality in accessing quality early
childhood learning, and promote long-term prosperity for the childcare industry.�

���� 2.��� As used in this act:

����
�Child development facility� means
a child care provider operating a facility licensed
pursuant to the provisions of P.L.1983, c.492 (C.30:5B-1 et seq.) or a family
child care provider registered pursuant to P.L 1987, c. 27 (C.30:5B-16),

to provide child care services to children, infants, and toddlers
. �Child development facility� does not
include a public or private elementary or secondary school engaged in legally
required educational and related functions or a pre-kindergarten or preschool education
program.

���� �
Child Development Facility Payment Formula� means the
formula established pursuant to subsection b. of section 4 of this act.

���� �Department� means the
Department of Human Services.

���� �
Early childhood educator� means an individual who is employed
by a child development facility and, in that capacity, is involved directly in
the care, development, and education of children age five and under, infants,
and toddlers.

���� �
Early Childhood Educator Salary Scale� means the salary
scale established pursuant to subsection c. of section 4 of this act.

���� �Grow
NJ Kids� means New Jersey�s quality rating and improvement system for child
care and early learning providers, which rates the quality of child care
services offered at participating providers based on measurable quality
metrics, and offers participating providers training and incentives to improve
child care services.

���� �Program� means the
Early Childhood Educator Pay
Equity Program established pursuant to section 3 of this act.

���� 3.��� There is established in
the Department of Human Services, in collaboration with the Department of
Children and Families, the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Program.� This
program shall
provide grant payments
to child development facilities to increase the minimum compensation for early
childhood educators based on the educator�s degree and position title.

���� 4.��� a. �
To implement the program the department shall:

���� (1)�
establish and periodically update the Child Development Facility Payment Formula;

���� (2)�
provide guidance to child development facilities participating in the
program on how to equitably differentiate early childhood educator salaries
above the minimum salaries required in the Early Childhood Educator Salary Scale;

���� (3)�
establish requirements for child development facilities participating in
the program to receive grant payments in an amount determined by the Child
Development Facility Payment Formula;

���� (4)�
execute contracts or agreements with child development facilities participating
in the program to govern department distribution, and facility use and
administration, of grant payments, which contracts or agreements shall:

���� (a)�� be renewed not less frequently than once every
three years;

���� (b)�
describe the Child Development Facility Payment Formula as it applies to
payments issued to the child development facility;

���� (c)��
provide a schedule of when the department will distribute grant payments;

���� (d)�
state the
requirements for a child development facility to participate in the program and
any remedies for failure to meet the requirements; and

���� (e)��
specify
reporting and auditing requirements for a child development facility
participating in the program; and

���� (5)�
ensure
that all early childhood educators employed at
child development facilities participating in the program

are paid regular wages or salaries that meet or exceed the minimum salaries
established in the
Early Childhood Educator
Salary Scale
.

���� b.��� (1)�
The department shall develop a Child Development Facility Payment Formula
to determine the amount of grant payments issued to a child development
facility participating in the program that enters into a contract or agreement
with the department to implement the minimum salaries specified in the Early
Childhood Educator Salary Scale.

���� (2)�
The Child Development Facility Payment Formula shall:

���� (a)��
incorporate the estimated cost for a child development facility to
implement the minimum salaries required in the Early Childhood Educator Salary
Scale; and

���� (b)�
account for valid and reliable indicators regarding the economic need of
children, families, and the surrounding community associated with a child
development facility, in order to direct increased funding under the formula to
child development facilities serving families and communities with limited
economic resources.

���� c.��� (1) The department shall annually establish
the
Early
Childhood Educator Salary Scale, which shall serve as the basis for the minimum
salary a child development facility participating in the program is required to
pay early childhood educators employed by the facility.� The department shall
base the salary scale on the educator�s degree, years of experience, and title.
The salary scale shall provide for pay parity between early childhood educators
employed in child development facilities and comparable educators employed at
public schools within the State.�

���� (2)�
In the event
that funds available for grant payments issued under the program

are
insufficient to cover the costs to implement the Early Childhood Educator
Salary Scale, the department may do any combination of the following:

���� (a)�� reduce
grant
payment amounts, as
determined according to the Child Development Facility Payment Formula,
to child development facilities to align with the
availability of funds, and issue guidance to facilities for adjusting
implementation of the Early Childhood Educator Salary Scale for a specified
time period; or

����
(b)
� reduce the number of child development facilities
receiving grant
payments
under the program
, in which case the department shall prioritize funding to child
development facilities receiving subsidy payments under the New Jersey Child
Care Subsidy Program administered by the Division of Family Development in the department.

���� 5.��� a.� The department shall
consider a child development facility for participation in the program upon the
submission of an application to the department by the child development
facility on a form and in a manner prescribed by the department.�

���� b.��� At a minimum, a child
development facility shall be required to enroll in Grow NJ Kids, if not
already enrolled, and to agree to pay eligible early childhood educators employed
at the facility salaries that meet or exceed the minimum salaries established
in the

Early Childhood Educator Salary Scale in order to participate in the
program.�

���� c.��� The department may design a waiver process to
exempt
child development facilities from the provisions of subsection b.
of this section if the facility can demonstrate insufficient revenues to meet
the minimum salaries established in the Early Childhood Educator Salary Scale
for all applicable staff.

���� 6.���
There
is established in the Department of Human Services a non-lapsing fund that
shall be known as the
Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity
Fund.� The fund shall consist of any funds that are
appropriated by the Legislature for inclusion in the fund, investment earnings
of the fund, and moneys contributed to the fund by private sources.� The moneys
in the fund shall be invested and reinvested by the Director of the Division of
Investment in the Department of the Treasury.� Expenditures from the fund shall
be exclusively for the purpose of implementing the provisions of this act.

���� 7.��� The Commissioner of
Human Services shall adopt rules and regulations, pursuant to the
�Administrative Procedure Act,� P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), to
effectuate the purposes of this act.

���� 8.���
This
act shall take effect 180 days after the date of enactment, except that the
Commissioner of Human Services may take any anticipatory administrative action
in advance as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.

STATEMENT

����
This bill requires the Department of Human
Services (department), in collaboration with the Department of Children and
Families, to establish and administer the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity
Program, and establishes
the
Early Childhood
Educator Pay Equity
Fund to be the repository of
State funds appropriated, and any private funds available, for this program�s
purpose.
� The goal of the program is to
provide funds to child development facilities to increase the
minimum compensation for early childhood educators employed by those
facilities, based on the educator�s degree, years of experience, position title.�

����
Child care providers in New Jersey are primarily
funded through parent-paid tuition, which is set by providers based upon market
analysis, not on the actual cost of delivering high-quality care.�
Additionally, low-income families may receive financial support through the New
Jersey Child Care Subsidy Program, with these subsidies only covering only
about 75 percent of the market rate for care.� As a result, neither parent-paid
tuition nor State subsidies cover the true cost of high-quality early education
and care. This leaves providers operating on razor-thin margins, unable to
offer competitive wages to educators without cutting non-salary costs or
significantly raising tuition for families.

���� The child care industry,
however, is a highly regulated industry, and providers risk compromising health
and safety standards and their State licensure if certain costs are reduced.�
Conversely, raising tuition would make child care unaffordable for most
families and precluded participation in the Child Care Subsidy Program, leaving
low-income families without care options.

���� It is the sponsor�s belief
that is not sustainable for the child care industry in New Jersey to remain
both heavily regulated and primarily funded by working families�at the expense
of the early care and education workforce.� This bill provides the public
investment that is urgently needed to sustain child care providers, as well as
the workforce that delivers these critical services to New Jersey families.

���� Under the bill, a �child development facility�
means a child care provider or a family child care provider
.
An �e
arly childhood educator� is defined to mean an individual who
is employed by a child development facility and, in that capacity, is involved
directly in the care, development, and education of infants, toddlers, or young
children age five and under.

����
To
implement the program, the department is to annually specify the minimum
salaries paid to early childhood educators under the program in the Early
Childhood Educator Salary Scale, which is to be based on an educator�s
position, years of experience, and degree, and is to provide for pay parity
between early childhood educators employed in child development facilities and
comparable educators employed at public schools within the State.

���� The department is also mandated to

establish and periodically update the Child Development
Facility Payment Formula used to determine the grant payments issued to
participating child development facilities.� The formula is to incorporate the
estimated cost for a child development facility to implement the Early
Childhood Educator Salary Scale, and

provide increased
funding to child development facilities serving families and communities with
limited economic resources.

����
In the event that
funds available are insufficient to cover the costs of the program, the department
may do any combination of the following:� reduce grant
payments
to
participating child development facilities to align with the availability of
funds and issue guidance to facilities for adjusting implementation of the
Early Childhood Educator Salary Scale; or reduce the number of child
development facilities receiving grant
payments
, in which case
the department is to prioritize funding to facilities receiving subsidy
payments under the New Jersey Child Care Subsidy Program.