City Responds to Complaints About Childcare Funding

After a steady drumbeat of complaints, Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration has agreed to several reforms of Early Learn, the system that serves 36,000 children before the age of five.

The biggest change affects the way the 362 programs are funded. For years, providers complained of shortfalls because of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg's move to reimburse them based on their enrollment, which could fluctuate, instead of their costs. A survey by the Campaign for Children of 42 agencies found 83 percent of them were struggling with their rates, and some were even spending more than their contracted amount with the city.

Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, the deputy mayor for health and human services, told WNYC the city took the advice of a task force and would now reimburse them based on actual expenses such as electricity and rent. "They will be reinvested for real costs as opposed to something else that did not meet their needs," she explained.

She said the city is still figuring out the costs for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

"The only way that pre-K and kindergarten and the school system is going to be successful is if we begin really early in taking care of learning environment of these children."

Jennifer March, Executive Director of the Citizens Committee for Children, said these changes will bring some immediate financial stability to the childcare system. "It's been in a perpetual state of crisis triggered by the last administration's budget targets," she said. "It will keep providers whole financially and bring some sanity and stability to the system."

The Administration for Children's Services, which runs Early Learn, has also committed to lowering the fees paid by more than 5,400 families whose children attend part-time programs and add extra hours. Barrios-Paoli said this affects families who make just above the threshold for free childcare.

In addition, workers will be paid a minimum wage of $11.50 an hour and teachers, who make more than that, will get a 2.5-percent cost-of-living adjustment. Early Learn teachers have been without a contract for about a decade. Unlike pre-K teachers, who work for the Department of Education, teachers of two- and three-year-olds are paid by ACS and make much less money. An Early Learn teacher with a bachelors degree is paid $36,500 a year compared to $48,000 for a pre-K teacher, who often works shorter hours and gets summers off.

Andrea Anthony, Executive Director of the Day Care Council of New York, said she hopes the city will keep striving for pay parity. "I'm hopeful," she said, adding that at the very least they should get back pay.

Barrios-Paoli said that's her goal, too, and that the city is working with Local 1707 to build a career ladder for early childcare workers but that it's difficult to talk about pay parity right now because the employees have different credentials.

She said ACS has agreed to spend over $7.4 million over the next two years to add 63 new positions that will bolster oversight and ensure safe conditions, while providing support and technical assistance to the Early Learn programs.

The de Blasio administration has also been criticized for not awarding contracts to some longtime providers of early childcare, or stepping in to stop some from losing their leases. The city has said it is still working with them.