Low pay and hard work

Despite numerous studies over the last few years that show the importance of early childhood education, preschool teachers in the area have little or no training in early childhood education and are paid about $6 per hour.

A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute found the number of preschool teachers with bachelor's degrees has decreased from 43 percent in 1985 to 30 percent in 2004.

About 30 percent of preschool teachers nationally don't have a high school diploma.

Eight out of nine home-based early childhood education teachers do not have a college degree.

Those statistics don't surprise Jenny Jenkins, director of Care A Lot Learning Center in Kelso, Mo. None of her teachers has a bachelor's degree.

Christy Colyer of Child Care Resources, left, held a meeting with preschool teachers at Care A Lot Learning Center in Kelso. Next to Colyer were, from left, Amanda Driskill, Crystal Marshall, Jill Klipfel and Jenny Jenkins.

"Once you have your bachelor's, then you aren't going to stay in this field because you are not going to get more money just because you have your degree," she said.

Christina Gonzales, director at A Step At A Time preschool in Cape Girardeau, admits teachers leaving after they have received their degree is a problem for her preschool as well.

"They go into something else or become directors because they don't make enough money," she said.

Those statistics also upset Nicole Landewee, director at Kiddie Country in Scott City.

Teachers are not getting bachelor's degrees because the owners don't have the funds to pay them enough, she said. Getting a CDA (Child Development Associate) and associate's degree is cheaper, Landewee said. A CDA is a license that must be renewed.

Most area preschools are certified, which means they have a license from the state and the state checks to make sure they are not violating health or fire codes.

Preschool teacher Amanda Driskill has been with Care a Lot Learning Center for about eight months. She would like to return to college and eventually leave preschool to teach first grade.

Part of the reason she wants to leave is because preschool teaching is hard work. Teachers deal with babies, children with learning and behavioral problems and children with special needs.

Some preschools are in a classroom setting, but what sets a preschool apart from a day care is curriculum. A preschool prepares children for kindergarten, while day cares are essentially just baby-sitters, Jenkins said.

Teachers watch between 10 and 25 children at a time, often with only one or two "helper" teachers in the classroom with them.

At any time during the day in any preschool a child can be screaming, crying or fighting with the other children. In some cases the children may bite another child or bang his or her own head against a wall or bookshelf.

There are days teachers leave work wanting to tear their hair out. But then there are the days when they know they reached a child.

"I like to teach the kids new things and see the excitement on their faces when they achieve something," Driskill said.

One of the perks of teaching at Care a Lot Learning Center is that it is easy for Driskill to take time off, but she hates doing it.

"When I'm not here, I feel guilty because someone else has extra kids," she said.

Jenkins said she tries to get federal and state grants to help some of the teachers pay for college, but the Teach Scholarship only pays for 90 percent of the expenses for one class. With only one class a semester, getting a degree is a slow process.

"When a teacher comes in they have to be doing this because they love it because there just isn't money in this field," she said.

A full-time teacher at Care a Lot Learning Center earns $7 an hour for a 40-hour week. That's only $14,560 per year before taxes. "At that amount of money you are not going to stay," Jenkins said.

Teachers in some area preschools only earn minimum wage, $5.15 an hour, or $206 a week before taxes.

Most teachers, like Driskill, buy school supplies out of their own pockets and shop at dollar stores to save money.

To try to compensate for the low wages, Jenkins offers her teachers free child care. But even a full-time teacher does not have benefits such as health care or a retirement plan.

The lack of benefits and low wages means the turnover rate for teachers is high.

Jenkins meets with other area preschool directors once a month to try and solve some of the problems that plague area preschools. The group is looking into getting insurance for their teachers, but that would mean all of the area preschools would have to be owned by one preschool. That's not likely to happen, Jenkins said.

For more information about the directors group, contact Heather Fisher at 290-5644.

ameyer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127