Universal Preschool in California: An Overview of Workforce Issues

As California considers ways to develop a universal preschool system for its young children, and as several California counties begin to implement such a system, many issues are emerging with regard to the workforce necessary to provide these expanded preschool services. Who will the educators of our young children be? How will we adequately recruit, train, compensate and retain them? To what extent will the system use the skills and services of the state’s current early care and education workforce?

With the state’s child population projected to grow at a rate of 55 percent by the year 2025, compared to a nationwide projection of only 14 percent (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2000), the questions about who will prepare California’s children for success in their school years become extremely pressing. The intention of this paper is to offer a detailed analysis of these emerging workforce issues – not to provide definitive answers, but rather to guide policy makers, planners and advocates in asking the right questions as they design and develop a preschool system for California over the next several years.

This paper has been prepared as part of the Next Steps project, a broad effort, with support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, to examine future prospects and directions for California’s early care and education workforce. Since universal preschool is now prominently on the state’s policy agenda, the Next Steps team was asked to prepare a paper specifically on preschool workforce issues, but much of the following discussion pertains to the broader early care and education system as well.