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To maintain public accountability, providers should periodically be audited and should be required to demonstrate they are serving CCDBG-eligible children in those slots 2 Cover the cost of quality Helping programs budget for consistency is an important step;helping them budget for quality is the next States that commit to using federal and state dollars to pay at or above current market rates and that sustain those increases each year will attract and incentivize a diverse range of high-quality providers, recruit and retain talented early childhood educators, give families real choice, and help young children get the best start in life, all resulting in economic benefits to the state and its workers 3 Pay early childhood educators what they are worth Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, health care workers have rightfully been lauded for their heroic efforts, but child care providers have routinely been overlooked While we have spent tens of millions of dollars on QRIS systems-including coaches, assessors, data systems, validation and evaluation systems, and cost of quality studies-early childhood educators are, on the whole, not earning more money, and child care programs continue to operate on razor-thin margins If we had made the same investments in the drivers of quality related to the workforce and to the program environment, including compensation, market rate payments, scholarships to support the attainment of post-secondary degrees, and early learning and higher education program accreditation, I contend our outcomes would be startlingly different now 5
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