Affects Teacher Quality
Salary Gap Hurts Pre-K Program

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

State and city officials have made universal pre-kindergarten a top goal, but union leaders and education advocates say programs will suffer unless the city moves to reduce the massive salary disparities among teachers.

RANDI WEINGARTEN: Pay gap makes difference.

Governor Spitzer has proposed $252 million for city pre-k programs, a 33-percent increase over last year. The city will receive enough money for 20,000 new pre-k slots if the Governor's budget passes. With a mandated ratio of at least one Teacher for every 18 children, the city will need more than 1,000 new instructors.

No Uniform Salaries

But wages for Teachers and administrators in the city's patchwork of pre-kindergarten programs vary by tens of thousands of dollars. Salaries depend primarily upon which organization or agency oversees the program, and decisions about where the new slots will land are very much up in the air.

"It is very important that Teachers are qualified and well-compensated," said Betty Holcomb, policy director at Child Care, Inc. "That is the biggest indicator of the quality of education that a child receives."

ERNIE LOGAN: Pushes for parity.

About 30 percent of the city's approximately 67,000 subsidized pre-k students are taught by Department of Education staff. Those employees are United Federation of Teacher members, whose starting salary is currently $42,512 and will rise to $45,530 next year.

DOE also contracts out programs to community-based organizations, which serve about 40 percent of the city's total pre-k students. Wages for the mostly non-union work force vary, but according to an October 2005 City Council report, starting salaries dipped as low as $28,000, and averaged about $36,500.

'Trying to Ensure Quality'

"Because we've been so successful in collective bargaining," said UFT President Randi Weingarten, "there's a big gap between what Teachers are paid in the CBO's and what they are paid in the public school system. We're trying to ensure the quality of the programs."

As of February 2006, there were also 19,000 children enrolled in pre-kindergarten classes in day-care centers overseen by the Administration for Children's Services. ACS is currently funded for 23,600 slots.

Certified Teachers in ACS-funded centers start at about $37,000 and after 10 years, they make about half as much as their public school counterparts with the same seniority and credentials.

JOEL I. KLEIN: Flaws in Spitzer plan.

"They do the same job and they get paid much less," said Neal Tepel, assistant to Executive Director Raglan George of District Council 1707, which represents pre-k teachers in ACS centers. "Parity becomes an issue if you want to maintain the Teachers in the community centers."

Incentive to Leave

Mr. Tepel said that although many instructors are committed to staying at the centers, many also leave to teach in the public schools after they get state certification because of the significantly higher pay.

ACS center directors and Assistant Principals who oversee pre-k programs in public schools are both represented by the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators. Some directors have the same certification as APs, but starting salaries are 46,000 and $88,398, respectively.

CSA President Ernie Logan said he thought all pre-k programs should flow through the DOE, regardless of where the program is housed.

"It doesn't matter that it's not in a school," he said. "Pre-k is not a play date; it's education, and there's got to be parity in salaries for that."

Turnover is also an issue among the day-care supervisors. Between 2002 and 2005, almost 50 percent of directors and assistant directors left the city centers.

Need Pre-K in Centers

Education advocates stress the importance of maintaining some pre-k programs in the centers. They say it is especially important for working and low-income parents to have a location that provides pre-k combined with child-care services so they can work a full day. Many centers are open from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m., whereas a full-day pre-k program in the public schools runs for six hours and 20 minutes.

The Mayor's Office has convened an inter-agency working group in an effort to coordinate funding and policy decisions, but DOE is charged with spending the potential $252 million in universal pre-k money next year. Officials say they will allocate the funds according to need.

"It is based on a lot of factors," said Lindsay Harr, a DOE spokeswoman. "We look at the demands of a particular community, where programs are needed, where there is space, and the quality of the programs available."

Community-based organizations estimate that they would need about $5,000 per student for a half-day program in order to bring instructors' pay more in line with public school Teachers.

Less Money Per Student?

But Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein testified at a City Council hearing last week that the Governor's proposed budget actually lowers the per-student payments from $3,300 to $3,100 next year. He estimated the real cost at $4,400 and said the city would have to spend $8 million extra next year to maintain current levels of enrollment, and an additional $20 million to expand the program according to the expectations of the Governor's budget.

Further complicating matters, Mr. Klein said that Mr. Spitzer's plan restricts the city to spending state money only on half-day slots, which last about 2-1/2 hours, when what is needed is money for full-day slots to benefit working parents.

"There is so little demand for half-day programs," he told the Council, "that we will struggle to actually use the money the state is allocating to pre-k."

A spokesman in the Governor's budget office contradicted this claim. "School districts may offer half-day or full-day programs with this funding, and can supplement this funding," Scott Reif wrote in an e-mail.

As the budget wrangling continues, advocates say they will continue to press for increased funding for pre-k programs, especially for full-day programs.

"There's a misconception that anything before kindergarten is babysitting. when actually it is the most important time for children learning," said Ms. Holcomb, whose group also co-convenes the main statewide early childhood education coalition. "Without well-qualified and well-paid teachers, you will not reap the life-time benefits that pre-k can give a child."