Child care and preschool are not the same

On Dec. 16 I attended a legislative gathering hosted by the Cedar Rapids Community School District Board of Education. During the discussion legislators were asked if they would support increased funding for full day preschool. A member of the majority party responded to the question by talking about child care rather than preschool. My response was yes, I support increased funding but clarified that child care is not the same as preschool.

That evening a news station put out an article that misquoted me and said “Tracy Ehlert (D- NW Cedar Rapids) pointed out that child care is not the same as early childhood education.”

I reached out to them to clarify that is not what I said and that what they printed has a completely different meaning than what I said. This was the response I received:

“Hi Rep. Ehlert,

Thanks for reaching out.

I did go back and listen to the tape and you did specify preschool, so I appreciate your clarification. At the same time, my job is to communicate to a broad audience, most of whom are outside of the education industry. I accurately portrayed the current situation in a way that is easy for all to understand — schools want money, but the GOP might not direct it their way.”

Misquoting me is not “accurately portrayed” and “easy” to understand does not mean factual in this case. Maybe trust those in the profession to accurately portray the information. Child care is absolutely early childhood education. It is often the first early childhood education setting a child is in before attending preschool or kindergarten.

Early childhood education includes prenatal to age 8. There are a variety of settings and job titles that fall under early childhood education, with child care being one of them. A child’s brain is almost 90% developed by age 5, child care and preschool are both vital components of a child’s early education experience but are different settings. As an early childhood educator who has taught in child care, preschool and in the local school district, the words used in the misquote would have never come out of my mouth. That misquote devalues not only the profession but the years of advocating I have done at a local, state and national level to professionalize the profession. To get the public to look at early educators, including child care educators, as the professionals they are. They deserve the same respect as K-12 educators.

Early Childhood Iowa (housed within Iowa DHHS) has developed an Iowa Early Care & Education Career Pathway, this includes child care educators. The state of Iowa has invested millions of dollars in the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood and WAGE$ programs to continue providing comprehensive scholarship & financial incentives to the early childhood workforce (including child care educators) to increase access to educational opportunities. Child care is not babysitting; it is early childhood education and deserves to be reported as such.

Tracy Ehlert is a Democratic state representative from Cedar Rapids and the owner of an early childhood learning center.

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