Supporting the goals and ideals of a National Early Educator Worthy Wage Day.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 99) supporting the goals and ideals of a National Early Educator Worthy Wage Day.

Madam Speaker, I request 5 legislative days during which Members may revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H. Con. Res. 99 into the Record.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to support House Concurrent Resolution 99, which recognizes May 1 as National Early Educator Worthy Wage Day and urges public officials and the general public to honor early childhood care staff and programs in their communities.

Early childhood educators are among the lowest paid professions in education. More and more parents are tapping into early childhood education programs to meet their daycare needs and find the best opportunities to help their children get ready for their academic careers.

We place a lot of trust in early childhood educators to take care of the most vulnerable among us and charge them with great responsibilities to care for and to educate our children. Early childhood educators are highly skilled workers who are, unfortunately, rarely compensated at levels that are consistent with their skill and work ethic.

This resolution asks Congress to honor early childhood educators and programs in their communities and to work to resolve the early childhood education staff compensation crisis. Adequate compensation to early childhood workers should be a priority and they should receive compensation consummate with such training and experience.

Every day, approximately 60 percent of children under the age of six are cared for outside the home so that their parents can work. President Obama has spoken extensively about the need to further expand early education and childcare programs, including his proposal to include an early learning challenge grant initiative to promote quality care.

The committed individuals who nurture and teach these young children are undervalued despite the importance of their work. Children begin to learn at birth, and the quality of care they receive will affect their language, development, math skills, behavior and general readiness for school.

The grossly inadequate level of wages for childcare staff, roughly $18,917 a year, has made it hard to attract and retain high quality early childhood caretakers and educators. The turnover rate for childcare providers is 30 percent a year. This high turnover rate interrupts consistent and stable relationships that children need to have with their caregivers.

I join in recognizing the importance of the work early childhood professionals do and the need to increase their compensation accordingly. The Nation's childcare work force, and the families who depend on them, deserve our support.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I ask all of my colleagues to support H. Con. Res. 99. May I say that working with early educator teachers, they are terrific, and if we are going to have a strong Nation for the future, we must give them the recognition they deserve.

Madam Speaker, I ask that all my colleagues support H. Con. Res. 99.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of House Concurrent Resolution 99, supporting the goals and ideals of a National Early Educator Worthy Wage Day.

Over 11 million children under age 5 spend an average of 36 hours a week in nonparental care settings. Over 40 percent of children are in some form of nonparental care by the age of 1, and approximately 60 percent of the Nation's children under the age of 6 are in nonparental care during part or all the day while their parents work.

Parents place children in a variety of care settings, including informal, center-based and school-based environments. The majority of children remain in traditional childcare settings funded by a variety of sources, but a growing number are participating in private and State-funded prekindergarten programs. To date, 39 States and the District of Columbia have designed, implemented and funded their own prekindergarten programs on a large scale, compared to only seven States in 1980.

I support programs to promote early childhood education and efforts to ensure that our children are better prepared to enter kindergarten. The quality of early childhood education can be linked to the quality of our early childhood educators. Allowing for additional training and education for the early childhood workforce is important to ensure high-quality early learning environments.

Today, I rise with my colleagues to urge public officials and the general public to honor early childhood care and education staff and programs in their communities on May 1. I stand in support of this resolution, and ask my colleagues' support.

I have no requests for time and yield back the balance of my time.