Child care workers in Washington, D.C. will receive checks for at least $10,000, after the city’s council approved a measure to redirect tax revenues from the city’s wealthiest residents to the child care workers, the Washington Post reports.
Why it matters: The move is expected to raise child care workers’ annual incomes by an average of 25%, according to a task force established by the council.
Flashback: The council originally raised taxes on the city’s wealthiest residents last summer, aiming to use $53 million from the first year of that increase to somehow raise the salaries of child care workers, per the Post. But it did not determine how it would do so.
- On Tuesday, it established that eligible child care workers will get sent checks directly to speed up the money’s disbursement. A program will later be established to partly subsidize the workers’ salaries.
- Child care workers who work with toddlers and babies can receive checks of about $10,000 or $14,000, depending on whether they work as assistants or lead classrooms.
What they’re saying: “Child care is the backbone of our economy,” Janeese Lewis George, a D.C. council member, tweeted Tuesday in response to news of the measure passing.
- “The predominantly Black and Brown women who do this work have been underpaid for decades despite being asked to educate our children during their most foundational years,” she added.
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