City Savings On After-School At Worker Expense;
Key Program Lacks Teachers, Other Unionized Staff

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

The city's lauded after-school program has managed to enroll more children at a lower cost in part by paying low wages and offering few benefits to the program's workers.

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang A CUT-RATE OPERATION: Neal Tepel, an official with District Council 1707, accuses the Bloomberg administration of using nonunion staff as a cheaper way of expanding after-school day care, and of ignoring an arbitrator's ruling to pay some staff union wages and benefits.

A report released last week praised many aspects of Mayor Bloomberg's three-year, $200-million investment in the Out of School Time (OST) program, which began in September 2005. But it also revealed that most workers go without health care and paid sick or vacation time, and they often earn less than their union counterparts working at day care centers funded by the Administration for Children's Services.

Kudos and Objections

Providers praised the program during a City Council hearing last week, but expressed concern about the low per-child payments and gaps in transferring children from ACS after-school day care to the OST programs.

"Instead of expanding the existing day-care system under ACS," said Neal Tepel, assistant to the executive director of District Council 1707, which represents 8,000 city day care workers, "the city set up OST as a cheaper way to get some of the same services. They would be saving money while expanding programs."

Last year OST provided academic, recreational and cultural activities for about 58,000 students ages six to 21 after school, during the summer and on school holidays. About 200 community-based organizations run the roughly 550 programs scattered throughout the five boroughs. The program is considered to be one of the largest of its kind in the country, and Mr. Bloomberg has budgeted $109 million for the program next year.

But the expansion has come with a non-union work force whose benefits pale in comparison with their ACS counterparts.

Few Receive Benefits

Most of the OST program staff is part-time, as is the ACS staff, since most children attend the programs for part of the day. About 15 percent of the OST part-time work force receives health benefits, according to the report, which was commissioned by the city. About 19 percent receive paid sick or vacation days and 10 percent have access to retirement plans.

All ACS staff are covered by the city's health insurance plan, have sick and holiday leave and have a pension. They also have access to the union welfare fund, which helps with dental, vision and tuition reimbursement. About 1 percent of OST staff gets help with school costs.

About 20 percent of the OST programs reported that their average wage last year was between $6 and $10.99 per hour and about 41 percent said the average was between $11 and $15.99 an hour, according to the city-funded report. These averages included full-time and management salaries. Part-time ACS workers, excluding certified Teachers and management, earned an average of $12.50 per hour last year, according to DC 1707.

DYCD Not Responsive

The city said that some program savings were found by housing some of the OST programs in public facilities that don't require rent or maintenance payments.

When asked to what extent staff costs played a role in the reduced figures, a spokesman for the Department for Youth and Community Development, which oversees OST, answered in an e-mail, "The OST system was designed to take advantage of existing public resources such as schools, housing facilities and parks. The flexibility of the system also allows for a diverse staffing model targeted to the after-school hours."

No Teachers on Staff

The per-student cost this year for year-round care for elementary school-age children in OST was $2,800. The cost for the same-aged children in ACS-funded day-care sites was about $4,600, and about $4,000 for ACS-funded programs that used schools to house their programs.

Even though 98 percent of the elementary programs, 92 percent of the middle school initiatives and 40 percent of the high school programs offer homework help, 38 percent of the programs had no certified Teachers on staff, according to the report. All ACS-funded day-care centers are required to have Teachers on staff who are either certified or in the process of certification.

As part of the report, evaluators observed various programs in the OST system. They rated academic programs in which certified Teachers or activity specialists were present significantly higher than those without Teachers.

'Should Require Teachers'

Local officials flagged the issue of certification when the program was first proposed. "The City Council believed certified Teachers should be a requirement in OST, but we were not successful," said Brooklyn Councilman Lewis A. Fidler, the chair of the Youth Services Committee at the Jan. 29 hearing.

Other Council Members were concerned about the overall academic quality of the programs. "I don't think there's enough focus on academic enrichment," said Councilwoman Letitia James, also of Brooklyn. "There needs to be more homework help than playtime."

About 33 percent of program directors reported that it was a "major challenge" to offer the "competitive salaries necessary to hire qualified staff." And 52 percent said that they lacked the funds necessary to "provide quality programming."

Getting Services on Cheap

In testimony at the Jan. 29 hearing, a coalition of community groups running OST programs reinforced this point.

"In surveying providers, we have found that the real cost of providing quality OST Option 1 [year-round elementary school-age] program is approximately $2,000 greater per participant than the rate allocated under the current contracts," said Michelle Yanche, a representative of the Neighborhood Family Services Coalition, which includes 24 community-based organizations.

City officials said funding levels were appropriate. "DYCD is confident that the OST price-per-participant is sufficient to support a high-quality, comprehensive program," said DYCD spokesman Ryan Dodge.

In addition to providing services for middle school and high school kids, OST took over programming for an estimated 10,000 children who were receiving after-school care from ACS. The removal of those children from ACS programs led to the loss of 600 union jobs.

There are currently OST programs using classrooms in 25 of the ACS-funded day care centers. DC 1707 filed labor charges against the city for refusing to recognize those workers as union members and failing to pay them union wages and benefits. A year ago, an arbitrator ruled in the union's favor, but the city has yet to comply.

Getting Lip Service

"We keep talking with city officials," said Mr. Tepel. "We met with them recently. They are very friendly, but for some reason, the problem persists."

DYCD officials said that they are not part of labor negotiations with DC 1707. A spokesman for the Mayor's Office said in an e-mail that the city had no comment on why the ruling had not been enforced, beyond what DYCD said.

Sources familiar with the situation say that there is concern within the administration that if the 600 OST workers located inside ACS day-care centers are allowed to re-join the union, it will open the door to all OST workers being unionized.

Children's advocates as well as the union have expressed concern about the city's inability to account for a significant number of children who were in ACS programs two years ago but were not transferred into OST programs.

Numbers Don't Add Up

One problem is that each agency has different numbers. Originally, it was estimated that about 10,000 children would need to be transferred. DYCD said that this number dropped to 6,820 after taking into account factors such as aging out, dropping out and alternative childcare arrangements made by parents. About 3,878 of those kids made the transition and were enrolled in OST programs this year. But that is only 57 percent of the children who should have been enrolled.

When questioned about the gap at the Youth Services Committee hearing, Deputy Commissioner of Youth Services Bill Chong said that ACS was better equipped to determine what happened to its participants.

An ACS spokeswoman said that its data showed that the number of children who would need to transfer was closer to 5,500. She said that the agency's records show 1,579 children who were using OST vouchers, which added to DYCD's number of 3,868 brings the total close to the number who were supposed to transfer. But DYCD's total includes children using vouchers. The ACS official said she could only go by the data available to her.

Can Add 5,000 Slots

There is no debate that the influx of funding will allow for more children to enter OST programs. Mr. Chong said that much of the new money will go towards adding 5,000 new year-round elementary school-age slots, which are in high demand.

The union is hoping that some of the funding will be used to increase wages and provide benefits for the day-care workers, which it says could help raise out of poverty some of the very parents who are using the subsidized child care.

"A job in a day-care center includes not only a decent wage, health benefits and dignity, but also a ladder of opportunity for self-improvement," said Mr. Tepel. "We want the children to be treated well and the people who care for them also to be treated well."