City Avoids Labor Dispute
Doing Right by Pre-K Kids

By NEAL TEPEL

THE CHIEF's education reporter Meredith Kolodner in its Oct. 5 edition wrote that "because of a bureaucratic funding dispute, many of the toddlers have yet to enter a full-day pre-k classroom." Although the City Council and Mayor Bloomberg agreed to add $5 million to increase the number of children enrolled in community-based city-funded day-care centers, the Department of Education refused to pay an amount per child that would be needed to meet expenses and cover union contracts.

Neal Tepel is president of the Civil Service Merit Council.

Although denied by DOE, the non-profits were allocated much less per student than that paid into the public schools. This two-tier system created by DOE would have had a devastating affect on labor agreements and placed the pre-kindergarten expansion project on hold.

Day-Care Centers Key

As funding increases for universal pre-kindergarten services for children, the unionized city day-care network becomes the most likely route to absorb the expansion. The centers are strategically situated in neighborhoods throughout New York City and already provide educational services to young children below age five.

Day-care centers operate under the city's Administration for Children Services and are closely monitored by the New York City Department of Health. These facilities are linked through the Day Care Council, forming a school system for young children. Program standards and Teacher requirements parallel the public schools. Centers must maintain a percentage of licensed Teachers and supervisors, and develop an early education curriculum aimed at preparing youngsters for the next level of schooling. With limited space available in the public schools, qualified non-profit facilities become a critical part of the Universal Pre-kindergarten (UPK) expansion. Through this initiative, every 3- and 4-year-old child in New York could be provided with a quality education at no cost to parents.

Short-Funding Fallout

As always, there are those in government who would prefer that workers not have a decent wage and job protections. DOE had imposed a limit for the cost per child to non-profit operations different than for the public schools. Private facilities would have received $8,000 per child, while the DOE would budget for $12,900 per student in the public schools. The smaller amount allocated to city-supported community-based facilities would negate union contracts, affect working conditions for staff, force hardships on centers, and disregard the needs of youngsters in these programs.

Realizing the value of this early education network, the Campaign for Fiscal Equity/New York City Council Commission of 2006 recommended that UPK funding in community-based organizations be the same as that received for youngsters in the public schools. In spite of the council recommendations, DOE refused to compensate publicly-supported non-profits more than $8,000 per student. Many believe that the Department of Education's contracts division unilaterally set up a discriminatory policy without justification or the approval of the Mayor.

Get What You Pay For

With the expansion of full-day universal pre-kindergarten in unionized community centers, the payment rate for students under the UPK umbrella becomes critical to the survival of these organizations. Since they provide the same services and meet the same standards as the public schools, adequate payment rates must be established.

These programs hire credentialed and qualified Teachers, keep meticulous records on students, maintain facilities that are carefully monitored by the Department of Health and State Education Department, pay rent, purchase educational materials and equipment, install elaborate computer tracking systems, and provide healthy meals for children. If we are to plan for future expansion of services to young children in unionized programs, the payment rate equity issue must be addressed.

With clear research available indicating the importance of early education and the Mayor and Speaker's commitment to pre-k availability for three- and four-year-olds, the Mayor's Early Education Policy Steering Committee worked hard to surmount many of the obstacles and bureaucratic policies that prevented day-care centers from participating in the UPK expansion initiative. As a result of intervention by top officials at City Hall, a complicated application process developed by DOE for non-profits has now been simplified. Funding will be made available for start-up expenses in day-care centers and facility modification where necessary.

Fairer Funding

A more-equitable funding formula has been created for publicly-supported day-care centers which supports current labor agreements with New York City. The Administration for Children Services, which has had a successful track record of working with pre-school non-profit programs, will take a leadership role and not DOE.

The two-tier payment structure developed by DOE not only would have affected services to children but would have undermined labor agreements in public-supported non-profit programs. Since the discriminatory funding policies could have led to DOE refusing to provide sufficient money to fund union contracts, labor leaders were watching closely. A similar situation occurred at the Department of Youth and Community Development that continues to be unresolved. In that DYCD fiasco, the city closed day-care school-age centers operating under the Administration for Children Services and set up a similar model under DYCD claiming the "new" programs are different and therefore workers are not covered by a union contract.

An arbitration decision of Feb. 21, 2006 stated that while the school-age child care programs are now funded by DYCD rather than ACS, this should not permit the centers or the city to refuse to comply with a labor agreement. DYCD continues to disregard a valid union contract as well as an arbitration decision and refuses to pay union wages and health benefits to workers in community day-care centers. The Department of Education's refusal to provide the proper payment rate to unionized non-profit operations could have resulted in a similar labor dispute with New York City.

Equal standards must be enforced and equal funding must be provided as we expand services for young children in New York City. Qualified professionals are needed and should be paid at market rate. A responsible government plays fair with its workforce and does not undermine labor agreements.