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It contrasts structurally low starting wages with employer-sponsored coverage availability, noting limited health insurance requirements for smaller organizations and distinct rules for family child care providers. Findings highlight higher benefit offering rates for Head Start and California Title 5 centers than Title 22 centers and contextualize CalSavers expectations and employers’ varying awareness.",{"@graph":69,"@context":121},[70,84,104],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":35,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/brief-april-2026-early-educators-increasingly-depend-on-medi-cal-subtitle/583369/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":98,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":99,"interactionStatistic":100},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/brief-april-2026-early-educators-increasingly-depend-on-medi-cal-subtitle/583369.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Jake","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":101,"interactionType":102,"userInteractionCount":8},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":103},"ViewAction",{"@type":105,"mainEntity":106},"FAQPage",[107,113,117],{"name":108,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":110},"What did directors report about retirement and health benefits for full-time staff?","Question",{"text":111,"@type":112},"Directors reported higher availability of health insurance (78%) than retirement benefits (66%). Benefit offerings also varied by program type.","Answer",{"name":114,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":115},"How do Head Start and California Title 5 centers differ from Title 22 centers in benefit provision?",{"text":116,"@type":112},"Centers offering care under Head Start or California Title 5 more often reported retirement and health benefits than Title 22 centers, which serve as the baseline standard for licensed care.",{"name":118,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":119},"Why do health insurance access differences arise across child care settings in California?",{"text":120,"@type":112},"Health insurance requirements generally apply only to employers with at least 50 staff, so many smaller centers and family child care providers are not required to offer health plans. Family child care providers are self-employed and must purchase benefits themselves.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":123,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":125,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":127,"site_id":62},583369,1792099571,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":130},{"doc_id":127,"user_id":131,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":132,"doc_module":4,"category_id":34,"category_name":35,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":133,"file_id":134,"file_url":135,"file_type":136,"file_size":137,"view_count":8,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":138,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144},962084928904,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","BRIEF April 2026  \nEarly Educators Increasingly Depend on Medi-Cal  \nBy Anna Powell, Wanzi Muruvi, and Abby Copeman Petig  \nJobs in early care and education (ECE) come with many benefits, chief among them knowing you’re making a difference in the life of a child and their family. There are also flowers or cards for Teacher Appreciation Day, as well as the oxytocin released in the brain when a child pulls you into a hug or accidentally calls you “mom”(an honest mistake) . These perks, however, are not a replacement for the benefits that most workers rely on as part of their compensation.  \nEarly educator pay starts quite low (Powell et al., 2026) . In 2025, the typical starting wage for an assistant teacher at a child care center in California was approximately $18 per hour—a little more than the state’s minimum wage of $16.50 and below the $20 minimum for fast food workers. These structurally low wages feed into a negative cycle of burnout and turnover among educators (McLean et al., 2024) .  \nEmployer-sponsored benefits are a vital source of economic stability, yet they are not guaranteed. In California, only organizations with at least 50 employees must provide health insurance (California Department of Insurance, 2026) . Meanwhile, the state does require all employers to either offer a retirement benefit or enroll their staff in CalSavers—though this savings program doesn’t include employer contributions (CalSavers, 2026) . In addition, there are numerous self-employed workers in child care who have no employersponsored benefits at all.  \nIn this brief, we examine early educators’ access to retirement and health care benefits in California, as well as their subsequent use of public assistance.  \nCenter for the Study of Child Care Employment, University of California, Berkeley [https://cscce.berkeley.edu](https://cscce.berkeley.edu)  \nEarly Educators Increasingly Depend on Medi-Cal, April 2026  \nHead Start and Title 5 centers are more likely to offer retirement and health benefits.  \nWe asked center directors whether their program offers certain benefits to full-time employees (Figure 1) . We treat these responses as site-level indicators that allow us to estimate the share of child care centers with retirement and health benefits.  \nDirectors more often reported their staff were eligible for health insurance (78 percent) than retirement benefits (66 percent) . However, availability of benefits is tightly linked to center program type. Specifically, centers offering care under Head Start or California Title 5 (including State Preschool) more often reported each of the benefits than Title 22 centers (the baseline standard for licensed care) .  \nFigure 1. Child Care Centers Offering Retirement and Health Benefits  \nCalifornia Early Care and Educator Workforce Study, 2025  \n\n|  |\n| --- |\n|  |\n|  |\n\n100  \n75  \n50  \n25  \n55%  \n85%  \n66%  \n69%  \n94%  \n78%  \nTitle 22 (n=744)  \nHead Start/Title 5 (n=412)  \nAll Centers (n=1,156)  \nRetirement or pension plan Health insurance  \nNote: Estimates reflect benefits offered to full-time staff. Data are reported by directors and site leaders of child care centers.  \nSource: Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, University of California, Berkeley • Created with Datawrapper  \nOur question on retirement benefits did not ask employers about CalSavers, which is now mandatory unless the organization offers a qualified plan of its own. Employers do not contribute to CalSavers accounts with a match, but merely facilitate the monthly setaside out of the employee’s paycheck. Common software like Paychex can do this automatically (CalSavers, 2026) . More data are needed to gauge ECE employers’awareness of and confidence in CalSavers.  \nCenter for the Study of Child Care Employment, University of California, Berkeley [https://cscce.berkeley.edu](https://cscce.berkeley.edu) 2  \nEarly Educators Increasingly Depend on Medi-Cal, April 2026  \nSmall businesses arenʼt required to offer health insurance, le","cbCaipK512aae0nD","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaipK512aae0nD","pdf",803847,15,"English","# Early Educators’ Compensation and Benefit Context\n# Retirement and Health Benefits by Center Type\n# CalSavers and Employer Retirement Coverage\n# Health Insurance Requirements and Differences by Site Size\n# Family Child Care Providers and Benefit Mandates\n# Examples of Required Employee Benefits","[{\"question\":\"What did directors report about retirement and health benefits for full-time staff?\",\"answer\":\"Directors reported higher availability of health insurance (78%) than retirement benefits (66%). Benefit offerings also varied by program type.\"},{\"question\":\"How do Head Start and California Title 5 centers differ from Title 22 centers in benefit provision?\",\"answer\":\"Centers offering care under Head Start or California Title 5 more often reported retirement and health benefits than Title 22 centers, which serve as the baseline standard for licensed care.\"},{\"question\":\"Why do health insurance access differences arise across child care settings in California?\",\"answer\":\"Health insurance requirements generally apply only to employers with at least 50 staff, so many smaller centers and family child care providers are not required to offer health plans. Family child care providers are self-employed and must purchase benefits themselves.\"}]","BRIEF April 2026 - Early Educators Increasingly Depend on Medi-Cal - Subtitle | PDF",1792046918,38]