Unions: ACS's Child-Care Cuts Mean Heavy Layoffs; Say Services Will Suffer

The Administration for Children's Services Nov. 19 announced a financial plan for the next two fiscal years focusing on cutbacks — which may lead to layoffs — to its child-care centers to close an estimated budget deficit of $62 million.

JOHN B. MATTINGLY: Tries to minimize disruptions.

Unions whose members' jobs are affected predicted chaos in the system that would harm services if the cuts are implemented.

'Need Significant Cuts'

"I want to be clear about this — we have to make these significant spending cuts, but we are committed to doing so without having to turn away even one child now receiving child care," said ACS Commissioner John B. Mattingly. "If we do not make these changes, however, we could push the system to a point where we would be forced to shut the doors of child-care centers throughout the city that are currently serving thousands of children."

Beginning next July, ACS will stop paying child-care contractors to provide kindergarten services, transferring these children to the Department of Education instead. These children had been provided for under ACS for what Mr. Mattingly called "perfectly good reasons'' — usually because a younger sibling was in day-care and a parent would want both together in the same institution. The Commissioner said that ACS could no longer shoulder the weight of kindergarten-age children while DOE services were available to them.

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang STILL PUSHING ON PAY ISSUE: Even as city officials are planning to close under-utilized day-care centers because of a budget hole, Tammie Miller of the United Federation of Teachers Nov. 20 urged that salaries for home day-care providers be significantly upgraded.

'Can't Subsidize System'

"We are unable to continue subsidizing the system as we have in the past," he said. "We need to make immediate changes in order to focus our limited resources on the most-vulnerable families and quality programs — and also, not to be in a position of having to deny child care to any family now receiving this precious service."

But Council of School Supervisors and Administrators President Ernest Logan, who represents supervisors in child-care, said that the DOE was unprepared for the sudden influx of new children it would receive. "They have a proposal to send 3,500 kids into the DOE," he said in a phone interview. "[The DOE] just told us they could not deal with any expansion the day before."

NEAL TEPEL: Hundreds of layoffs likely.

ACS will also stop payment, beginning in January, to child-care classrooms at contracted centers with 15 or more vacancies, amounting to about 540 empty seats at 21 sites. Mr. Mattingly said that he could not predict whether layoffs would result from the ACS pulling its funding to these centers, and that he would coordinate with them starting next week. If any of the centers have to close, ACS plans to move the displaced children to other centers or provide them with a voucher so that they can continue to receive care.

Neal Tepel, assistant to District Council 1707 Executive Director Raglan George Jr., said that the child-care cuts would have a devastating impact on workers and children in their communities.

'Hundreds Will Be Laid Off'

"Hundreds of people will be laid off if 21 centers are closed," he said. "It will probably put hundreds and hundreds of Teachers and paraprofessionals and day-care workers and cooks out of work while this country is in a crisis. This administration right now has a plan that is designed to put people out of work. By giving ACS no alternative than to go through the centers, they'll put staff on the street, and they'll put kids on the street."

Mr. Tepel blamed lack of communication between the DOE and ACS for budgetary bloat, saying that millions could be saved with more-effective collaboration between the two agencies. "While the schools are overcrowded, the room is in ACS centers. If the DOE knew where the space was available, they could refer the parents to those day-care centers," he said. "Besides reducing class size, it would probably save hundreds of millions of dollars in building construction."

While ACS is promising to relocate any child displaced by centers closing, Mr. Tepel expressed doubt that that was possible. "Children in those centers will have a difficult time being placed in a center; there may not be a center in that neighborhood," he said. "As [City Councilwoman Letitia] James mentioned, two centers closed in her district last year, about 30 staff in each, and those people are now on welfare. Most children in those centers have not found places to be placed. It's not possible."

The cuts come after ACS identified shortfalls of $19.3 million in the 2009 fiscal year, and a $38.4 million shortfall in 2010, with less funding coming from the state and more from the city tax levy. Mr. Mattingly said that ACS could no longer creatively close its budget gaps in such a tough economic climate, leading to the cutbacks.