Don’t Let Early Childhood Education Get Coded Out of Workforce Policy

There’s a big shift happening in Washington.

The U.S. Departments of Labor and Education recently announced new interagency agreements to “break up the federal education bureaucracy, ensure efficient delivery of funded programs, and move closer to fulfilling the President’s promise to return education to the states.”

On the surface, that sounds like a win: less red tape, more local control, and faster delivery of programs.

However, if one works in early childhood education (ECE) or relies on childcare to go to work, there is a serious risk hiding underneath the headlines. If ECE is not clearly defined, named, and protected in this transition, it can be quietly erased from the very systems that decide who gets training, funding, and opportunity. When ECE gets erased, the entire workforce feels it.

ECE: The Workforce Behind All Other Work

There is considerable discourse about worker shortages in various sectors, including:

• Health care

• Skilled trades and blue-collar jobs

• Protective services

• Management and professional roles

  
  

While these sectors are important, none of them function without one essential component: someone caring for their children so they can show up to work. That “someone” is the early childhood education workforce. ECE serves as the invisible infrastructure behind every workforce initiative. If there aren’t enough qualified, credentialed ECE teachers and caregivers, parents cannot work, employers cannot retain staff, and “workforce development” becomes a slogan instead of a reality.

ECE is a Real Occupation, Not “Soft” Work

Here lies the disconnect: policy still tends to treat ECE like informal or “soft” work, while the actual job looks very different. Early childhood educators:

• Manage classrooms and learning environments

• Support child development and school readiness

• Monitor health and safety

• Partner with families and communities

• Navigate licensing, regulations, and compliance

  
  

This is skilled, professional work. ECE should be clearly defined as an education occupation in the same way we define:

• Health sector roles

• Blue-collar and skilled trades

• Management and professional careers

• Protective services

  
  

When ECE is not clearly defined in workforce systems, it becomes invisible in the data and algorithms that drive:

• Funding decisions

• Eligibility for training and apprenticeship

• Access to financial aid and support services

  
  

If the system does not “see” ECE as a category, it does not fund ECE as a priority.

Apprenticeship is Working for ECE—If We Don’t Design It Out

Here’s the hopeful part: the U.S. Department of Labor already recognizes ECE as a viable sector for both youth apprenticeship and traditional registered apprenticeship.

At Early Education Career Institute (EECI), we have built our entire model around that reality. Our apprenticeship programs:

• Use a competency-based, stackable credential pathway

• Align with U.S. DOL Registered Apprenticeship standards

• Serve a high percentage of English-as-Other-Language learners and nontraditional adult students

• Lead to strong completion and job placement rates in licensed childcare settings

  
  

In other words, we already have a functioning pipeline that moves people from low-wage, unstable jobs into skilled, credentialed, higher-wage ECE roles. That is precisely what “bridging the gap” between education and employment is supposed to look like.

However, as DOL and ED “break up bureaucracy” and push more responsibility to states, more decisions will be made by:

• Data systems

• Funding formulas

• Performance metrics

• Algorithms

  
  

If ECE is not explicitly defined and prioritized inside those systems, it will not be debated out of existence—it will be coded out. Not with a headline, but with a dropdown menu that does not include “early childhood education” as an option.

Returning Education to the States Can’t Mean Abandoning ECE

“Returning education to the states” only works if states are equipped and expected to protect critical sectors like ECE. Without that, we risk:

• States focusing only on the most visible sectors (health, trades, IT)

• ECE apprenticeship and training programs being left off approved lists

• Fewer funded seats for ECE workers

• Less access to the credentials that lead to higher wages and career mobility

  
  

This situation adversely affects:

• Workers who want to build a career in ECE

• Parents who need reliable childcare to stay employed

• Employers who depend on a stable childcare system to keep their workforce

• Communities that rely on both childcare and a strong local economy

  
  

What Needs to Change Right Now

If this DOL–ED realignment is going to strengthen the workforce instead of weakening it, ECE needs to be built into the design from day one. Here’s what that looks like:

1. Clearly Define ECE as an Occupational Category

ECE should be recognized in workforce systems alongside:

• Health sector occupations

• Blue-collar and skilled trades

• Protective services

• Management and professional roles

  
  

That clear definition ensures early educators show up in:

• Labor market data

• Funding formulas

• Eligibility rules for training and apprenticeship

  
  

When ECE is defined, it can be funded. When it isn’t, it gets left out.

2. Treat Childcare as Core Workforce Infrastructure

Any strategy that claims to “bridge the gap” between education and employment must acknowledge this basic truth:

No childcare = no workforce.

If parents cannot secure childcare, they cannot enroll in training, complete apprenticeships, or keep jobs—no matter how many programs exist on paper. ECE must be written into workforce plans, not just assumed in the background.

3. Build ECE into the Algorithms

As systems are modernized, DOL, ED, and states should be asking:

• Does this system recognize ECE as a high-demand sector?

• Are ECE apprenticeship and training programs eligible under these rules?

• Do performance metrics reward states for investing in the childcare workforce?

  
  

If the answer is no, the system needs to be fixed before it goes live.

4. Listen to Practitioners Who Already Have Solutions

Organizations like EECI and many others across the country are already:

• Running ECE apprenticeship programs

• Partnering with states, workforce boards, and employers

• Serving multilingual, nontraditional adult learners

• Producing strong completion and job placement outcomes

  
  

These are the people who should be at the table as guidance is written and responsibilities shift to states.

A Clear Call to Action: Contact Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer

If one believes early childhood education should not be coded out of the future of work, there is a concrete step to take:

Contact U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy and urge them to:

• Explicitly define ECE as an occupational category in federal and state workforce systems

• Ensure ECE apprenticeship and training programs are eligible and prioritized in any new DOL–ED frameworks

• Treat childcare as core workforce infrastructure, not a side program

  
  

You can reach the Department of Labor at:

U.S. Department of Labor

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy

200 Constitution Ave NW

Washington, DC 20210

Phone: 1‑866‑4‑USA‑DOL (1‑866‑487‑2365)

When you call or write, share why ECE matters in your community—whether you are a parent, educator, employer, policymaker, or advocate—and ask that early childhood education be clearly protected and elevated in the new DOL–ED structure.

ECE is Not Optional. It’s Foundational.

We cannot continue to discuss “workforce development,” “career readiness,” and “bridging the gap” while treating childcare and early education as an afterthought. ECE is:

• A national economic asset

• A credentialed career pathway with real wage growth

• The backbone that allows every other workforce initiative to stand up

  
  

If we allow ECE to be left out of the new DOL–ED structure, we are not just breaking up bureaucracy. We are breaking the pipeline that makes work possible for everyone else. Now is the moment for policymakers, state leaders, employers, and families to say clearly: Early childhood education must be defined, funded, and protected—not coded out of the future of work.

About the Author

Shawntel Green is the Founder and Executive Director of the Early Education Career Institute (EECI), a nonprofit career school and U.S. Department of Labor Apprenticeship Ambassador focused on building the national early childhood education workforce. Through EECI’s ECE Apprentice Hub, she and her team support multilingual, nontraditional adult learners in earning stackable credentials, completing registered apprenticeships, and securing higher-wage roles in licensed childcare programs across multiple states.