 When I came to Ellis, I came with a belief that I could make a difference. I remember my roots of growing up in poverty and knowing that this agency was focused on low-income working families, trying to make sure that they had opportunities to go to work and that their children were safe. I really enjoy coming and seeing the kids, to be honest with you. Give me another high five, yeah. We have 1600 kids on any given day. One of the things that's a challenge is to try to be able to pay our staff what they really deserve to be paid. Some of them are making more money than fast food. I know teachers who have completed grad school and they make less than $30,000. As a teacher and a mom, I start to think about my budget and that I should find a different job. And I know talking to my coworkers that they think about it as well. You like the work and it's a good field to be in, but sometimes you have to think about the bills. Unless we have money to invest in the teaching workforce, we cannot fill the classrooms. Commonwealth of Massachusetts has told us that they want bachelor level teachers in all of our classrooms, including infant and toddler. The implication when they came out with this eight or nine years ago was that if they do get bachelor level teachers, they'll pay them. And I'm happy to say that we have bachelor level teachers in all of our preschool rooms and most of our infant and toddler rooms. Problem is the state never kept their end of the bargain. Even in my center, which I pay a little bit more than most people, I still get two vacancies. Teachers with bachelor level degrees are going to public schools. There is a wait list in Massachusetts, there's no question about it, and as the executive director of a childcare agency, I'd love to expand. The problem is I could build the building, but I can't find staff to take care of the kids. Why should legislation that we're working on help pay for teachers' salaries? Why should they invest more money? What helps the child to learn is their relationship with their teacher. My hope is that we are going to be able to get that substantial rate increase this year. I think that's going to show our educators that the state believes that they're worth something. The thing I admire most about my teachers is the hard work that they do every day, day in and day out. We need to come together under one roof and one agreement that we're going to push for this outcome. Our teachers are the best, as far as I'm concerned, they work day in and day out and they give 100% to their kids.