Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund

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This page will be updated with information and resources as more information related to FY24 becomes available. Click here for information on FY23 of the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund.

About FY24 Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund

The District values early childhood educators and wants their pay to reflect their hard work in support of young children and families.

Over the last two fiscal years, nearly $70 million has been disbursed to DC early childhood educators through the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund. In FY24, OSSE will cease making direct payments to early childhood educators through AidKit and shift to distributing funds to child development facilities through a child development facility (CDF) payroll funding formula. To receive a CDF payroll funding formula award, a facility must be licensed by OSSE, agree to pay eligible early childhood educators, by position and degree, salaries that meet or exceed the FY24 minimum salaries and complete the process required to opt-in to the program. Child development facilities are not required to participate in the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund, but it is highly encouraged.

Facilities that opt-in to FY24 will receive quarterly payments calculated using the CDF payroll funding formula (see Dates to Know for important quarterly deadlines). Facilities will not be required to meet the minimum salaries until after they receive their first quarterly CDF payroll funding formula award payment.

By participating in the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund, child development facilities can offer competitive wages to recruit and retain qualified staff and support early childhood educators to build bigger, brighter futures.

More information on the opt-in process for child development facilities can be found below.

How to Participate in FY24

On July 17, OSSE emailed the person of record for each licensed child development facility to share information on the process for opting in to FY24 Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund. The opt-in process must be completed by the facility’s person of record (typically the owner or director) in the Division of Early Learning Licensing Tool (DELLT).

The opt-in process for a child development facility depends on whether the facility participates in the child care subsidy program. Facilities that currently participate in the child care subsidy program (i.e., subsidy providers) may complete the process to opt-in to FY24 of the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund as part of their FY24 Subsidy Agreement Renewal Application (FY24 SARA). Facilities that do not participate in the subsidy program (i.e., non-subsidy providers) may opt-in by completing the FY24 Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund application.

Information for non-subsidy providers
To opt-in to FY24 Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund, a non-subsidy provider must:

Complete and submit an FY24 Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund application
Complete an FY24 Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund Provider Agreement.

The deadline for non-subsidy providers to complete and submit an FY24 Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund application in DELLT to be eligible to receive a CDF payroll funding formula award payment for quarter one of FY24 is 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023.

After a facility completes the application, OSSE will review all submitted documentation. Following review, OSSE will share the FY24 Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund Provider Agreement. The agreement must be executed for the facility to receive funds through the program. The deadline to complete the agreement to receive a CDF payroll funding formula award for quarter one of FY24 is 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023.

For more information on opting-in as a non-subsidy provider, view this guide (Español)|(Amharic). Non-subsidy providers who require support completing the opt-in process should contact [email protected] for support.

Information for subsidy providers
To opt-in to FY24 Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund, a subsidy provider must:

Complete and submit an FY24 SARA application indicating the facility wishes to participate in FY24 of the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund
Complete an FY24 Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund Provider Agreement Addendum.

The deadline for subsidy providers to complete and submit the SARA application was 5 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 18, 2023. Subsidy providers that did not indicate they are interested in participating in the FY24 Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund in their submitted SARA application, but later decide they want to participate in the program, should notify their education services monitor (ESM) via email. Subsidy providers that submitted their FY24 SARA have until 5 p.m. on Sept. 15, 2023 to notify their ESM of their interest to participate in the program to be eligible to receive a CDF payroll funding formula award for quarter one of FY24.

OSSE will share an FY24 Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund Provider Agreement Addendum with subsidy providers that opt-in to the program. The agreement must be executed by 5 p.m. on Sept. 30, 2023 for the facility to receive a CDF payroll funding formula award for quarter one.

For more information on opting-in as a subsidy provider, view this guide (Español)|(Amharic).

Dates to Know

The opt-in process for subsidy providers and the application for non-subsidy providers for FY24 of the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund will remain open until 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 15, 2024 (the deadline for quarter four). Child development facilities should be diligent of the opt-in/application and agreement deadline for each quarter. A child development facility must meet the quarterly opt-in/application and agreement deadline prescribed above to receive a CDF payroll funding formula award for that quarter. A child development facility only needs to apply once and complete one agreement for FY24. Once a child development facility has an FY24 Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund Provider Agreement executed, they will automatically receive remaining FY24 quarterly CDF payroll funding formula award payments if they continue meet the requirements of the program.

CDF Payroll Funding Formula

The FY24 CDF Payroll Funding Formula (Español | Amharic) details how OSSE will determine the payment amount a child development facility that chooses to participate in the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund will receive.

In September 2023, OSSE announced an increase to the CDF payroll funding formula awards for child development facilities that participate in the FY24 Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund. Increased payments are for FY24 only and meant to support child development facilities as the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund transitions from supplemental payments distributed directly to early childhood educators by AidKit to CDF payroll funding award payments distributed to child care providers by OSSE. OSSE updated the funding formula awards for FY24 in response to stakeholder input and further analysis of data from child care providers.

Minimum Salaries and Salary Schedule for Early Childhood Educators

The FY24 Minimum Salaries and Salary Schedule (Español | Amharic) for Early Childhood Educators details the minimum salaries that child development facilities that participate in FY24 of the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund will be required to pay staff, by staff type and highest credential. Child development facilities that accept Pay Equity funds must ensure that all teachers, assistant teachers, home providers, expanded home providers and associate home caregivers are paid at levels that meet or exceed the minimums by staff type and highest credential as documented in DELLT.

The FY24 Minimum Salaries and Salary Schedule also includes a recommended early childhood educator salary schedule for child development programs. Child development facilities are not required to pay staff based on the included salary scale.