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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Gregory Brender, Chief Policy & Innovation Officer of Day Care Council of New York
10:51:55
ยท
4 min
Gregory Brender from the Day Care Council of New York testified about the critical state of early childhood education in NYC, highlighting concerns about budget cuts and the need for increased funding and support. He emphasized the importance of maintaining and expanding programs like 3-K, addressing workforce challenges, and improving enrollment procedures.
- Urged full funding for the current 3-K program and restoration of expansion timeline
- Called for restoration and baselining of programs like School Day Plus and Promise NYC
- Emphasized the need for increased pay and support for the early childhood education workforce
- Recommended improvements to enrollment procedures to reduce red tape for families
Gregory Brender
10:51:55
Good evening.
10:51:56
I'm Gregory Brender from the Day Care Council of New York.
10:52:00
Chair Joseph and all of the people who are making this happen, staff members, sergeants at arms, thank you so much for this and for really making it a full day starting with a press conference that's adding voice for children and youth and teachers.
10:52:15
You know the kids who are in three ks and pre k are a little young for the twelve hour hearing.
10:52:22
But in every corner of New York there are early childhood educators who are working to give young children the confidence, the social skills, the bravery to in a few years be the ones who are here testifying.
10:52:37
So I'm excited to maybe the FY 02/1931 budget process to see that happen.
10:52:46
Unfortunately this is a budget hearing so we have to talk about the really scary things that are in this budget for early childhood education providers and for the children and families they serve.
10:53:00
Mayor Adams budget makes drastic cuts to early childhood education at a time when families are leaving city because they cannot afford early childhood education.
10:53:10
At a time when programs are struggling because staff are underpaid and they're losing teachers, staff, directors, providers because of inadequate salaries and benefits.
10:53:20
And at a time that also the ACS system is facing a significant deficit in its voucher program which is going to be increasing the need for the services of NYCPS contracted childcare centers and family childcare programs particularly in their extended day, extended year programs.
10:53:39
Therefore we have many recommendations where we will be using your word of the day baseline quite a bit.
10:53:45
Starting with keeping the promise of three k for all.
10:53:50
We urge the city to include full funding for the current three k program in the mayor's executive budget for f y twenty four twenty five.
10:53:58
Maintaining the complete number of seats and programs and at a minimum reinstating the $112,000,000 cut in the mayor's preliminary budget.
10:54:07
We also urge the restoration of the timeline for three k expansion so the city can move towards true universal access to three k in every neighborhood.
10:54:17
We urge the restoration and baselining of the school day plus program.
10:54:21
This is an amazing council initiative that allows childcare programs to respond to the changing demographic needs of their neighborhoods and provide a longer school day and longer year in programs that only have school day contracts that are on a six hour twenty minute schedule and which we know are not working for many working families.
10:54:45
We urge the restoration of the Promise NYC program, also a city council initiative that provides access to children who are otherwise denied due to discriminatory requirements.
10:54:58
We urge the base restoration and baselining of preschool special education programs.
10:55:04
Finally, two other key areas where we know work needs to be done.
10:55:08
One, we need to continue to invest in the early childhood education workforce.
10:55:12
The day care council is proud to have worked with our partners in organized labor to settle collective bargaining agreements.
10:55:19
However the biggest issue still facing early childhood education providers is loss of staff, the difficulty finding staff and that is due to the inadequate salaries.
10:55:29
We urge the city to expedite the payment of collectively bargain salary increases to the early childhood education workforce and to identify new resources to increase the pay of the early childhood education workforce.
10:55:42
Teachers, directors, providers, staff at every level.
10:55:46
We also urge the city to improve enrollment procedures and we have several recommendations in our written testimony to support making it easier and reducing the red tape that families face when they are trying to enroll their children particularly in community based early childhood education programs.
10:56:04
Thank you so much for having this hearing and for being such an important advocate for early childhood education and we look forward to working together and hopefully to see changes in the mayor's executive budget.