Challenges facing the child care community

Good morning. My name is Tammie Miller, and I am the UFT Family Child Care Providers Chapter Chair, representing over 28,000 family child care providers around the five boroughs.

I want to thank Chairwoman Savino and members of this distinguished committee for the opportunity to testify before you today. The childcare community does indeed face many challenges ahead, and I hope that with your strong leadership and continued commitment to our programs, we can move early childhood education forward in a meaningful way.

Since our union began organizing family providers in 2005, our chapter has grown by leaps and bounds — the demand for these services from parents is very high and evident. We secured our first Memorandum of Agreement with the state in January 2010, and we are continually striving to strengthen the profession. Not only does the UFT provide our members with a wide range of training options — on everything from CPR and first aid to business classes and childhood development sessions — but we’ve also developed and distributed educational kits to providers, comprised of an easy-to-use literacy based curriculum and age-appropriate activities to enhance the educational components of their programs. In addition, we have offered professional development classes to informal providers as well as registered and licensed providers. Over the past two years we’ve provided training for more than 14,000 early care educators and the staff that many of them employ. The tens of thousands of children under our members’ care every day are very well served.

The importance of reliable, quality early care and education in a child’s life cannot be understated, nor can its importance to the families that rely on these critical services. Unfortunately, however, these are very uncertain times for children, parents, and early care workers. We have strong concerns about both the funding of early care programs, and some of the systematic changes being made under Early Learn NYC.

Specifically, we are strongly opposed to how Early Learn is revamping the system to mandate that all children must leave home provider settings in favor of center-based programs once they reach the age of four. The fact of the matter is, both types of programs are terrific and vital, but mandating one program over another hurts providers and undermines parent choice.
There are any number of reasons why parents may want their children to remain under a home-based provider’s care until kindergarten. Some parents prefer smaller program settings for their child; others want to retain the continuity of care. Parents also rely on the flexibility of drop-off and pick-up times of a home day care provider’s program, while still others with multiple children of different ages need them all under one roof instead of spread out among several different sites — a logistical nightmare to parents without means. Bottom line — Both types of programs offer quality care and rich educational components that serve children well; Parents need to retain their right to choose the setting that is right for their family.

The other crucial piece of the puzzle is funding — not only to maintain the number of slots that are currently available, but also for training that will expand and enhance the quality of early care programs as a whole. Thanks to the strong advocacy of our members, our colleagues and the many wonderful advocates within the early childhood community, we were able to successfully push back efforts to cut $90+ million this past year. That said, significant cuts — approximately $40 million — were still made, leaving the future of some 10,000 slots in home-based and center settings in doubt. What’s more, we fear more cutbacks could be on the horizon, reportedly $37 million in the state budget alone.

New Yorkers simply can’t afford any further disinvestment in these programs. We must not allow any more dismantling or overhauling of solid, proven full-time or after-school programs, especially if they are only going to be replaced by new initiatives with limited/temporary funding. Likewise, we can’t afford less State and TANF funding, or any additional cuts to childcare slots and programs. If we don’t act now, fewer kids will be served, fewer programs will exist, and families that are lucky enough to find a provider, either home-based or center based, will be faced with paying higher fees. During these difficult economic times, we cannot further burden families in need of subsidies or early care workers who are providing for their own families.

We’ve all seen studies that show how every dollar invested in early care and education programs returns $7+ dollars down the road. Teachers and parents also see firsthand how the work done with a child in his or her early years helps prepare that child for kindergarten and for life. Our union is the first line of defense in arguing that educational investments should be from the cradle to college.

Closing the achievement gap is truly only attainable if funding in the early care sector is made. That investment must include additional resources to ensure accessible quality programs, program enhancements, living wages to promote worker retention and additional funding for professional development. An investment in our children is an investment in the health of our local economy and our communities. To be specific investing in childcare is an investment in the infrastructure of our economic future.

In the months ahead, we look forward to working with members of this committee and others who support early care education programs. Together, we can ensure that our children and their families have the options and programs that they so desperately need. Thank you.