Childcare provider Damaris Mejia is about to get the biggest pay raise of her life, starting this summer: the District of Columbia will send her and her co-teachers each a big check, between $10,000 and $14,000.
At last, “I will have happy teachers!” she says, laughing.
It’s part of a broader push — made more urgent by the pandemic — as D.C. and dozens of states try different ways to fix a childcare system that is badly broken. Some are using temporary pandemic aid, while others seek longer term funding. Last year, Louisiana passed a sports betting bill that designates 25 percent of revenue for early learning programs.
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