Early Childhood Educator Workforce Development and Pipeline

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Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning.

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Thank you, Chair Gutiérrez. As a longtime public school educator, the topic of developing and recruiting qualified teachers to work with our youngest children is important to me. As chair of the Committee on Higher Education, I want to know more about how CUNY plays such a significant role in ensuring that our youngest New Yorkers get a good start on their education path. I also want to ensure that any New Yorkers who have interests in or experience with early childhood education as a career path are able to get the credentials they need to enter or to advance that workforce. I am happy to say that CUNY is playing a very active part in preparing these workers. Currently, approximately 3,600 CUNY students are working towards a degree in early childhood education. A great variety of certificates, advanced certificates, associates degrees, bachelor's degrees, masters and other credentials in early childhood education, including with bilingual and special education focuses are offered at various CUNY community college and senior college campuses. In addition, the New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institution which is a public private partnership at CUNY works to provide comprehensive support for early childhood professionals at every stage of their career journey. As CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez recently noted, this is a moment where we need to meet the City's demand for their workforce. I look forward to this discussion.

I would like to thank my staff and the staff of the Committee on Higher Education, Javanni Pucua, my chief of staff, Julia Goldman Pikman, the committee senior legislative counsel, Virginia Paul, the committee senior legislative policy analyst, and Ally Stoer, the committee's financial analyst. Thank you, Chair Gutiérrez.

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Thank you, Chair Joseph. I will now pass it to Chair Won for her opening statement.

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Thank you so much, Chair Gutiérrez and Joseph, for your partnership on this important hearing. Three moms here chairing this hearing. So thank you so much for being here. My name is Julie Won and I have the privilege of chairing today's Council Committee on Workforce Development in partnership with Early Childhood Education and Higher Education. In today's hearing, we are looking to understand a chronically understaffed and underpaid profession. And we are here to discuss what the City's workforce development infrastructure is doing about it because every single one of us are living it every single day. If my aftercare or my child care cannot provide the right amount of teacher to student ratio, it is going to be a very hard day at work for me. Early childhood educators are a cornerstone of New York City and without them, families cannot continue to justify raising their children in the City. We cannot have a conversation about the future of New York without talking about the future of early childhood educators' livelihoods.

Before us today, we have New York City Talent, the City's central body for aligning agencies with educational institutions and private partners around workforce priorities. And this committee wants to understand whether New York City Talent is treating this crisis with the urgency it deserves, as well as the celebration that we have been having, a lot of victory laps. There are over 36,000 early childhood educators in New York City right now, and the City needs at least 5,000 new ones every single year just to keep pace. The wait list for preschool special education teachers is over 3,400 students. Hundreds of classrooms are currently empty because there is no one to staff them and over 40% of the current workforce is nearing retirement age. A recent survey of the City's childcare program found that over 50% of centers reported their new teachers leave within 5 years. So even when we do bring people in, we struggle to keep them.

Why do they leave? One committee report details that it is because of abysmal wages despite high educational and financial barriers to entry. This includes $525 certificate application with $250 renewal for a childhood development associate or $160 exams, $104.50 for fingerprinting and $600 for a New York State teaching certification. This does not include the cost to go to college or training for these positions. So that means that you are paying anywhere from 75 to 100K just for undergrad. Then you are paying an additional 100K or more for your higher education for your master's degree. And then on top of that, you are throwing up about over another $1,000 for all these certificates and the fingerprinting. Yet despite all those costs, that is already what over $200,000 of debt that you may be in if you cannot afford to pay all that in cash. All of that just for a median wage of $69,000 a year, which is less than the 2025 median salary in New York City, according to the State Department of Labor.

It is not lost on me that this policy is deeply gendered. Most people who occupy these roles are women, particularly immigrant women and women of color who take on this work with pride and joy for our future generations. We are not just talking about wages here. As any parent with a toddler here knows, kids will always get sick and they also expose our workers to illnesses daily. As I eat my cough drops, as I live with two toddlers, it is important for us to provide them with adequate and fair access to healthcare coverage to boost our retention rates for our teachers. We need to find a way to connect these dots before this spiral goes into full-blown crisis.

To give credit where it is due, New York City Talent has made some investments like contributing to CUNY's Early Childhood Education Apprenticeship Program. But last December, however, New York City Talent released its Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, also known as WIOA local plan for 2025 to 2029 and did not identify early childhood education as a priority sector. This committee wants to understand why that was and what New York City Talent plans to do about it. We want to understand how New York City Talent coordinates with CUNY, Department of Education and the Office of Child Care and Early Childhood Education to build a real pipeline into this field and whether this administration is prepared to make early childhood education a genuine workforce development priority through budgetary commitments and meaningful investments in the sector.

As we are nearing the end of fiscal year 26 and finalizing the negotiations for fiscal year 27, I look forward to hearing from the administration and all of our witnesses today and to a productive discussion about how the Council can support this work because we know that the governor and the mayor has been making a lot of celebrations for the beginning of 2K for 2,000 students as well as 3K fully funding and Pre-K. We want to make sure that there is truly universal child care especially for existing 2K and 3K because in districts like mine and in the schools.

Before we begin, I want to thank my committee staff, senior counsel Alex Pollenoff, senior policy analyst William Hogneck, my deputy chief of staff Nelly Vera Martinez, my district manager Theresa Kone, my financial analyst Spencer for their work in preparing for today's hearing. I will now turn it back to Chair Joseph. Oh, just kidding. She already did her opening remarks. I am going to turn it back to Chair Gutiérrez.

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They were good remarks. We should hear it again. But we will not. We started late. Thank you both. Today we will hear from the Mayor's Office of Child Care, CUNY, the City University of New York, the Office of Talent and Workforce Development, the Department of Education, as well as other early childhood educators, providers and stakeholders. Additionally, I would like to remind everyone that this subcommittee has launched a form for providers. You can check for it on my website and on socials. I want to thank the members of the Early Childhood Education Subcommittee who have joined us today. CM Rita Joseph, CM Kevin Riley, who is with us, CM Felder. I think those are the folks on the committee. And I would also like to acknowledge CMs Caban, Epstein, Ariola, Louis, Maloney, Dinowitz, of course, Education Chair Dinowitz, who had to step out for a second. And is anyone on Zoom? Oh, and CM Felder. Yes, he is on my committee. Thank you. CM Felder.

Additionally, thank you to the staff, our staff for the subcommittee, Julia Goldman Pikman, Katie Selena, Grace Amato, Andrew Laneis and Margaret Barnsley, as well as my own staff, Ana Lair, Frank Hulka, Ela for their work on today's hearing. And finally, thank you to everyone who has signed up to testify and for being here instead of outside on a beautiful day. We look forward to hearing from all of you.

I want to remind everyone who wishes to testify in person today that you must fill out a witness slip which you can find on the desk of the sergeant-at-arms near the entrance of this room. Please fill out the slip even if you have already registered in advance that you will be testifying in person. If you wish to testify on any of the legislation, please indicate on the witness slip whether you are here to testify in favor or in opposition. I also want to point out that we will not be voting on any legislation today to allow as many people as possible to testify. We are limiting it to two minutes per person whether you are in person or on Zoom. And I am also going to ask my colleagues to limit their questions and comments to 5 minutes. I will now turn it over to Early Childhood Education Subcommittee counsel to administer the oath.

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Okay. Thank you. Good afternoon, Chair Gutiérrez. Oh, is that better? Okay. Good afternoon, Chair Gutiérrez, CM Won, CM Joseph, members of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood Education, the Committee on Workforce Development, and the Committee on Higher Education, and all other council members. My name is Emmy Liss, and I am the executive director of the mayor's office of child care and early childhood education. I am joined today by my colleagues from New York City public schools, New York City Talent, and CUNY. Thank you for convening this important hearing and for giving us the opportunity to testify before you. I also want to acknowledge and recognize the early childhood educators who have joined us for this hearing today, as well as the advocacy groups and organizations who support this critical workforce. We are so grateful for the work you do every day in our city's early childhood programs and appreciate you taking the time to be here to share your stories and experiences.

Universal child care is a critical pillar of the Mamdani administration's agenda because we know how essential child care access is to children, families, and our economy. We also recognize that there is no universal child care without the child care workforce. We must take steps to respect the labor of this workforce that has been underrespected for too long. Child care work has been undervalued for generations, dating back to the time during and after slavery when women of color were forced to take care of the children of others without pay. We must reckon with decades of racism and injustice as we seek to do right by the child care workforce. This is why we must focus on delivering equitable wages to the child care workforce, reflecting the dignity owed to every educator regardless of the setting they work in and invest in the workforce at every step of their career development to ensure this is a field where the workforce can continue to grow and thrive.

Child care work is essential work. It is skilled work and it is deeply impactful work. The quality of a child's early education is directly shaped by the interactions they have with their adult caregivers and educators. Early childhood educators are the workforce behind the workforce. Without them, parents could not meaningfully participate in our economy. I say this personally, I would not be sitting here before you today were it not for the early childhood caregivers and educators who are supporting and nurturing my two young children at this very moment.

The city's child care workforce is made up of self-employed workers, small business and nonprofit employees, large corporate employees, and public sector workers. These include individuals working in licensed residential-based settings, centers run by community-based organizations and schools, some of which are contracted with the city, and others which are run entirely as private businesses. While any adult working in a licensed child care setting must go through a robust vetting process and a government run background check, because of the wide breadth of programs, both city contracted and private, the city has limited consolidated data on employment patterns and vacancies in child care programs.

Based on data from the New York City Controller and other analyses of census data, we estimate there are between 33,000 and 40,000 people working in child care today and the vast majority of them are women of color. This is a workforce that is largely underpaid with child care workers earning less than 96% of all professions in New York City. Wages and working conditions vary widely based on role and the educators are not just instructors. They have complex multi-dimensional roles as caregivers and partners to families connecting them to resources and services. Some are small business owners managing budgets, staffing, and licensing requirements and running program operations. We also recognize there are thousands of informal child care workers in the city, many of whom have been doing this work for decades with deep passion and experience, though they are not recognized in formal data on the workforce.

There are long-standing economic justice and worker justice challenges facing the child care sector that we must overcome as a city, if we want to expand access to child care in the city. We need to support and sustain our current workforce and meaningfully grow the workforce for the future. Already, the limited child care workforce is a constraint on system capacity. We know that providers across the city struggle to staff up fully, which may prevent them from opening classrooms even where there is family demand. Child care is by definition labor intensive work, and for good reason. We know that low adult-to-child ratios matter for the safety and supervision and for child development. That is only more critical as we expand access for younger children.

Sustaining and growing the child care workforce will require us to address challenges at every step of the pipeline. We must ensure that the child care workforce earns wages that allow them to live and thrive in New York City. And we must take steps to close inequitable gaps in compensation and benefits across the child care system. We need to think creatively about how we grow the pipeline and encourage new people to join the child care workforce, whether that is high school graduates or mid-career professionals looking to make a pivot. We need to adapt training and credentialing programs to meet the needs of those already working in child care who want to build their professional skills. And we must find new ways to recognize the years of experience that those already in the field have. And we must invest in career pathways so that those who are committed to early care and education can continue to grow and advance.

To that end, the mayor's office of child care and early childhood education is working to bring partners within and outside of city government together to build the city's first ever comprehensive plan for how we will grow, sustain, and support the child care workforce. The plan will include well-defined, achievable career ladders and pathways to credentialing, affordable and accelerated degree programs, mentorship, coaching, and professional development opportunities, identifying business operations supports, and recognition and professionalization of the workforce. We have kicked off meetings with our city agency partners in recent months and will be convening leaders across the CUNY system in coming weeks. Through these discussions, we are working to identify low and no-cost policy changes we can make that will reduce barriers for the child care workforce, as well as short, medium, and long-term investments we can make to build and support the workforce. We are looking at workforce development programs from other hard to hire critical job fields such as nursing, skilled trades, and human services to adapt ideas and lessons for the child care workforce. We will be working with business and philanthropy partners as well to test and try new ideas that can then be scaled if proven successful.

Most importantly, we will be reaching out to current educators to hear from them directly about their experiences navigating the training requirements, higher education systems, and credentialing programs so that their lived experiences inform our plan.

Doing this work will call on... I am proud to sit here today with some of these leaders and to briefly highlight some of the work already underway in the city. Our colleagues at the New York City Office of Talent and Workforce Development work with partners across the workforce system to ensure the city's workforce development strategy aligns with job seeker needs, employer demand, and the changing economy. Their work includes piloting innovative workforce solutions that have the potential to be embedded in agencies to scale across the workforce system based on program outcomes and labor market demand. In 2025, New York City Talent awarded a total of $2 million to eight organizations to support planning and implementation of apprenticeship pathways in non-traditional sectors to help increase opportunities to earn wages simultaneously. These investments included $600,000 in awards to support two apprenticeship programs for early childhood education workers. Research has illustrated that developing a registered apprenticeship program for new entrants to the child care sector can help grow the workforce and increase quality of care by helping workers build skills, credentials, and opportunities for wage increases.

New York City Public Schools supports child development, child care workforce development, both through its partnership with thousands of child care providers in the city and by preparing the workforce of the future. The New York City Public Schools Division of Early Childhood Education supports the early childhood workforce through a range of recruitment, pipeline development, and professional development initiatives focused on community-based organizations and family child care networks across the city. Community-based organizations are responsible for their own hiring and primarily recruit through existing networks and processes with New York City public schools connecting programs that opt in to candidates identified through its recruitment efforts. Since November 2024, these New York City public school-led recruitment efforts have generated interest from more than 4,000 job seekers and built a candidate pool of over a thousand individuals to support programs seeking additional hiring pipelines. Within this candidate pool, approximately 15% of candidates meet qualifications for lead teacher roles, while the majority are qualified for other essential classroom positions, underscoring ongoing workforce challenges and the need for continued investment in credentialing pathways. To address this, New York City Public Schools supports individuals' qualifications and advancement through workforce development initiatives through a partnership with CUNY's

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Professional Development Institute and School of Professional Studies. New York City Public Schools funds programming focused on growing and diversifying the early childhood workforce. This includes child development associate or CDA training in English and Spanish, preparation for the New York State birth to two teacher certification, early childhood college coursework, and free transcript evaluation for internationally trained educators. New York City public schools also works closely with CUNY and other higher education institutions to promote career pathways and career development and degree attainment including tuition-free options such as CUNY Reconnect.

The early childhood division's workforce development team establishes partnerships with high schools, colleges, and workforce programs to build early childhood career pipelines and conducts recruitment initiatives, including information sessions, career fairs, and candidate pools to support staffing needs across contracted programs. New York City Public Schools also provides ongoing professional development and credential pathway support to early childhood staff, reinforcing advancement toward lead teacher roles. In addition, New York City Public Schools provides hiring support, workforce guidance, and technical assistance to contracted programs, contributing to the placement of more than 150 candidates into early childhood roles, including both lead and assistant teacher positions across contracted programs. Together, these efforts are designed to strengthen the early childhood workforce pipeline and support the long-term sustainability of early care and learning programs across New York City.

Through the New York City public schools pathways office, Future Ready NYC currently serves 34 schools in education pathways serving over 2,000 students each partnered with a CUNY institution to provide early college credit, paid work-based learning, career connected instruction and advising for high school students. This model has established a strong foundation for preparing students for careers in education, combining academic rigor with real world experience. With a strong foundation in place, there is an opportunity to build more seamless, structured transitions into post-secondary credentials and careers, particularly in early childhood and K-12 teaching. New York City Public Schools is exploring ways to build on this foundation by strengthening connections from high school into career pathways in early care and K-12 education. This work aims to better align student preparation with workforce demand, supporting both educator pipeline needs and long-term economic mobility for students.

Lastly, just to comment on the Bill being introduced today. The administration supports the intent of the child care workforce grant and services program Bill, which seeks to provide free tuition and related supports to individuals pursuing careers in the early childhood workforce. The office of child care shares the goal of expanding the pipeline of early childhood education educators and recognizes that reducing financial barriers is a key strategy to attract more individuals to the field. With that said, we do have some concerns around implementation and costs and look forward to discussing the Bill with the chair.

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As we work to deliver universal child care to all New Yorkers, beginning with the first 2,000 2K seats this fall, we are deeply focused on the workforce because again, there is no universal child care without the child care workforce. We look forward to your questions today and your partnership in this work. I will now pass it to my colleagues at CUNY.

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Thank you. Good afternoon. Thank you to chairs Gutiérrez, Joseph, and Won, and the members of the subcommittee and committees for the opportunity to give testimony today. My name is Donna Anderson, and I am the executive director of the New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute at the City University of New York. We are a public private partnership located at CUNY. I also lead the CUNY Office of Early Childhood Initiatives, working closely with CUNY Central colleagues in our 17 campus child care centers to strengthen the early childhood workforce and expand access to high quality child care and education for CUNY student parents. We appreciate the City Council's focus on early educator workforce development. It is important to recognize that well-prepared educators are the key to providing high quality, responsive care and education to New York City's youngest learners. CUNY has been a strong partner in these efforts and we look forward to continuing this work to realize the bold vision of universal child care in our city and state.

The early childhood care and education workforce landscape is complex with differing licensing and funding requirements depending on the age of children, the location, and the program modality. There are multiple entry points for new early care and education or ECE professionals and many pathways for those looking to advance within the field. Our institute exists to address this complexity. We take a holistic approach to serving the ECE workforce, recognizing that services and supports are needed in conjunction with college level educator preparation programs. The City's ECE workforce is made up primarily of women and primarily women of color. They communicate with families in at least 31 different languages and have education levels that vary from high school diplomas to PhDs. The work of building the brain architecture of our littlest learners is essential to what they do. It is sophisticated, challenging, and inspiring work, requiring high levels of skill, competencies, and knowledge to provide the best outcomes for children and families.

PDI supports the early care and education workforce in many ways. We operate the Aspire Registry which is the state's most... 66% of licensed child care centers along with 26,000 professionals and almost 2,000 trainers already participate in the registry. Its data indicates that there are about 3,800 home based providers in the city who do not have a child development associate credential or higher level of education and that only about one in four lead teachers in licensed centers hold teacher certification. The registry also allows professionals to find and access high quality training opportunities including coaching. We are also the implementing agency for Quality Stars New York, the state's quality rating and improvement system, which in the last four years has invested $4.8 million in the city alone to create high quality learning environments and has also provided training and academic scholarships for nearly 7,000 staff and professionals.

I want to especially highlight today the work that we do through our New York City Career Development Center. We have 10 centers across the state that provide career and academic advising, employment services, and professional learning to over 6,000 people every year, almost 3,000 of whom are in New York City. The center provides free individualized academic planning and career guidance to early childhood professionals, and its employment network offers hiring, job matching, and employment supports to both job seekers and ECE employers. The center's early childhood leadership initiative offers leadership development and networking opportunities for directors, administrators, and family child care providers. We also work with campuses on ECE academic programs. We have teamed with the CUNY School of Professional Studies to create a credit bearing CDA certificate program in both English and Spanish. And this January launched a new master's degree program in early childhood policy and leadership. These programs are designed to meet the unique needs of New York's diverse early childhood workforce so early childhood professionals can continue to work while pursuing their education.

Our most recent recruitment initiative is the early childhood apprenticeship, a pilot program that drew 400 applicants for 30 slots. Participants are employed as assistant teacher apprentices while attending CUNY SPS. By the end of the apprenticeship, they will have earned their CDA credential, 12 college credits, and a wage increase from their employers. This work was funded through a combination of private philanthropy and the New York City Office of Talent and Workforce Development.

On a final note, a critical factor in our work is that early care and education professionals are among the lowest paid employees in New York City. The goal of universal child care gives New York a unique opportunity to make a fundamental and much needed investment in the early childhood workforce and ensure that it is a sustainable support for families and a viable profession for years to come. Working with ECE stakeholders across the city and state, CUNY PDI has developed a comprehensive career ladder and equitable salary scale to address this challenge and grow the workforce needed for a universal, high quality, accessible child care system. We commend the City Council's attention to this workforce and especially your understanding of the complexity of the issue in bringing together these three committees. We look forward to supporting the City's work as it continues along the pathway to universal child care. Thank you.

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Good afternoon. I would like to thank Chair Gutiérrez, Chair Joseph, and Chair Won, as well as members of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood Education and the committees on higher education and workforce development for the opportunity to speak to you on the topic of early childhood education. My name is Ashley Thompson and I serve CUNY as university dean for education. In this role, I oversee education programs across the university. I am pleased to tell you about our support of more than 15,000 students in this important academic and workforce area, a majority of whom are people of color. For the first time since the pandemic, fall 2025 enrollment data show increases for students pursuing degrees in education, bolstered by programs like Reconnect, providing free tuition for eligible associate degree students.

About 3,600 of CUNY's education students are in early childhood programs. Of these, 2,000 are enrolled in bachelor's and masters programs that lead to teacher certification. Though we know from state department of labor data that our early childhood graduates work in a range of settings as they do while they are pursuing their degrees. Five years after graduation, nearly 90% of early childhood bachelor's graduates are working in education in New York City public schools, child daycare services, and other city agencies, education related organizations, and charter and private schools.

As New York City and state work to expand child care and implement the class size law, CUNY is actively building the pipeline of well-prepared educators that these commitments require. New grants and partnerships support outreach to alumni, certification exam vouchers, recruitment events for both college enrollment and teacher hiring, creation of new undergraduate programs in bilingual early childhood education, recruiting education students for paid jobs as paraprofessionals and more. This summer 2026, CUNY is projected to enroll more than 800 New York City teaching fellows, an increase of more than 30% from last year. CUNY Reading Fellows provides free evidence-based reading instruction to nearly 2800 children in grades K to 2 in New York City public schools while providing CUNY tutors with a paid career aligned job that strengthens their skills in early literacy. New York City men teach at CUNY, a partnership with the City's young men's initiative and New York City public schools, support 600 teacher candidates a year, including dozens majoring in early childhood. We are engaging education students even before they apply to CUNY through New York City public schools future ready. The education pathway is currently offered at 30 high schools, reaching an estimated 1500 students who take education courses through college now that can be an on-ramp to a variety of education paths, including early childhood.

My office works in close collaboration with a wide range of partners utilizing data sharing agreements to ensure that we can identify trends and support students throughout the educator pipeline. These investments yield returns for our city and state and for our students, too. Wage outcomes for CUNY's education majors are strong. For bachelors and masters graduates at CUNY, education majors surpass the median wage for other CUNY graduates at the three-year, 5-year, and 10-year mark... a renewed opportunity specific jobs and livable wages, building career ladders that enable these college students to go on to educate our youngest New Yorkers with quality and passion. Working collaboratively across our city to ensure alignment and improve communication will make a meaningful difference for the early childhood workforce. CUNY provides many affordable pathways into an education career for thousands of candidates from a wide range of backgrounds and starting points. We will continue to work and innovate to expand the pipeline for early childhood education programs to help bolster New York's workforce in this critical early childhood sector. Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you all so much for your testimony. I want to take some a moment to just recognize we had been joined or we are joined or were joined by CM Won, CM Restler, CM Brewer, and Hanif. I think that is everyone. Great. So I just want to set the stage. I know that I had mentioned in my testimony about an analysis of I think an estimate of about 5,000 new teachers every year that would need to be recruited, but can we all just... can you either confirm or share your numbers how many new early childhood education teachers would need to be recruited each year for 2K, 3K, and pre-K.

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Thanks so much for the question. As I shared in testimony and as we have talked about with this committee, our early childhood system is made up both for pre-K and 3K and as we expand for 2K of a partnership with our with childcare providers both center and home based providers as well as our school-based staff. Because our independent providers who the City works with are themselves businesses that recruit and maintain their own staff, we do not necessarily have visibility into their annual vacancy data though we do as we offer support to them work with them to fill vacancies and provide support as those come up. So it is a... as we work with providers we understand what their needs are. Though we do not have a total count necessarily of the needs for pre-K, 3K or 2K. I will note that as we plan to launch the first 2K seats this fall, we are predominantly working with providers who are already running and operating toddler programs in the city. They are doing that privately and will be coming into the partnership with the City. So those are classrooms that are broadly... are programs that are broadly staffed. We know there will be some vacancies and we will continue to work with providers to fill them.

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Okay. Thank you. And so for the programs that are contracted or DOE contracts at least for 3K and pre-K, you do not have a sense of those vacancies and how many we would need to recruit?

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Simone Hawkins. I am the deputy chancellor for... deputy chancellor. Yes. Yes. The DC for the division of early childhood education. So as Amy shared a lot of the information and data that we collect is fully reliant on self-reporting and so intermittently throughout the year we do release surveys to our educator community to assess their needs not just vacancies for teaching roles may it be in the classroom but also education directors which we know those that have a New York City DOH permit they are required to have an education director on site at all times but also other key roles, right? Like do you need a custodian and a family worker? And so we do send out those surveys intermittently and we definitely do so before the start of the school year.

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And so we have that data. In addition to that, we also... bless you... we also rely on budget data. The budget information that we collect includes salary information which must be tied to an individual or a position including a vacant one. And so the team looks at both data sets and tries to reconcile. As you know, things can change. It is a point in time. But as of our most recent data collection for January through March, there was a vacancy count of about 70... excuse me, 78 positions, and that is specifically centers. We know that can change each and every day, but that is our last count for that quarter of the year.

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Okay. And is there any thought about how to create a system that is maybe more unified? I see I know that you get a ton of data from the surveys, but obviously we are constantly talking about universal child care and expanding early childhood education. So I think it would be really help us kind of keep you all accountable, keep us accountable and create a system for where we have a very clear finite numbers. Is there is there a thought to maybe kind of one unified tool to be able to track that? And I totally respectful of the fact that it is not just educators that there is a shortage. You know, we do need to consider the other spots, but I think we have a vested interest in understanding what that looks like because the teacher shortage is across the board. And so it would just help us so that we can make that distinction whether it is early childhood or K through 12.

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I think as we continue to grow and expand our programs, we will continue to look at how we collect data from the providers that the City works with directly and how we can better understand vacancies and how we can offer support to them. So it is something we will continue to look at and happy to continue discussing with you. And for this... Thank you. And for this fiscal year or FY27 where I know that there is state funding to be able to kind of stabilize and expand 3K, do you all have a sense at least for the new year how many teachers you will need to recruit or if you need to recruit more? So for the planned expansion this fall the 2K seats that we are launching as well as the additional 3K capacity we are working with providers who have already licensed classrooms because of the short timeline to stand up services for this fall. We are partnering with existing childcare providers who partner with the City already who are maybe adding a classroom to their contract as well as partnering with some new providers through the request for information that the City put out earlier this year. Those are programs that are already operating. So they may be serving two-year-olds today who are paying privately and again will be coming into the City's program.

So we anticipate that many of these roles are filled though as the deputy chancellor noted you know especially in the ramp up to the start of the school year we will engage programs directly to understand if and where they may have additional vacancies.

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If I may, I mean, clearly I heard the gasps in the audience around the 78, right? We want to encourage people in our educator community to for one respond, but we need to also go out and make sure that we have physical presence to make sure that they feel supported. We also know that brings some level of anxiety and fear, right? Because we do not want them to feel as if it is a gotcha moment. We really want to build a partnership with them where they feel and feel trusted that we can be trusted to really offer that support to build their workforce. What I will say to your question as well and to add to what Amy shared, we are anticipating specifically for 2K to align with the respective regulation that guides the setting. So for family childcare that would be New York State social services law and for our center based programs that would be the health code either article 43 or article 47. And so on average it gets a little complicated as Donna mentioned it does require about two adults and educators in the space. And so although many of our existing or anticipated partners will already convert an existing classroom that has educators or bring on new programs that might be independently run and not funded through New York City public schools. We do anticipate that there will be some vacancies.

Again, we will work with them to get that information and data and provide supports, but the general estimates that we want to provide or offer the Council would be in alignment with what the respective regulations require.

(00:54:07)

And do you have a sense of at least for the 3K expansion, if you will what that looks like? Yeah. So, we are finalizing who will be participating in that. And so, same really trying to align with the health code for those classrooms and where relevant home based regulations. And so, some of our educators actually decided to convert existing...

(00:54:30)

Pre-K classrooms. There is some oversaturation in some communities and they wanted to use this opportunity to pivot. And so there are educators in many instances and so they would just age down into the 3K classroom. And so once we find seats will also be in district school and pre-K center settings then we can work with the relevant and respective program or school leader to determine what the needs are.

(00:54:56)

Do you have a sense of when that will be finalized?

(00:54:58)

Very soon. Okay. And then more importantly, how do you estimate what the workforce needs will be for the following set lead teachers for a class for a student? So we and just to take a step back, we have the amazing division of inclusive and accessible learning led by deputy chancellor FOD who oversees our EML work as well as our work around work with students with disabilities. And so we work classrooms, what is needed in 3K classrooms. We also have a contract enhancement with 4410 providers. And then we also know about the centralized capacity that we need for CPSSE etc. And so similar to the efforts that we launch across my team they actually support those efforts and actually initiate their own which we work in partnership with them as well. And so when we are looking at what the needs are, we are looking at where the students are and the types of classrooms and settings in which those educators are needed or additional staff support staff where relevant. And so where we know we are anticipating placement of special education students if they already have educators or would require specific special education teachers for those classrooms and that will be included in our data.

(00:56:28)

Okay. And is there for a while, but is there a shortage of special education bilingual teachers specifically?

(00:56:40)

I can get back to you on that, but there is a need for special education teachers. Absolutely. I think and to your point multilingual...

(00:56:51)

Multilingual, excuse me. Yeah. And so I just to make it a point I think part of today is we want to explore how we can what we can do to set the stage for recruitment for all of it. But what do you think what is specific to multilingual special education compared to the rest of the roles? I do not want to pretend like I am the expert in that, but I want to acknowledge that we are open to having the conversation and exploring how we can partner to definitely welcome and encourage folks to enter that pathway.

(00:57:27)

Yeah.

(00:57:28)

Thank you. My next question is what outreach I do not know if this is a question for either CUNY or the office of early childhood education or what outreach are you doing to high schoolers and college students around recruitment to the early childhood education field and what opportunities could we explore with the YCD? Chair Stevens who chairs the youth committee is obviously very passionate about this just about being able to create better pathways for young people and careers and so just curious if there is a marriage of the both or if there is something specific to early childhood education.

(00:58:06)

I will just start by saying this is something we are very interested in exploring further and thinking about how we can help more of our young people see early childhood education as a viable and exciting long-term career pathway. As I referenced in testimony, the Pathways Office at New York City public schools has existing programs in a number of city high schools to help steer students towards early childhood education and gives them the ability to earn dual credits while still enrolled. But this is an area as we work comprehensively over the coming months across agencies to plan for what a more holistic workforce development strategy should look like, how we help bring our young people into childcare is one of the things we will be looking at.

(00:58:51)

And I will just follow up by saying I referenced in my testimony the early childhood apprenticeship project and that actually grew out of a program that we had specifically focused on recruiting young people into the field of early childhood education. So we have partnerships with some of the local high schools. Another thing that we have done in the past, we did a pilot project where we actually offered the credit bearing CDA certificate program at SPS to starting for high schoolers in their junior year. So they took one college course through college now. So by the time they finished with their high school diplomas, they also had 12 college credits and the CDA. So that is another opportunity to kind of think about how are we growing that workforce starting even from age 16. Thank you. I am a big fan of college now. I was a beneficiary of it. So a big fan.

(00:59:45)

Talk to me about the apprenticeship. What is the year-to-year like required funding to sustain this apprenticeship?

(00:59:54)

So our ask before the Council is $3 million over three years for 200 apprentices. And so that really helps to cover the cost of supporting the apprentices as well as the employer partners within that work. This is a really innovative structured approach where we utilize the educational incentive program scholarship funding to cover the cost of tuition from the state and then utilize other funds to do all the support services and things that we need. The other thing that apprenticeship includes is support for our employer partners. This is really one of the things that the apprenticeship model is great in early childhood, but early childhood is a little bit different than perhaps some of the trades where there is more of a profit margin. And so there is more they have more resource to sort of dedicate to growing their own. We already know that our lead teachers and our directors are really at the brink. And so we really built in for them stipends as well because growing your own and this apprenticeship hosting requires more effort from them as well as supporting that apprentice. So we have built that in as well.

(01:01:12)

Excellent. Well, I am happy to uplift that budget ask. I have two more questions and then we will pass it to Chair Joseph. I am curious and I know that we will dedicate a whole hearing to this, but obviously there is significant turnover as part of my testimony we had pulled from a report that there is a population of folks that are set to retire because they have been in the industry for so long and then any of the new folks that join are really staying for an average of 5 years. Looking into the next five ten years what is something that you are doing now or thinking about how we can encourage early childhood educators to stay in this profession what are some of the things and I am not going to ask for like a full plan flesh out just like just ideas like what are we what are we talking about absolutely so as we look...

(01:02:01)

Comprehensively at planning for the workforce we are looking both at how we bring new people into the field and how we sustain and grow the folks who are in the field and I think this will have to be a multi-pronged approach. Of course, you referenced in your testimony as we did as well, the importance of wages and benefits and equitable compensation for the workforce. Which we know is an important factor to folks. It is really the first the first thing.

(01:02:24)

Absolutely. We got to pay these people. Yes. It is the only way.

(01:02:26)

I think in addition to that, we recognize that working in early childhood classrooms is tough. It is there are long days. It is emotional. It is very physical. And so want to continue working with our partners, with educators to explore how we can invest in sort of work workplace quality and making sure that childcare providers are able to take care of themselves and are able to have the time and space they need for professional development, for growth and so they can we hope of course recognize that wages and benefits is where this conversation starts, but also ensuring that providers educators are supported that they have what they need, that they are able to sustain themselves in their work. And that if they are interested in continuing to grow, to go from an assistant teacher to a lead teacher to pursue roles in center leadership that they have the opportunity to stay in the profession and grow with the profession as well. Thank you. As part of the...

(01:03:23)

Surveys is one of the questions just to assess of the staff that are there whether they are educational staff or support staff how many of them are in need of care sorry child care for their own children. I know that in my experience in my district oftentimes their child might not even qualify to attend the exact center that they are in. How are you all I know we are on a path to universal childcare but in the meantime until we get there is that part of the questioning that you are asking. Is that something that you are considering as a means of supporting people? So we really have to think about incentives like what makes people want to stay at their jobs is that it is meaningful and that they are happy and that they can afford to stay there. Is that something that is a part of the surveys? No. Okay. Maybe we should ask because I do think that it that is like in any job is a reason why we take a job or we stay at a job is like is it close to my child care? Can I can I bring my kid here?

(01:04:16)

Yeah, we do not ask that on our survey. It is really intended to ascertain the number of vacancies. But what I think what you are highlighting is culture. What is another survey? What is another...

(01:04:26)

Survey? Another survey also we I think...

(01:04:29)

We should also assess because one thing I am hyper sensitive to wearing the hat of DC for the division of early childhood education. We are not the entire ecosystem of early care and education across the City. And so what I do not want to do is present challenges that might solve our problems but create a gap in other areas. And so appreciate that because what is a benefit of Emmy being in her role is really creating something that is coherent and comprehensive of the entire system that is not solely about contracted care or care provided by the district but those independent providers who want to thrive too and may be running into similar challenges. Yeah...

(01:05:10)

I could just follow up right there. I want to emphasize the role of leaders in creating that really the positive classroom climate that is really really an important factor in helping people decide whether or not they are going to stay at their jobs. Compensation 100% first factor, but very close behind that and research backs this up that that classroom and program climate make a huge difference and leaders are the lynchpin in really making sure that that is supported. So supports like what we do in our early childhood leadership initiative as well as quality stars New York, the leadership coaches that the DOE has, anything that supports leaders in their role as leaders can really help make a huge impact in also supporting people to stay in these positive environments that feel really good at the end of the day, even though it is really hard, really physically taxing and emotional work. And is that tell me is it just PD like what what are some of those things that contribute? Yeah, it is professional development. It is a lot of peer learning. That is a lot of what our model looks at is really peer learning like bringing folks together. They learn from each other and just the support from each other. Being a leader in a program is a lonely position. You are the only one there in that position oftentimes even though part of an amazing team. And so giving folks the opportunity creating the space for them to come together and learn from each other has been really powerful.

And then for our team when they meet their with their quality improvement specialist, this is another very trusted person who comes in who is not worried about compliance. They are really worried and helping them to achieve quality and improve quality. So that support there also can be very impactful.

(01:06:55)

Thank you. Look forward to the continued discussion. I am going to hand it up to Chair Joseph.

(01:07:00)

Thank you so much. Just want to follow up on a couple of quick questions from CM Chair Gutiérrez. You said you provide training in two languages, English and Spanish. Will you do you plan to expand the languages that you already have? So that specifically refers to the college credit bearing coursework at the CUNY School of Professional Studies. Right now that is possible because the CDA itself, the credential has all the materials also available in Spanish. So we would have to look at what other languages are possible for the CDA itself. And then absolutely would consider that. Thank you. Have in all of your conversation among yourselves and I hope this is going to be an inter agencies how teachers work in cohorts. I hope this is a cohort that will continue to work because what you do impacts this person, that person, so I think you guys should work together. Is inviting small businesses to be part of the conversation for early childhood is part of that conversation because they also have a workforce, right? How are you using small businesses to work to make this work? As we think about the expansion of universal child care in the City, we are really looking at the whole City as our partners. Yes, it is all of the folks you...

(01:08:18)

See up here from city government and the dozen or more other agencies, but it is philanthropy, it is business, it is business of all sizes. So we are in conversation with business leaders to understand how are child care gaps impacting their workforce. What are the child care models solutions that would benefit their workforce? Whether that is folks who work a nine-to-five job in an office or folks who are doing the overnight shift at a hospital or the early morning shift at a construction site. So we are talking to business about our overall child care system. Certainly as we think about the question at hand today about workforce development for child care. We also know that there are folks who want to move between careers and there may be people who are have started their career elsewhere and are looking to move into childcare. So want to make sure that our business partners know about those pathways as well. Engaging the chambers of commerce is also a great place to start as well. And if I may, CM, we actually I want to put in a plug for my workforce development team that lives...

(01:09:17)

Within my division. They do a lot of work with workforce one, New York State Department of Labor and other city and state partners in addition to CUNY colleagues to make sure that we are in their spaces. If they have career fairs, other opportunities for us to engage with populations we would not normally come in contact with, we are partnering with them, too. I have another question for this is for CUNY. The career pathways somebody that may may not want to have another masters right are you providing extensions to these licensing to be able to meet the shortage needs for bilingual special education ESL are you working in providing that because I did not see that in your testimony but that is that is that something you provide...

(01:10:02)

Yes so CUNY has extensions and kind of supplemental programs if someone wants to add special ed or bilingual but we are also trying more and more to build those things in. We do not want people to have to come back to add those credentials. So I mentioned expanding undergraduate programs with early childhood and bilingual together. So we are looking at both the possibility and options the workforce would have to add those and as well as getting them from the...

(01:10:31)

Sometimes they have to come back because they are already in the classroom and working. Sometimes they do have to come back to you and say listen I would love to have an extension for bilingual education special education and that is one way I am looking at when we talk about shortage areas folks can move away move around the license and assessing who you have in the system to make sure you are also hey we can move this license around and sometimes you are doing both. So how many students are currently enrolled in the early childhood education degree programs? Our 2025 enrollment was 3,613. And we are going to break them down in different categories. So, how many candidates you have for bachelor's degrees? Bachelor's was 862, Masters was 1,143, associate is the largest. It is 1,242. And then we have certificates and also advanced certificates. And those were an additional 200 students. How many students how many candidates you have for degrees focusing on teaching students with disabilities? I could add that for you because they are across all different degree levels. So, I am happy to follow up and send that to you. And I also wanted to mention my office does have some special grants that specifically fund teachers who want to add the special education license to your previous question. And how much is CUNY working with bilingual pupil services to recruit bilingual education educators, bilingual special education teachers?

How much are you working speech pathologist is also a shortage area in bilingual? So oftentimes those folks need the sort of same preparation. So we refer folks when folks come to us at the career development centers, we refer them then to the appropriate folks at each of the campuses. And part of the intake when we are doing an interview with a new client or new student, we ask, we talk to them about bilingual, what their bilingual capabilities are, and then what their options might be as well.

(01:12:40)

I just wanted to add that this fall through Brooklyn College, we are funding bilingual extensions for PPS staff.

(01:12:50)

See, that is what I was talking about. We need to know about that. Yeah. How many students are enrolled in your child development associate program? I have 161 at the school of professional studies. And then also we have additional students who engage with CDA programs through continuing education. How many are enrolled in your child development associate program offered in Spanish? 54. Are those numbers looking to increase or is that the goal or is it you want to expand, right? Okay. Yes. Thank you. Just want to make sure. CUNY offers several programs to support students in finishing their degrees. CUNY ASAP ACE Reconnect. How many students in CUNY ASAP Reconnect work towards an early childhood education degree? I do not know, but we can certainly follow. Yeah, we can follow up. There is not a lot in ASAP. Are we doing an outreach to encourage? That is another... So, it is slightly more nuanced. We could certainly follow up with you afterwards. And then, Reconnect,

(01:14:09)

there are currently two associate degree programs at BMCC and at Bronx Community College. And they have definitely seen increases in their numbers with the launch of CUNY Reconnect. Okay. And another thing for this coming academic year, we have advocated that all of our early childhood programs be part of Reconnect because we want to make sure that the city has the workforce it needs. Do you have any mentorship program to

(01:14:34)

support students enrolled in early childhood education programs? The strongest mentorship really comes through the apprenticeship program, but that is also the role of our early childhood career advisors. So if someone comes to us and they receive a scholarship or other kinds of supports, generally we check in with them three times a semester. So at the beginning before the school starts, the mid-semester, and then the end of semester check-in. So they have ongoing support and we are there to help with anything that they need. So if they are like, you know, I lost my child care or I am having trouble with a professor or, you know, I have got a family conflict. So that person is really there. Our career advisors are there to really support them at the centers and then they also have supports at the campus where they are attending class. DC Hawkins, do you provide mentorship once a student comes into your system as an early childhood educator? Are you providing mentorship for that educator? Yes. And so we actually refer to it as coaching. And so we have a solid group of folks and mostly educators themselves who go in and provide support to not only just the leader but also the educators educating our littles in the classroom. Because one thing I think you all highlighted earlier is not just making sure we build the pathway for

(01:15:58)

individuals to become early childhood educators but also leaders. And so we are working with them to really cultivate you know for succession planning as folks age out of the system. Yes.

(01:16:11)

How many years do you coach that teacher once they enter the system?

(01:16:14)

For as long as they are in the system and working with New York City public schools. So every site is assigned a leadership coach and at minimum an instructional coordinator and then in addition to that we also provide a social worker. We also have inclusion specialists who provide support to programs as well.

(01:16:34)

How does CUNY support students with degrees in early childhood education to find a job upon graduating?

(01:16:43)

So that is the work that we do in the employment network. So folks, this really exists to match job seekers with employer partners. It really we had always had a job board and then during COVID when we had that first class who were graduating and we were really unsure what was going to happen with jobs. We really increased our services to be able to take a more active role in helping identify employers who have vacancies and matching them with candidates.

(01:17:14)

Do you support with certification? Yes.

(01:17:18)

You provide tutoring as well. So that is some of the work that we test prep in cooperation with our colleagues at DEEC. So we do have test prep and supports to help them not only cover the fees but also prepare for the certification exams.

(01:17:36)

I wanted to add that we have special grants for certification exam vouchers and we have also worked at CUNY to make it financial aid eligible so students who are undergraduates can put those costs towards their financial aid.

(01:17:48)

Good to hear. We need to know about them. See, no one knows. I knew to ask that question because it was important, but the general public needs to know. Are there any targeted scholarships or financial support available to students enrolled in early childhood degrees that is in addition to the scholarships and financial assistance available to CUNY students?

(01:18:10)

There are a number of early childhood scholarships. Primarily is the educational incentive program that is offered through the state. So this is funding that comes from the office of children and family services and is specifically people are eligible for it who are employed in licensed child care settings. There are income eligibility requirements and a few other requirements but EIP can be used toward college coursework as well as other kinds of professional development. And then there are a few other small scholarships that are either campus-based or coming from various funders. But I will say there is one if a program is participating in quality stars New York which is our state's quality rating and improvement system. They do have an academic scholarship program that does provide specifically college scholarships for college coursework.

(01:19:08)

Thank you. If someone chooses to get an associate or a BA in early childhood education now, what does the process and timeline look like for them to go through that degree program? Correct.

(01:19:23)

That varies student to student. Often students are working and so it takes them a little bit longer. But typically our timeline for an associate degree is two to three years and our timeline for a bachelor's degree is four to six years.

(01:19:39)

And students, it is easy to transfer within the CUNY system from one program to another or degree transfers. That is easy. In your 2K program, what is the class size and class ratio of students to teacher?

(01:19:54)

So as Chancellor Hawkins said it varies somewhat based on the specific setting size of the classroom and other particulars but the typical classroom for 2K will have 12 students and two teachers and any of them ICT settings.

(01:20:13)

So no we do have that for 3K and preK and we are actually working with DOE and also we are in continued conversation with advocates for children

(01:20:23)

around is that appropriate to is it appropriate to replicate a similar model for such a young age group and we believe initially that it is not right. We plan to work really closely with the Bureau of early intervention at New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. They are a rockstar partner and wanting to make sure that families get that early identification for earlier intervention, but we are not right now looking to replicate the self-contained and ICT models for 2K.

(01:20:53)

Self-contained is 12 kids in a classroom. Correct. But that is the 12 that

(01:20:59)

Emmy mentioned is specific to the health code. That is actually the ratio. That is the ratio for but not a self-contained. Correct. Correct.

(01:21:05)

Okay. Want to make sure that is clear on the record. Chair Won,

(01:21:10)

thank you so much, Chair Joseph. Okay, I want to go back to the beginning because I have some follow-up questions from when Chair Gutiérrez has asked. So, I feel like this question gets asked all the time from parents as well as at every single early childhood education hearing. Can you help me understand how exactly are we calculating for the 3K capacity across the city for the upcoming school year?

(01:21:35)

So, we use data a combination of data based on applications that we get from prior years. And so, as folks may know, we have a centralized admissions process. And sorry, chair, I cannot see you right now. But I am looking at you. We have a centralized admissions process which is managed by our office of student enrollment. They are actually responsible for doing every single admissions process for the department. And then we also look at enrollment data. What we need to assess is utilization, right? Just because there might be seats, we want to understand if they are filled because what we have all experienced is that they are not necessarily optimized, right? We have heard this before, seats in the right place. And also working within the parameters of our contracts. And so where we have existing contracts looking at that utilization data and admissions data, we reconcile that to determine if there is any unmet need. And as you are aware, the mayor announced the priority zip codes that we plan to expand 3K. And that is really leveraging that application and enrollment data. So we want to see where parents want to go. We are looking at the distance and proximity from their home address as kind of the primary point geographic point and then we are looking at where the seats actually exist and then what we do is we are reaching out to existing providers to determine if they would like to expand or convert and then we also released the request for information to welcome new providers.

(01:23:08)

Are you looking at birth data? So we consider birth data but again we

(01:23:12)

are a part of the larger system and so yes we are looking at birth data. We work with school construction authority. We are also partnering with other external partners to assess what the kind of denominator is for children. But we are I think the most immediate data points for us is families interested in attending a program with us. And so looking at enrollment data and application data is a really helpful point

(01:23:37)

because even in Long Island City, even though we had injected in my council district over 135 new seats, we are still getting cussed at for students who still cannot get a seat in their neighborhood. They are so incredibly angry. And we even get parents who are applying to Long Island City 3K seats because they cannot get a 3K seat in Greenpoint across the neighborhood. So, what are we doing wrong that we still cannot get this right? And why are parents pointing to me that there are schools that sit empty in nearby neighborhoods? And why is it taking so long for us to make sure that we are optimizing these seats over the last 5 years? And if we have empty seats that continue to go unused, how much of the funding right now that has come from the state is being used to open new school seats? I am just trying to understand the math here. Yeah. Well, what I appreciate is our

(01:24:26)

continued conversations around your particular district chair. And so what you know is where we can make shifts within our existing contracts, we have done that as you are aware. But there are also contracts. And so what we want to do is operate in respect to these agreements that we have with independent providers who depend on those funds. And so we are not in the business of just pulling seats away from providers. Those are things that we have to do in concert with them because there are larger fiscal impacts to their businesses. But where we there is consent, where there is partnership and where it is viable to shift seats as you know we are constantly and continually doing that. But what we have is a renewed energy in looking at the system holistically which I am very excited about. And so we hope that now moving forward as we work to build out 2K and as we enter into whatever the next iteration of early care and education is that we think about this a little differently and build a more flexible system where providers are not wedded to whatever they agreed to 5 years ago but that they can shift based on the needs of their community. And that is what we are looking forward to doing.

(01:25:36)

So, how many 3K seat increases are you projecting in certain neighborhoods in each neighborhood? So, I believe we communicated that the goal is at least a thousand seats to open for the fall.

(01:25:48)

And if I could just for the whole entire city. If I could just jump in. So, we under this administration really recognized the need to strengthen and expand the 3K system, recognizing that in the past while all families may have received a 3K offer last year, families may have received offers that presented really challenging commutes, and I know that the challenges of getting a three-year-old to school, and that is not something you want to spend more than 15 minutes doing. We, as the deputy chancellor said, looked across the city at the zip codes where 3K programs have been very highly enrolled, where we have had more family applicants than seats, and where families were placed at programs that were an untenable commute. And so those 56 zip codes are where we are looking at adding at least a thousand seats to meet the unmet demand from families. We are continuing to look at the data to make sure that we are in a position to meet demand this fall. Earlier this year, the request for information that New York City public schools put out was the first time in five years that new providers could come into the 3K system. So we are really taking a step forward in bringing folks in and as the deputy chancellor said, also working with our current providers to expand capacity. So families will continue to receive updates if they have already applied to 3K through my schools as new capacity is added in their neighborhood.

And families who may not have applied because they were not sure there would be a convenient program for them will still be able to add themselves to wait list and our goal is to really grow enrollment by the fall and make sure that every family receives an offer that

(01:27:21)

works for them. Right now parents are pretty angry in my district because the 3K seats that we added there is not an equivalent to the preK seats for those children who now have to move up are being told to travel over 30 minutes by foot to get to school. So, what is the plan here for preK for all of these neighborhoods? And what are we doing to make sure that we are forecasting for those 3K seats we added that there is an equivalent number of preK seats at minimum, if not more, to account for families that are going to move into the neighborhoods. So, based on our data, there are available preK seats in your district. What we are finding and one of the things we are trying to be intentional about is again centering parent choice. Sometimes parents choose to go to a different program than they previously were for one of the maybe the 3K. Or sometimes they want to stay at the same site. And so we are working to make sure that there are enough seats in communities again based on how the choice patterns are for prior years, but based on our data, CM, there are enough preK seats in your district.

(01:28:26)

Not in Hunter Point and not in Court Square. We have had this conversation multiple times that it is not just by zip code for the neighborhood because there are transportation, especially public transportation barriers to get to other parts of Long Island City, especially when you have a child and you are going to have to reverse commute deeper into Queens than go to work. So that is where a lot of the anger is coming from. And another push back that I get a lot from providers is rent. Because Western Queens rent is so extremely high and currently the contract does not allow providers to pay for rent. For them to even have money to do recruitment for their workforce, they are saying, "How am I going to pay for rent? Because if I get rid of my twos and now I only have infants, then how am I going to subsidize my rent, which is what those private care was providing for our providers before?" >> So the contracts do allow providers to bill us for rental costs. What it has not done is provide cost escalators to maybe reflect increases in rent. So I do want to make that differentiation. Again, we are having conversations and it is not about adding new seats but about how we can stabilize the existing sector and so we appreciate that and we actually realize that it is an area that we need to address. >> Earlier we heard in your

(01:29:41)

testimony about Reconnect. Reconnect was initiated by former speaker Adrienne Adams and helps working wage New Yorkers return to college. However, it is only funded at 5.9 million as of fiscal year 25 and 7.8 million of fiscal year 26, but still lacks the baseline funding despite the Council's push for 11.8 million to maintain its and expanded services last year. The executive budget left it out last fiscal year and the upcoming fiscal year. How is this administration planning to fund CUNY Reconnect in this year's budget to make sure that it can support the pool of eligible New Yorkers trying to earn a degree for early childhood education? Especially since you refer to it and it has not been funded by the mayoral administration in the years past. So just a point of clarification.

(01:30:34)

There are two parts of Reconnect. So there is the part of Reconnect that has been supported by the City Council in New York City that was launched in the wake of the pandemic. The

(01:30:46)

CUNY Reconnect that was referred to in the testimony is a second part of the project that is coming from state funding and that is free community college for adults aged 25 to 55 in six high need industries.

(01:31:03)

Education is one of those industries. So that part is not funded by the City Council dollar. >> So I am asking you what is the mayoral administration and what is your what is the City going to fund? That was my question. >> As we go through the budget

(01:31:21)

process we will be looking at this and making sure we have the resources we need to support the early childhood educator workforce and its growth. >> Okay. So what I am also trying to

(01:31:33)

understand is a discrepancy between the Department of Education public school teachers and the CBO teachers and it is only about $200 to $300 roughly as an estimate since UFT received a three or 3.25 and then 3.5 step increase and DC37 only got 3% and 3.25% increase as of 2021. CBO teachers and UFT teachers have had about the same salary. We have heard from we have heard about the City being slow to pay certain things like back pay for CBO teachers and we hear this from our providers all the time but their salaries are basically the same. So can you help me understand the gap if any if you are for pay parity for our teachers in private providers as well as public school teachers because the UFT contracts has more differentials and I know that negotiations coming up but also can you help me understand the status of the back pay that a lot of our providers here cannot pay their teachers unless they take out a loan to pay them because the City has not paid them at all. So I will start with the broader

(01:32:32)

point around pay parity to acknowledge that there are gaps between our CBO teachers and public school teachers. Though great progress was made in collective bargaining agreements, particularly in 2019 with the Council's support to bring starting wages to parity. We know that there are differences that really widen over time based on teacher experience and longevity. And there are gaps when we look at the hours and days of year that folks work in different settings. So as we continue to expand the system, we know this is something we have to look at closely and work with our partners in labor work with the Council and others to address discrepancies in pay. I will turn it to deputy chancellor on your question about back pay. >> Yes. And so, referring to those respective specifically the DC37 collective bargaining agreements, they were ratified at different points. And so we have been working really closely with DC37, daycare council, and the actual providers to get information and then disperse the relevant economic. Most of those economic items, including retro wage increases, have been paid, including ratification bonuses. So I want to also clarify that folks working at the programs are not our employees. We give the money to the actual organization and then they in turn provide the payment to their staff. And so those payments have been dispersed for the most part where there are pending payments.

It is because we are working to verify information with the relevant provider organization. >> Okay. Thank you for the clarification. We will continue to follow up for CBOs that are still waiting to pay their employees. And overall, if the median

(01:34:11)

wage for teachers of all kinds, especially early childhood education, is $69,000, which is less than the median salary in New York City, what is the plan for this upcoming fiscal year? If there is such a big push to have universal child care to make sure that it is included in next year's budget for fiscal year 27, which is going to be negotiated with the next seven weeks or so, seven, eight weeks. What is the plan here from the mayoral admin to make sure that we are paying teachers a living wage and that there that is going to be how we recruit more teachers because the numbers that you shared before is way below what I imagine what your targets are for recruitment for those who are currently in the pipeline for our certificates and our higher education. So is this part of your plan if because that is going to be the number one incentive driver on why somebody chooses to become a teacher in the first place. So this administration is committed to addressing the gaps in educator pay and the disparities across settings. We also recognize that this is going to be a complex and involved process that will require partners in labor require participation from our provider community will require us and we look forward to working closely with you all as we go through that.

So we are looking at this now and really invite the further discussion I know we will have with you as we look at what the where the biggest gaps are, how those line up for folks in different roles with different credentials and how we can begin to address this together. >> Are there other benefits that are being

(01:35:41)

considered for our early childhood educators whether they work in public schools or if they work in a CBO? And also for the CBOs themselves, are there discrepancies in the benefits that they receive? Because I hear mixed things from my providers and teachers on what benefits they are allotted if they do not work as part of the Department of Education system. >> So there are certainly discrepancies in benefits and as we look at wages, that is something we have to look at as well. Across the sort of diverse landscape of childcare providers, we have businesses of all different shapes and sizes. Some of them have unionized staff, some of them do not. And so benefits do differ across settings just as they do across all of the City's small businesses. And there are differences between the DC37 contract for center-based childcare providers and the UFT contract for early childhood teachers. So as we talk about wages, we have to look at not just wages, but also benefits and where these disparities come up and what impact that is having.

(01:36:41)

Can you give us some examples of what benefits have disparities? When we look at health

(01:36:46)

benefits that vary certainly across

(01:36:48)

different providers again because we have childcare providers of all different sizes and scales subject to different city state federal requirements for what they have to provide. There are disparities in folks access to retirement benefits and other similar forms of non-wage compensation.

(01:37:08)

I guess

(01:37:10)

I guess we all got to unionize. Okay. I am gonna pass it back to the chair. I will come back for questions in a second round.

(01:37:18)

Thank you. Thank you, chair. We are going to start with member questions and we will come back because I think as chairs we also have additional questions. First up is CM Brewer followed by CM Wong for questions and then yes,

(01:37:30)

thank you very much. I guess my question following up on that is just the numbers like we know how many DOE early childhood but just in terms of the other sector that is concerned as you are talking people behind you are shaking their heads like you know we know that this is an issue do you have some sense of what that number is of those that are not up to it is not the word up to par but do not have the advantages that the DOE does just general numbers.

(01:37:57)

Yeah. across the city, we estimate between 35,000 and 40,000 people work in

(01:38:04)

the center based or whatever, right? Nonprofit or whatever.

(01:38:08)

Yeah. And that is just based on census data. The controller's office has done some analysis of it and independent organizations have looked at it as well. There is no single authoritative number of every person in the City who works in child care because that again folks are many folks are self-employed particularly home-based childcare providers and so you know they show up one way in the data folks identify as caregivers childcare workers educators preschool teachers and so it

(01:38:36)

I just worry because those folks obviously want to get to the DOE or to a different paying job so you could lose a lot of them that is why they are all shaking their heads behind

(01:38:44)

yes It is a large diverse and very fragmented workforce as the childcare sector is and so we have to be thinking about how we support folks across the entire sector. >> I just technology. So do you train just general I am talking not just DOE so much but other caregivers because in the past this is I have been doing this for about you know 30 40 years in the past the folks at home-based particularly never had either the hardware or the software or anything to be able to communicate with technology it is all changed. So how do you train for technology in child care? People have to communicate with the City. They have to communicate with their parents. to have the community blah blah blah. How do you how does this fit into the discussion and funding?

(01:39:30)

Sure. So I will let my colleagues at CUNY jump in with how this fits into their training programs, but just to acknowledge that as we think about what support do childcare providers and educators of all types need across the City and especially our home-based providers who are going to be critical as we expand 2K and just an important part of our early childhood ecosystem. We are looking at what are all of the different supports whether it is business support or other sorts of administrative support. These are folks who got into child care because they want to educate and care for children not because they want to fill out detailed data reports but such is the life and so we are looking at all of the supports that folks may need.

(01:40:08)

Even just having internet in the home is enough right there. Fast internet is not easy. All right. So how are we dealing? How is that something that the City picks up cost-wise or?

(01:40:18)

Well, I think again as we talk about the whole sort of ecosystem, there are our sort of independent childcare providers who are not operating necessarily with city contract but who we want to make sure as we expand the system we are supporting and then there are folks who contract with the City. I will let the deputy chancellor phone to work and then I paid $1,000 for a new internet in my house. That is a lot of money.

(01:40:45)

Yes. And I think

(01:40:46)

so I am just saying that is what it cost. Otherwise, I could not get any connecting.

(01:40:50)

This is also where, you know, as we think about the work of expanding access to child care, it takes truly all of city government. For example, we know that in our NYCHA developments and in our HPD funded oil developments, we have many many >> I am aware of the walls. >> Yeah. We have got home-based providers in many of these settings. And so efforts that NYCHA is undertaking to expand broadband access in their properties. HPD's work to bring broadband to affordable housing that benefits home-based childcare providers who are operating in those settings.

(01:41:23)

I am aware of Spectrum's deal. That is what it is called, but it is also called Spectrum, both of them. Finally, just after school generally, can you help me with where it is or is not and how is that being funded? In other words, pre-K, where are we with the afterschool issues just generally? I

(01:41:42)

mean, some do, some do not, etc. >> Sure. So after school is primarily under the, you know, the jurisdiction of DYCD. >> I understand that, but you all work together. >> We all work together. And I think that as we think about what does truly universal child care mean, we have to be looking at, you know, jobs do not stop at 2:30. We are all still here. Parents have to have a safe place for their kids to go. It is also, you know, as we are expanding access for our youngest children, we announced last week that the default model for 2K will be a full working day, correct, a full year because we recognize that that is what families need. >> And that is included in the HOKL money. >> Yes, it is.

(01:42:20)

Okay. Thank you.

(01:42:24)

Is that it? That is it.

(01:42:26)

Thanks, CM. Always a pleasure. Okay. CM Wong does not have any questions, so I just want to follow up and I know the chairs have some follow-up questions as well. I just want to make sure that what I was asking regarding the projected recruitment rates is something that we will have on the record that we will have a sense of like what we need. So we I highlighted this report says 5,000 or so new teachers a year. Does that seem accurate? Does that seem like enough? >> I am gonna admit that. >> Do not over complicate. >> No, I was gonna say I know if you are reporting the site report, if you are citing the report, I think you are. In a past life, I wrote it. So I do stand by the analysis. >> I would also say that these first 20,000 2K seats we are launching this fall will really give us an opportunity to understand what it looks like to scale the program. As we see the dynamics for our individual providers, how many of them do you need to hire new teachers, where we are scaling versus converting classrooms, and as we then look ahead to the additional 10,000 seats we will be launching in the fall of 2027, we will be able to apply lessons from this first year. So I think in the coming months, we will have much better insight into this, and we would be happy to share that with the subcommittee and discuss how we are projecting for year

(01:43:41)

two and beyond. Okay, great. That is excellent. That is helpful. And then of the 2,000 seats for 2K, I guess as you are in the process of selecting the providers and all that, what are the conversations that you are having with these providers about... I do not know. I think people see the announcements and it is all really great. I think the announcement about extended day is also amazing. And so parents are interested, right? And parents are already hitting up council members even if they are not in one of the selected areas. So, how are you talking to providers about, you know, if any of them were underenrolled, like how they are doing? I guess how are we bracing ourselves for this? There is obviously keen interest. And how are you having those conversations with providers? You know, like how are you managing expectations? Yes. I got excited because I think the approach is relatively thoughtful. So we did issue a survey to assess interest. We did lots of surveys. We did one for center-based programs and one for family childcare networks to discern if they wanted to modify their slot configuration. Those that replied and said yes, we absolutely want to leverage this opportunity, my team is calling every single one of them to have a one-on-one conversation to really understand the impact, saying, "Do you want to just add a net new classroom? Do you want to convert an underutilized classroom?

Are you asking to convert a classroom we know is highly popular?" And then having those conversations and then following up in writing to say this is what we decided, this is what the funding looks like. We want you to make a sound business decision. And then having them round back and then once we finalize who is ready to participate, we are going to support them with very clear coaching and readiness trainings. And then the second pathway of the request for information where we will welcome new networks and new center-based providers, it will run a similar process where after we go through their application, evaluate it and decide if they were selected then we will have conversations to discuss the scale of seats and then their interest but we are really trying to have a one-on-one tailored approach.

(01:45:51)

Yeah, I agree. I agree with that. And what is the... let us say in the scenarios where maybe yeah they do need to recruit another teacher or teaching assistant and I know it is different the hiring process but they will be contracted with the DOE correct and what is that average time that it takes for the vetting to get cleared and do you all anticipate having the capacity in conversation with the city with DOHMH as well to get that done in time for the September launch? So the Department of Health has been looking closely at this as we plan for expansion and I know there is another hearing on this very topic next week and we will be back on Wednesday. Yes. And we do feel we are on track to make sure staff are cleared in time for the first day of school because... What is the average wait time now? I can get back to you with that. Okay. Is it like... It is months though. Let us be honest. It is not... It is not months. It is really well within... I think it is months. On average it is not but I know that and I hear folks shouting their exceptions to that. They are going to come after us so that is why we have to... We understood we will get back to you with the average and what that spread looks like right now.

(01:46:20)

Okay okay and then oh okay I am so sorry CM Felder you have questions. I have a lot of questions. Okay five minutes brother. Yeah but all of the members that... No, that is not how it works. Please, please start his time right now. Let us go. Okay, thank you very much. That does not count. I am just curious the information that has been given.

(01:47:02)

You know I am delighted that CUNY is here especially since my mentor who is sitting in the back from my first stint in the city council who I do not want to embarrass by name but you know who it is. And I myself got my MBA at Baruch and it was a wonderful wonderful experience but I am wondering about the numbers in general. You know you have been talking about and giving us a lot of information. I understand that the city budget and the state budget clearly has a lot to do with CUNY more so than other universities private universities and others. But do you have numbers or information in the general information other than the numbers that you are giving me and my colleagues at CUNY and I am not asking for it now instead of you telling me that you will get back to me with it if you do not mind sharing it with me and if my colleagues want it as well. I think all the variety of questions that have been posed makes sense if that would be helpful. So that was a statement not a question. Then earlier somebody brought up the possibility of giving free college or similar things like that. That type of program sounds wonderful. Would there... if I do not know if it exists or not but obviously that would come along with some sort of agreement that they commit to spending x number of years doing whatever it is that you expect them to do. That is also a statement unless somebody at that table... just remember I am the only one left at this table.

Unless somebody there disagrees, I am assuming that that is the way it works that you give them free which is good and then they have to agree to remain in that field for x number of years statement. Just one clarification on that.

(01:47:44)

So the New York City or the Excelsior scholarship, which is free community free four-year tuition for in-state folks, that does have a residency requirement upon completion. We will have to get back to you about Reconnect, whether or not there is a residency or a requirement to stay in the state or stay in the profession.

(01:50:38)

I do not... I am not talking about staying in the state. I mean, they can live on the moon. I do not care. What I am talking about is in the profession that you are trying to fill. That is... We will get back to you on that requirement for reconnect.

(01:51:03)

Thank you. And then the other... I am not sure how things work. Thank God our kids are out of the house and they have to deal with their own kids at this point even though we certainly want them to have an easier time but is there a split? So I am just saying I am not that well-versed as some of my colleagues and you could tell by the color of my beard. In terms of the day itself, is there such a thing as like a split shift that there are assistants that help... either assistants or teachers that are able to be there a certain amount of time and not the entire day.

(01:51:16)

So different childcare programs approach their staffing across the day differently. There are certain requirements under the health code depending on the setting, the age of the children, in terms of the qualifications of who needs to be in the room at all times. But programs, particularly those that are running a 10-hour day, will have multiple staff people and may arrange the schedules in a variety of ways. I just want you to know that they have been running the clock faster for me. It is not only here, it is all over the place. Can I ask the three chairs for one more statement? That will take 30 seconds. Yes, I suppose. Thank you. I also would like to just know about the special ed. And then this is a much longer conversation but I am sure many of you are aware that there has been a lot of issues relating to encouraging private... the payments and other things like that and it is not something that just started yesterday and it is not something that... this is not about blame it is very complicated. I would just ask that I had volunteered during the Bloomberg administration, during the de Blasio administration and on to volunteer to help and no one has taken me up on it probably for good reason, but I would very much like to be involved in trying to resolve this issue.

(01:52:17)

Thank you, CM. I will pass it to Chair Joseph for additional questions. Thank you, Chair. I had a quick question. Earlier, you mentioned the 30 schools, the high schools you have in partnership. Can you send the council a list and can you also tell us which one is focused on education? We can absolutely follow up with that.

(01:53:32)

Thank you. So, how many new early childhood educators, I know my colleague asked for that, would need to be recruited each year to meet the needs of 2K, 3K, and preK services. And how did you arrive at that number?

(01:54:06)

So I think as we look to launch 2K this fall and then expand beyond that, it is something we are going to be studying closely. This is the first time the city is launching a program for two-year-olds at this scale. So we coming in do not have that estimate because we want to continue in our individual engagement with providers, understand what their staffing needs are, and then use that to project for future years. And how many seats are we launching 2,000? I believe it is 2,000 this fall, and then an additional 10,000 in the fall of 27. So, we are serving a total of 12,000 kids in fall. And how many students do you have... DC Hawkins in your early learn division now which caters to 0 to 2 am I right? So we no longer call it early learn chair but yes we do as part of our infant toddler portfolio which is part of the birth to five and then some additional there is about I believe 10,000 seats but I can confirm utilization for even one second.

(01:54:31)

So this is to add on to what already exists. Okay thank you. What is the outreach on the data management program? What is the data management and how are you going to look at your data to know where to put seats and how are you capturing that data? What mechanism are you using to capture that data in terms of where to place 2K seats? So as Deputy Chancellor Hawkins said, we have looked at the existing data we have, which is past enrollment patterns and application patterns in our early childhood programs like 3K and preK. As we continue to think about what this will look like to serve younger children, we are also looking at overall licensed child care capacity in different communities. We will be working across our agency partners to look at factors like birth data and try to better understand what the patterns are. We also do not... no one in government frankly really knows how many families might want to participate in this program. That is not something we have ever comprehensively looked at before. We actually have a survey that is live right now that we launched in partnership with Robin Hood and New America that will be the first of its kind and scale survey of families with children under five to understand their current child care usage and what their true needs and preferences would be. And that is going to give us really detailed information for planning purposes about what uptake might look like.

And then that will inform as well how we think about the number of seats we need in different...

(01:54:47)

And where is that... where is that survey going to live? How can we get our hands on that survey? And how is it going to be sent out to communities? Is it just going to live in folks who have access to technology as CM Brewer brought it about? Are you going to be in housing? Are you going to be in churches, hair salons where we know women and families usually frequent to capture that data? So the survey is actually live right now. Postcards were sent to thousands of families homes. And they could based on that postcard... How did you identify those families you sent the postcards to? It was working with research partners. So we can get back to you on the specific methodology. I did not get... I did not get a postcard and I have a child though he is not early childhood but I do have a child. I did not get a postcard. The postcards were targeted to families with children under five based on American community survey data and other resources. You did not exactly that. That is what I am talking about. He went to get his hair washed and he did not get a survey. So the survey I should say is not necessarily meant to go to every single parent in the city. We are working with research partners who are building a representative sample of New York City parents.

So, our goal is to make sure that we have a diverse sample that we have folks in for example in NYCHA developments, we had outreach that went out through NYCHA's tenant list serves, NYCHA's new parents list serves and other contact lists to make sure we are building a representative sample. So, that survey is live now. Once it closes, our research partners are going to do the analysis. The city will not have access to the raw data because we want to protect the confidentiality of folks who responded to it, but we will have access to all of the analysis. We would be happy to share that with you once we have it.

(01:55:42)

You know, we went down this road before. That is why I am asking all those questions. The previous admins, we spent $750,000 to tell me where seats were until today. It has been four years. I have no data on where those seats are in order to better place those seats for families to find them.

(01:56:18)

Understood. Yeah. This is a different kind of process. Again, we are just trying to understand for really the first time ever. If you look across different demographics, different household structures, different economics, what kind of child care are families using today? Are they informal care? Do they have their kids with a relative? What drew them to that kind of care model? How does that differ for their one-year-old versus their three-year-old? And then if they had their true preference, if cost were no object, what would be their preference? Because what we really want to understand is again as we plan for the scale up of this universal system, how many parents of two-year-olds want and need full-time care? How many folks want and need care that is offered in the evenings or on weekends? That is something we hear a lot, but we have not been able to quantify it before. So this is not the end all be all. We then have to match that up with analysis of where are licensed childcare providers in the city? Who among them is already working with the city? Who is interested in working with the city? Where do we need to help incentivize the creation of new child care capacity? We know we have child care deserts. That is particularly true in our lower income communities and for infants and toddlers where we do not have enough licensed care.

So we want to again look at all of this data together and then our office is thinking about how can we support aspiring child care providers in communities that do not have enough care to if they are currently an informal care provider become a licensed care provider. If they are a small childcare provider looking to expand, how can we incentivize the creation of more physical space for care and help matchmake between providers and space? So this is, you know, within the scope of the office of child care. We are really thinking about this full picture. How do we make sure we have enough care in the city? How do we make sure that all of the city's child care programs whether or not they partner with the city have what they need to maintain a robust workforce? How are we building the systems and infrastructure so that businesses can sustain and scale? So really thinking about all of this, all the data points and inputs from the full sector.

What about providers who had to close a particular program in their building because it no longer exists in the city's ecosystem? Are you looking at those providers to reopen some of those spaces up? As we look at where in the city we need more care, we want to talk with all different folks, folks who have been in the sector and left because it was too challenging. The costs were not working anymore. Folks again who have a small home-based program and are interested in growing that. So, we want to really work with and connect with and hear from all different kinds of folks in the space.

(01:57:09)

What are ongoing costs to licensed early childhood education providers have to cover to keep their license? Are there resources from the city or state to help cover those costs? Are you referring to for individual educators? Yep. And providers.

(01:57:20)

and where's that date where is that

(01:57:21)

survey going to live? How can we get our hands on that survey? And how is it going to be sent out to communities? Is it just going to live in folks who have access to technology as council member Brewer um brought it about? Are you going to be in housing? Are you going to be in churches, hair salons where we know women and families usually frequent to capture that data? >> So the survey is actually live right now. Um postcards were sent to thousands of families homes. Um and they could based on that postcard um >> how did you identify those families you sent the postcards to? >> Um it was working with research partners. So we can get back to you on the specific methodology. >> I didn't get I didn't get a I didn't get a postcard and I have a child though he's not early childhood but I do have a child. I didn't I didn't get a postcard.

(01:58:04)

The postcards were targeted to families with children under five based on American community survey data and other resources. >> You didn't exactly that. That's what I'm talking about. He went to get his hair washed and he did not get a survey. So the and the survey I should say is not necessarily meant to go to every single parent in the city. Um we're working with uh research partners who are building a representative sample of New York City parents. So, our goal is is to make sure that we have a diverse sample that we have folks in um for example in NICHA developments, we had um outreach that went out through NICHA's tenant list serves um NICHA's new parents list serves um and other contact lists to make sure we're building a representative sample. Um so, that survey is live now. Once um it closes, our research partners are going to do the analysis. The city will not have

(01:58:54)

access to the raw data because we want to protect the confidentiality of folks who responded to it, but we will have access to all of the analysis. We would be happy to share that with you once we have it.

(01:59:04)

You know, we went down this road before. That's why I'm asking all those questions. Um the previous admins, we spent $750,000 to tell me where seats were until today. It's been four years. I have no data on where those seats are in order to better place those seats for families to find them.

(01:59:22)

Understood. Yeah. this and this is um this is a a different kind of process. Again, we're just trying to understand for really the first time ever. If you look across different demographics, different household structures, different economics, what kind of child care are families using today? Um are they informal care? Are do they have their kids with a relative? Um what drew them to that kind of care model? How does that differ for their one-year-old versus their three-year-old? And then if they had their true preference, if cost were no object, what would be their preference? Um because what we really want to understand is again as we plan for the scale up of this universal system, how many parents of two-year-olds want and need full-time care? How many folks want and need care that's offered um in the evenings or on weekends? That's something we hear a lot, but we haven't been able to quantify it before. Um so this is not the end all beall. Um, we then have to match that up with analysis of where are where are licensed childcare providers in the city? Who among them is already working with the city? Who is interested in working with the city? Where do we need to help incentivize the creation of new child care capacity? We know we have child care deserts. Then that's particularly true in our lower income communities and um for infants and toddlers where we don't have enough licensed care.

Um, so we want to again look at all of this data together and then our office is thinking about how can we support aspiring child care providers in communities that don't have enough care to if they're currently an informal care provider become a licensed care provider. If they're a small childare provider looking to expand, how can we um incentivize the creation of more physical space for care and help matchmake between providers and space? Um, so this is, you know, within the scope of the office of child care. We're really thinking about this full picture. How do we make sure we have enough care in the city? How do we make sure that um all of the city's child care programs whether or not they partner with the city have what they need uh to maintain a robust workforce? Um how are we building the systems and infrastructure so that businesses can sustain and scale? Um so really thinking about all of this, all the data points and inputs from the full sector. What about providers who had to close a particular program in their building because it no longer exists in the city's ecosystem? Are you looking at those providers to reopen some of those spaces up? >> Um, as we look at where in the city we need more care, we want to talk with with all different folks, folks who've been in the sector and left because it was they, you know, it was too challenging. They the costs weren't working anymore. Um, folks again who have a a small homebased program and are interested in growing that.

So, we want to really work with and connect with and hear from all different kinds of folks in the space.

(02:02:04)

Um, what's ongoing costs to um do licensed early childhood education providers have to cover to keep their license? Are there resources from the city or state to help cover those costs? >> Um, are you referring to for individual educators? >> Yep. And providers.

(02:02:20)

Okay. So, both on the business cost side and so I will say on the business side, we are currently looking at and working with our partners who work with the Small Business Services Administration to understand all of the different fees and applications and processes that providers as small businesses have to go through. So, we would be happy to come back and share some of those findings with you, but that is something we are looking at closely.

(02:02:46)

We would love that. And early childhood educators work is predominantly made up of women. Yet studies show that young children benefit academically, socially and emotionally when exposed to educators of different genders, backgrounds and life experiences. Does the institute support any targeted mentorship scholarship programs that make early childhood visible and support a pathway for men as well? I know you have the NYC Men Teach program, but I noticed there are only 600 men. And where are they placed? Tell me about that.

(02:03:17)

Sure. So, NYC Men Teach is administered across 16 campuses. So, we have all the CUNY colleges that offer education programs offering NYC Men Teach and it is meant to support students in the academic programs they are in. So, the students choose but given the expansion in the sector will be new work to look at to really engage them on early childhood. But we do know now that we already have students enrolled in early childhood programs who are in NYC Men Teach.

(02:03:51)

And you are looking to expand from the 600 because in your testimony you said about 600 men are in the program right now. About 600 men a year.

(02:04:03)

Are you looking to expand?

(02:04:04)

Our budget is flat.

(02:04:06)

...

(02:04:10)

I know she said budget is flat. So we need you to add...

(02:04:17)

But if I may chair, some of the work that my team is doing on the workforce development side is also about being intentional about where we go and how we communicate and target our messaging. So there is a lot of stuff we are already doing in addition to NYC Men Teach which is a phenomenal program. We are out in community and there is a way that we can encourage male participation in the workforce. One of the things I said the other day when I was at a fatherhood symposium is that there is this misunderstanding that men cannot be nurturing, right? And that is untrue. And I think we have to myth bust that and remind folks. I am looking at many male educators. Men are looking at you now. And a way to do that is by exposing definitely our students early on while they are considering potential professional pathways. So going into high schools and letting them know that this is an option for them too.

(02:05:14)

Yeah, that is exactly what I was referencing in the high school programs. How are we doing that to recruit young men at that age as well?

(02:05:22)

Right. And one of the things that we are also doing is making sure that we have trying to have a more balanced staff. So having coaches and career advisors who are also men, you know, it is predominantly female. I work with mostly women, but we are really making a targeted effort to bring men on staff as well to support that kind of effort.

(02:05:44)

Thank you. I have one question for the talent office. Does New York City Talent offer any program that supports recruitment into early childhood education field? Yeah. So first, tell me about... But I do not want you to feel like you are sitting there. We did not ask you no questions. We got you.

(02:06:02)

No, thank you. I appreciate the question, chair. And again, just want to underscore that child care is a workforce development issue, right? We are talking a lot about the challenges of the child care workforce, but for any type of job, it is hard to keep a job if you do not have child care, right? And so we are really excited about this whole of government approach that is falling off the table and many people behind us and across the city who are partnering with this work and the leadership of the mayor and executive director for this work.

Specifically what our office is doing, we are funding right now two apprenticeship programs. One is at PDI and one is at the Kennedy Children's Center which is a nonprofit childhood education center that specializes in teaching individuals with or young children with developmental disabilities too. So the special education piece is particularly important there. Apprenticeship is a great model. It is sort of the gold standard, right? It is more accessible and available to low-income New Yorkers because it is paid. It is on the job learning. It is the mentorship that we have talked about today that is incredibly important for keeping people in the job and apprenticeships are good for the employers as well, right?

And so at KCC, it is a really interesting model where they are hiring and training and have apprentices for their own staff so that people can grow into different types of roles and stay in the profession because we know that it is not just about getting people in the door. It is about getting people in the door who want to be doing this incredibly important and incredibly hard work. And so our apprenticeship programs, they are small in scale, but we just wrapped up the first year of a two-year program, but they are pilots. And so we are really excited about the lessons learned, bringing that back to the folks at this table and the broader team around the city working towards this to see how we can make sure that apprenticeship becomes a model that is helping solve a lot of the challenges that we have discussed today.

(02:07:57)

Is there someone dedicated on your team just for early childhood education?

(02:08:01)

So we have an apprenticeship accelerator team. It is a team of three and these we have two contracts for these apprenticeship contracts but we have eight contracts total that are across a variety of different spaces. Part of our intent around doing this which contracts that went out last year is to try to increase apprentices in different types of industries. So we have that in tech, health care and early child care.

(02:08:27)

How much are you doing for marketing to let the general public know that CUNY offers array of educational programs? So we have a comprehensive communications team both on the CUNY side but specifically at the institute that really focuses on this work. So we are on the socials, we send out newsletters, we do career fairs both at campuses and in communities. That is probably the main source of things. I will say even with something like the apprenticeships, you know, we have really been able to utilize the network of folks that we just have on our mailing list and word of mouth through all of our different programs through Aspire, through Quality Stars New York and the career development centers, which I think has illustrated why we had over 400 applicants for 30 slots with this apprenticeship that we are offering now. What is the status of the Institute

(02:09:27)

for Early Childhood Work Readiness program? Do NYC residents participate and what is normally just a range of... Yeah so that project was a precursor to our apprenticeship project so that really helped us learn a lot of lessons that help when we applied for funding from NYC Talent. So that is wrapping up and we were able to support a number of mostly assistant teachers, young people up to the age of 24 to get their CDAs and become assistant teachers and a couple of folks also to become lead teachers. But that as I said that is wrapping up this June.

(02:10:06)

Thank you. How many students participate in that program? I have to get back to you with that.

(02:10:10)

Okay. Wonderful. Does the division of early childhood education at DOE work with the institute? Is there a partnership here? Because I want to hear partnership. There is. Oh. Yes. We are very thrilled to be working closely with Simone and her with the deputy chancellor and her colleagues and team. So they we have worked with them to provide the credit bearing CDA in both English and Spanish for family child care folks. We previously worked and provided support for Head Start parents also to get their CDAs. I will give credit where credit is due. The reason that SPS has a Spanish language CDA program is because of that work. Because when we started doing that work with them, we had a lot of Spanish speakers and we could not serve them appropriately and so that pushed CUNY to create that program and now we have it up and running.

They also support us to help folks complete their CDA. So we have a lot of folks who have the CDA coursework but they have not gone through the whole process to actually earn the credential. So we provide those supports for them also to earn teacher certification just walking them through that teacher certification process exam preps etc as you mentioned earlier. And then the transcripts. Exactly. So one of the barriers that we have identified especially recently is that there are a lot of folks are coming in with foreign transcripts or diplomas degrees that need to be not only translated but also evaluated utilizing very specific vendors in order to be able to go on to higher education or even for employment. So, working with DECE, we have been able to support folks to be able to cover those fees because that can be $500, $600, which can really be a barrier to someone deciding to move in a direction even if they want to. So, we can cover that cost and they can make that move forward.

(02:12:12)

So, is that a commitment or are we also looking... I know back in 2009 I was a young teacher. I know we did a lot of international recruitment. Is that something that if we fall short, which I know we will not, that is that a possibility that we are looking at?

(02:12:29)

We are not currently looking at it, but yeah, there was a huge influx of international teachers that came in 2009. Not anymore.

(02:12:43)

Only K to 12.

(02:12:46)

Yeah.

(02:12:47)

Yeah. Earlier when we talked about the early childhood apprenticeship, what additional support would you need to expand that program to have more individuals? This is the money part. Our ask is $3 million over three years to support 200 additional apprentices. So, you know, you cannot be shy when you come to the council when it comes to money. Pass it along to CM Won.

(02:13:12)

Chair Won. Thank you so much, chairs. Joseph, you know, she beat me to it. I was going to have a conversation with Doug, our dear friend, who has been patiently waiting. So, thank you so much for being here. Does New York City Talent offer any programs to support the recruitment? Sorry if you already said this. Yeah. So, our apprenticeship programs, there are two we one at PDI and one at Kennedy Children's Center. And so, those programs are funding to support apprentices. They are small in scale, but we are excited about that model to make sure that we can bring those learnings back to the broader group here. Do you have any private funds dedicated towards early childhood education workforce development that could be referred to for our small businesses who are CBOs? Right now the our contracts are actually federally funded. So there is no private funding involved in this. Got it. And I have a few other

(02:14:10)

questions. Can you give me some clarification about how the positions like assistant teachers and whether the admin is committed to pay parity for equivalent of DC37 and UFT positions beyond teachers?

(02:14:27)

I think this is something we are going to look at closely look at all of the different roles in early childhood programs and the gaps in wages as we look towards more equitable wages for all of our staff. And then for some of the moms who are currently teachers already early childhood education teachers who want to get back into Reconnect, right now they cannot be full-time students which prevents them from taking advantage of

(02:14:54)

this program. Has that been reviewed by CUNY at all on how they can get connected to Reconnect? I have some great news. CUNY Reconnect that we launched this fall was specifically designed for people ages 25 to 55 and they go part-time. They are required to take up to 15 courses over the course of the year. So, this is specifically designed for working adults. Great. Thank you so much. I am sure there are many people in the audience who are sending me these questions are very excited to hear that if community based organizations teachers have the same

(02:15:28)

qualifications as a teacher in the Department of Education why is not the pay equal and the benefits equal for them outside of the unionization so that is what people want to know

(02:15:40)

You know I think we acknowledge that there are these gaps and it has it is not something that happened overnight this is a system that has been built for decades on an inequitable foundation. And so I am not going to sit here and try to defend to you why it is the case because I do not think that is not a decision anyone up here made. It is not a decision obviously any of you made and it is something that we all have to grapple with together as we build towards a more equitable system. So we are starting from a foundation that does treat people differently based on the setting they work in. And we have to over time as we work with you, as we work with labor, as we work with our non-unionized providers, work to address this.

(02:16:21)

Okay. I think the A+ for effort and trying to answer the question, but I already I am already getting so many text messages about the satisfaction to that answer. I know that it is going to be on another hearing, so tune in for the next one with Chair Gutiérrez. And then if we want the CBOs to offer this care and they are operating off of 2021 budget, how are they supposed to stay in business if this budget does not increase? This is something we are looking at closely right now as well. We recognize that folks have seen rising costs and that the contracts do not have built into them a cost escalator. So we are looking at this and have been in close conversation with many providers to understand how and which of their costs have gone up since 2021, what that looks like and what steps we could potentially take to address it.

(02:17:13)

So going back to we had many questions about the data as a constituent services team when we try to get our kids services in our neighborhood for what they need especially for IEPs what we hear back often from the Department of Education is that therapists simply are not available. So if less kids are getting IEPs as a result, they then you are going to have because less of them qualify for an IEP to begin with, you are we are going to have less staff justified by that benchmark. In short, the shortage of special education teachers, speech and OT therapists is worse than what the numbers imply in our data if you only look at the kids on the approved waiting list. There are students who never make it to that starting line to begin with. And New York City public schools, we really want you to be more open about what is deterring the students from getting those IEPs, in between the paperwork.

Like my district has the highest amount of migrant children enrolled in district 30. And when parents who come with second language speakers come and they tell us that they have been given this huge packet to say that this is the paperwork that they have to get and to get evaluated. It is a really tough thing for us to even talk to the parents about. So to follow up on this current process for early childhood education, how many students are waiting for the SEIT services to begin? We will have to get back to you and provide special education specific data today. Okay. This has been brought to our attention that we already have a gap to begin with with therapists, OT providers and other special education trained teachers available in our school system now. And that the number that we are pegging ourselves to to say we need X number that that is actually not the actual...

(02:19:18)

So I do have a number for you. Oh, okay. Great. And so the CPSCs they have completed over 13,000 IEPs for the school year and at this time we believe there are 3,400 more. But noted about outreach and making sure that whatever outreach we conduct is culturally responsive that communities that it is in language and it is very

(02:19:41)

onerous for any working parent to have to navigate the system of 175 pages when you already have a child who has special needs and I know that there are many people in this room and people who are listening who have just been heartbroken by the treatment of these children in our schools and also just distraught that we just do not have enough teachers in our workforce. So I hope that we can all work together to make sure that we have proper workforce development and

(02:20:05)

special training for the existing teachers and to make sure that all these teachers are also have the added support of OTs and therapists and speech therapists and so much more to have a well-rounded comprehensive care for these children.

(02:20:20)

Thank you, Chair Won. And that was one of the biggest worries for me in this as we expand. Where is the workforce coming from? And we know only 63% of our students are getting their related services. And that is why we have an ongoing crisis in the city. It is not a problem. It is a crisis where we are paying out services for almost $2.2 billion if I am correct and it is growing. So that is where I have an issue when we decide to expand. Are we looking at the system comprehensively? Can we meet the demand? Because when I came into office in 2022, we had 700 students with special needs who are sitting at home and that broke my heart and I got to work really fast. We were able to bring those numbers down. Are we looking at probably building out more AMES centers into these early childhood centers where maybe DC Hawkins can help me? Maybe we need to start looking at AMES as well where everything is embedded in that building. We were successfully able to open one in my district, the first in central Brooklyn to serve black and brown students who had to travel almost 2 hours. This is a four-year-old. Imagine that. Four-year-old on a bus at 6:00 a.m. to go downtown to get the services. Right now in our district, they get the services on the spot. So, we need to look at different models. It should not be a cookie cutter model in education. And that is what I have said with bringing over 22 years of experience.

I have seen the system inside out so nobody can fool me or trick me because I know where they are. And one model cannot work for all communities. So we have to come in and look at it comprehensively and not create cookie cutter models for our communities.

(02:22:06)

Chair Jennifer Gutiérrez.

(02:22:08)

Chair Joseph.

(02:22:09)

Yes.

(02:22:11)

As always. Thank you so much. And I just want to echo that. I think the previous council and I am sure as this council as well wants to continue to uplift what Chair Joseph has said for a long time which is turning up the heat on what we know which is there are children sitting at home. There are parents who are feeling disenchanted with the public school system overall when they cannot find a seat for their child. And when we talk about enrollment as a whole, I mean, I think we all believe that if we get this right, we are creating... we are going to be able to fill up schools in a way that we just have not. And so we do have to get it right and we always have to get every step of it right, which is a lot to do. It is parallel campaigns happening all at the same time. And it is all important. It is pay parity. It is special education seating. It is expanding to universal child care. But that is our job. I have a couple more questions and then we are going to end the questions and then... Okay, then we have one more question from CM Joseph and then we will pass it to the public. I wanted to ask CUNY about the apprenticeship program. I do not know if I missed it, but something that we want to be able to achieve through the legislation that we are discussing today and in future conversations is the piece about job placements. Something that I think works super well about the teaching fellows is that there is guaranteed placement. Can you talk me through what that looks like?

(02:23:28)

So what we do in the apprenticeship, so there is a pre-apprenticeship component, but what we are also doing during that time is matching our apprentices, our pre-apprentices to employers. So they are... And is it nonprofit CBOs or... CBOs are in licensed childcare centers. Okay. And so what we are doing is really matching, you know, because it is based on location, we do not want apprentices that have to travel two hours to get to their job. So we are looking at those spaces. We are also wanting to make sure that we are putting folks in where it is a good fit. So of course, the apprenticeship host is also a very important part of that process and interviews our apprenticeship candidates. Then we do a match day to really match them with their apprentice site and then the apprenticeship begins.

(02:24:20)

Thank you. And then can I ask what is the outreach on the data management program Aspire? Sure. We do a lot of

(02:24:28)

outreach with Aspire and really encourage folks to input their information and utilize the Aspire registry to not only in a leadership role to manage their staff to look at the professional development needs, their own opportunities for planning their careers and professional development there. So they can really look and monitor that and help to support their staff in that. And then also we have a PD finder so that they can use to find professional development offerings online in person free with charge etc all the various... and those are vetted so that they are quality assured through the Aspire registry. And so we do a lot of outreach with folks and that is one of the things that we do in the career development centers when they come to us and want to access a scholarship program. We work with them to also create their Aspire profile because that is really a professional profile that they can then carry with them through the rest of their time as an early childhood professional.

(02:25:33)

I will just say another functionality of the Aspire registry is that we also have organization accounts. So programs can actually input their classrooms, their teachers. We do not have child level data in the registry, but we can really see this program has a fours classroom, a threes classroom, and a twos classroom, and they have got four teachers attached, which means they have two teachers potentially that they are still hiring for. So that functionality also exists within the registry.

(02:26:08)

Thank you. Thank you for that. And then my last question is for DC Hawkins. I had a question about the $70 million allocation specifically for education services. Can you let me know? I know this funding was associated with 350 new positions. First, we have to thank the council for

(02:26:28)

their support getting us that 70 million. What a good time when we had money. And so that 70 million really strengthened our preschool special education process. And so just to be clear, it funded preschool evaluation teams, CPSE administrators and a pilot of special education itinerant teachers SEIT. And so for PET staff there are 20 teams and that actually provided 80 headcount. 80. Okay. For CPSE 47 headcount and that includes admins, directors of inclusions, community coordinators. Related service providers it supports 249 so 212 RSP providers and 37 itinerants. And then for that SEIT pilot 10 headcount. Okay. And so we are still moving forward. We are... you know the team specifically this is being led by DAO. They are still in the process of implementing but they are making and we are making significant progress. So thank you.

(02:27:30)

That is excellent. Thank you. And the goal was originally 350 new positions I believe. So but I can confirm. No. Okay. And so is there any... I mean I think we got... Thank you because you gave it to us by title. Are there any challenges that you want to highlight? Is there any challenges the DOE is facing to hire for these positions? Not that I am aware of, but I will definitely confirm with my colleagues and circle back if there are any that are notable to share.

(02:27:54)

Okay, I will have to do the

(02:27:56)

math. And Chair Joseph, for her one question.

(02:27:59)

For my one question, what is New York City public school plan to ensure that community-based nonprofit providers are part of the city early childhood program for infants and toddlers? Additionally, will any prospective investments or procurement process be inclusive of providers supporting children six weeks old to two years old?

(02:28:19)

So I will start with the overall commitment of this administration is to provide universal child care to every child under five in a range of different settings with culturally competent care and respected, properly paid educators. The steps we are taking this fall with 2K and the launch of that program is really the first step in this overall vision and goal. And so what we are on a path toward now with thanks to the governor commitment of state funds earlier this year is the 2,000 2K seats we are launching this fall, 12,000 2K seats in the fall of 2027 and access for every 2-year-old in the city whose family would like to participate by the end of the mayor first term. We are continuing to build toward that vision ultimately of care for all children beginning at six weeks. And getting to that goal requires deep partnership and investment in our community based providers. As we are looking to the launch of 2K this fall, that is a program that really we are building in partnership with community based organizations and home-based childcare providers, recognizing where the expertise is in caring for our toddlers, recognizing the settings families often choose and prefer for their youngest children. And we will continue to deepen that partnership as we ultimately look ahead to serving everyone.

(02:29:38)

And we leave no one behind. Exactly. And if I can quickly add those 10,000 infant toddler seats that I referred to earlier, you know, over 4,000 are for infants and then also the remainder are toddlers. But to Emmy point, the game changer about 2K is all those seats for the most part, not including those part of the birth to two initiative are means tested. And so that creates a barrier to access. And so introducing and launching 2K will absolutely be a game changer but centering that all of those infant toddler seats are in either a family child care home or a center. And so they are integral to us being successful in not only sustaining and improving those seats but adding any new ones.

(02:30:20)

And will there be a series of conversation roundtables with these providers to pick their brains and make them your thought partners since they are in the weeds? They are not... you are sitting... we are in office. We are bureaucrats, right? They are on the ground serving those young people, the children, the babies. Are we having conversation with them to make them your thought partners? We absolutely are. We are continuing to do that. That has been a big focus. I know a big focus all along for Deputy Chancellor and her team. And there have been many structured conversations specifically around the launch of 2K. My team as well is really focused on engaging directly with providers. We have been really focused in particular on home-based providers recognizing that these are folks who have not felt included in all of our city past expansions. So I will be this evening on Zoom with a couple hundred home-based educators. That is something we are committed to doing on a really regular basis. And that was one of the biggest things I complained when I was an educator. They want to plan for me but not with me. So I am happy that you are taking the step to plan with them and not for them so they can have an input and help you. They have been doing this work. So, thank you all.

(02:31:27)

Thank you.

(02:31:28)

That was two questions. I am

(02:31:30)

Thank you. DC Hawkins, I just wanted to confirm from the numbers that you shared with us, those are positions that are filled in every department. So, let me confirm that.

(02:31:40)

Okay. Okay. For you. No, that is okay. You can let me know. All right. Well, I want to thank all the members, all the chairs. We are going to shift to public testimony. Get a good stretch in everybody. I am going to open the hearing for public testimony. Thank you so much to CUNY, to DC Hawkins, to Emmy. Thank you so much everyone for testifying. We hope you can stick around for as long as

(02:32:03)

possible to hear from the public. I

(02:32:05)

remind members of the public that this is a government proceeding and that decorum shall be observed at all times. As such, members of the public shall remain silent at all times. The witness table is reserved for people who wish to testify. No video recording or photography is allowed from the witness table. Further, members of the public may not present audio or video recordings as testimony, but may submit transcripts of such recordings to the Sergeant-at-Arms for inclusion in the hearing record. If you wish to speak at today hearing, please fill out an appearance slip with a sergeant-at-arms and wait to be recognized. When recognized, you will have two minutes to speak on today oversight topic and legislation. If you have a written statement or additional written testimony you wish to submit for the record, please provide a copy to the Sergeant-at-Arms. You can also email written testimony to testimony@council.nyc.gov within 72 hours of this hearing. Audio and video recordings will not be accepted. I am going to call the first panel. We have Anna Rita D. Wentworth, Robert Gordiero, Lauren Melodia or Melodia, I am sorry, Oena Olsen, and Betty Bayz Melo.

(02:33:47)

Okay, anybody can start. Okay, thank you for the chance to discuss the importance of growing the early childhood education workforce to ensure that New York City children have access to high-quality early childhood programs. My name is Betty Bay Melo. I am an attorney and the director of early childhood education at Advocates for Children of New York. To properly serve all children and families seeking to benefit from the city expanding early childhood programs, the city must be prepared to recruit, retain, and support staff who dedicate themselves to providing safe and nurturing learning environments. We appreciate the council efforts to cultivate this vital workforce. It is important to ensure that these efforts include providers that serve young children with disabilities. We regularly hear from concerned families of children who have been evaluated and found eligible for early intervention or preschool special education services, but who wait for weeks and months for services they are promised to help their children learn. When families ask for help, they are often told that there are not enough special education providers or classrooms to serve all the children who need services. At a recent hearing before this council, New York City public school leaders testified that only about 63% of preschoolers with disabilities are receiving all of their related services and almost a quarter are not receiving any.

We also know that about half the children who should be working with a special education teacher are receiving those services and there are between 100 and 150 children waiting for... children with significant disabilities waiting for seats in integrated and special classrooms. Younger children are not faring much better. The most recent data available shows that last year only 55% of infants and toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities received all of their mandated early intervention services on time. As the city looks for solutions to increase early childhood workforce, it must also address the shortage of special education providers that is causing young children with disabilities to go without the services they need and have a legal right to receive and that are essential for these children to be included and participate in the city early childhood programs. Expanding early childhood options has the potential to lead to earlier identification of children disabilities resulting in positive outcomes for children and families, but only if we have the early intervention and preschool special education providers available to meet their needs. It is crucial for the supports included in intro 1656 as well as other early childhood pipeline and workforce development programs to extend to individuals interested in pursuing careers serving young children with disabilities. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I would be happy to answer any questions.

(02:36:24)

Thanks, Betty.

(02:36:27)

Hi, my name is Annarita Pignatelli Wentworth. I am the president of NYSMA, which stands for New York State Montessori Alliance. It is the state's Montessori advocacy group for educators and schools. We work closely with a national Montessori group called MPPI, which stands for Montessori Public Policy Initiative. Thank you for this opportunity to speak on behalf of the state's group and to also speak on behalf of Montessori. I am also out in the field. I was the head of school at Battery Park Montessori, a trilingual independent school for seven years just down the block on one side. Serves one-year-olds through five-year-olds and now I am the head of school at its sister school, Pine Street School, also just down the block serving one-year-olds all the way through eighth grade. We are proudly bilingual independent Montessori international baccalaureate school. As you address the early childhood workforce shortage at a time where there is consistent and ample research addressing the importance of early childhood in a human's formation, we urge you to include Montessori education as part of the solution. Montessori trained teachers are highly specialized in child development, differentiated instruction and fostering independence skills that directly support the goals of universal child care. To strengthen the educator pipeline, we ask for four key considerations.

First, recognize Montessori credentials within the career ladder so these educators are compensated equitably and schools can access funding. I on behalf of NYSMA along with Dr. Susan Cambridge, who is here with me today, a member of the group and also head of school at Twin Parks Montessori, are requesting that you recommend that the MACTE, education loves its acronyms, Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education be an approved pathway to qualification. By recognizing a MACTE accredited Montessori credential as a lead teacher qualifier, you immediately unlock a pipeline of highly trained educators who are already in our city but are currently blocked by the regulations. My peer Susan will provide an example in a moment. For what it is worth, many states currently over twenty already include this pathway. Second, and I know I am out of time, include Montessori as an eligible model within universal child care and access for the K through twelve continuum, expanding meaningful choice for families. Ensure programs regardless of structure. And then finally, allow flexibility for mixed age classrooms by basing capacity on square footage rather than the predominant age. And be mindful how regulations or changes to those regulations, with regards to permits or licenses, impact a school's ability to operate and adequately compensate its teachers. Thank you.

(02:39:16)

Thank you so much, chairs Joseph,

(02:39:18)

Gutiérrez, and Won for doing this hearing. It is important. We are in favor of the legislation of the Bill. My name is Robert Cordero, the CEO of Grand Street Settlement based in the Lower East Side, also serving the Bronx and Brooklyn. We are a one hundred and ten year old community-based organization. We were an original Head Start federal grantee coming out of the war on poverty over sixty years ago, and today we are one of the largest providers of community-based child care in New York City. I am also a proud Head Start graduate, a social worker, and a former fifth grade public school teacher. I want to start by acknowledging the historic nature of this moment. The mayoral administration's prioritization and the City Council of building a truly universal child care system is ambitious but significant in our history and the leadership of the City Council in advancing this vision has been crucial. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to get this right for families today and for future generations. I am not here as a policy expert. I am here as a parent whose children went to universal pre-K, but I am also here as an early childhood provider. I want to be direct. Universal child care will only succeed if it works for the community-based and nonprofit providers who make it possible. If we are serious about universal child care expansion, we need a workforce pipeline that is real and sustainable.

Right now, we are asking early childhood educators, many from the very communities we serve, to take on student loan debt, to enter a low paying, high stress, but mission focused profession. At the same time, providers like us are struggling every single day with recruitment and retention, competing with higher paying systems from the public and private sector, managing burnout, and trying to

(02:41:19)

hold on to talented and committed educators who are deeply committed to this work but cannot afford to stay. This is the wrong starting point. We need free tuition, not selective scholarships for early childhood degrees through the City University of New York and the State University of New York because New Yorkers who want to serve their own communities as early childhood educators should not have to go deeply into debt to do it. If we remove that barrier, we open the door to the very workforce this system depends on and give ourselves a real chance to recruit and retain them. Kudos to the administration's efforts thus far to expand care to two-year-olds. But let us recognize that for children from six weeks to age two, which we have not really been discussing very much,

(02:42:09)

Robert, can you wrap up? I am so sorry.

(02:42:10)

I will. Nonprofit community-based organizations and family childcare centers are the backbone of that system.

(02:42:18)

Thank you. Thank you so much. I do not like to interrupt people, so please wrap up your thoughts, guys.

(02:42:24)

Thank you.

(02:42:25)

Okay. Hi, my name is Lauren Melodia. I am a labor economist by trade and I study the city's labor market broadly and the child care sector specifically. And I want to urge Council to think about, with this labor shortage, yes, it is important to think about new entrance into the field, but the top priority right now is retaining and supporting the existing experienced workforce in this field. We have already heard about low wages in the field and pay disparity. I do not need to get into that, but I am happy to share all of the analysis we have done. The policy that is ultimately needed to incentivize new entrance and retain existing workers is for the City to commit to a career ladder and sector-wide salary scale for all occupations in the field, not just lead teachers. That demonstrates to people that there is real growth opportunities in the field, including for those who have extensive experience but have not seen the value in obtaining more credentials because it currently translates to little or no increase in wages and benefits. But the real thing I want to highlight today is the importance of establishing a wage subsidy fund here in New York City today. Workers have been demanding this. It has worked in the city's history as well as in other places. When we stabilize the existing workers, we stabilize the field.

These subsidies will be most meaningful to the lowest wage workers in the field who are the family child care providers that in my study, the median family child care provider has worked for ten years in the field and is earning six dollars per hour today. So that is a lot lower than sixty-nine thousand dollars a year. These providers are educators and business owners and their programs are at risk of closing due to the city's current plan to administer 2K through contracts with network affiliated providers. I want to highlight that during COVID, one of the most disruptive moments in the city's history, the state had several stabilization funds. And so during the course of COVID, we actually only lost one hundred family childcare providers. But prior to COVID, when the City launched pre-K and 3K, the City lost thirteen hundred family child care programs because there was no stabilization put in place to protect these programs that did not have an easy way to get into the DOE contracted system. So, I urge the Council to fund a wage subsidy program in this year's budget and to develop a career ladder and sector-wide salary scale that can be incorporated into all City contracts and voucher payments to centers and family child care. Thank you.

(02:44:57)

Thank you, Lauren. Thank you.

(02:45:00)

I will try my two minutes. Do your best.

(02:45:02)

My name is Elena. I am educational director of a small preschool in Park Slope and I have been vocal about our struggles and I have been repeating the same things over and over. I really do not want to be thanked for our service and dedication verbally while being completely dismissed financially. I do not want to be told that families of the City need us while completely dismissing us people who provide education for youngest New Yorkers. Are we not families? I no longer can bear hearing that this meeting is not the venue to be addressing financial concerns. I have no answers to questions about financial structure of 2K roll out. We still do not know what is it going to look like. I have been waiting to hear in my personal case from DEEC about being able to add ten more pre-K seats to my current ten seat classroom for next year since November. And last answer was that a few weeks ago the team is reviewing requests from programs citywide including those from priority 3K zip codes and 2K districts and that approvals will be based on the need for services and availability and funding. And then the next thing I know we are receiving an email from DEEC about opening of new centers, adding new seats and asking to distribute family letters to our families while my families are waiting to find out if they will stay in my program for the next year. Please stop calling us in your current campaign free child care and please review the current salaries of CBO teachers to even out disparities.

This would be the true and heartfelt thank you to all of us. From the notes of all the conversation that happened before me, if you want to attract the workforce, there are three ways. It has to be the scholarship or lowering their qualification or pay what must be paid. Student teaching, if you want to shorten the amount of time to get people into the workforce faster. People who are already teaching, why do they need to be student teaching on top of working already in the classroom? Leadership support I would need more. Who do you go to when you really need support? When you have financial issues, when you have kids with disabilities who are not being evaluated fast enough. Working with our current providers statement, not really. It has been a lot of work happened with the families. A few meetings that I have attended. That was not it.

(02:47:43)

Can you please wrap up Elena?

(02:47:45)

And lastly, please do not bring six weeks old children to daycares. They need their moms. That would be the last one.

(02:47:57)

Okay. Thank you. Any question? No question. No. I have a quick question for Advocates for Children. So, you heard me reference that same number, sixty-three percent. So, what is happening to the twenty-four point four percent that you mentioned in your testimony? The twenty-four point four percent

(02:48:18)

refers to the number of preschool students with disabilities who at the time of New York City public schools testified were not receiving any of their mandated services. So that includes things like speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, these services that children need to learn to communicate, to hold a pencil, to be able to follow instructions. Those children are not receiving any of those services. Some of them may be participating in 3K and pre-K programs. Some may be sitting at home.

(02:48:47)

Thank you.

(02:48:48)

Thank you so much.

(02:48:53)

Calling the next panel up. Adela Ramirez, Anna Success. Sorry if I mispronounced that. Tarin Dicki, Susan Cambridge, and Laura Creako. I am sorry if I mispronounced. And anybody can start as soon as you all are ready. Yeah, you can start. Whoever wants to start.

(02:49:38)

Okay.

(02:49:44)

Good afternoon, chair and all. I am Adela Ramirez and I am here to advocate for the implementation of financial literacy workbook across all middle and high schools. This is not just about teaching numbers. It is about building habits that will shape the future of our youth. I am so sorry. Is this about the hearing topic today or the legislation that we are hearing? Topic today, early childhood education. Okay. Thank you. My apologies. Okay. Sorry. It is about building habits in the future of our youth, our workforce, and our communities. Right now, many teens reach adulthood without knowing how to manage money. There is no salary big enough if young adults do not know how to manage it. When students leave high school without these skills, they often fall into financial stress, debt, and long-term government dependency. Not because they lack potential, but because no one taught them the basics early enough. This workbook is designed to involve students, parents, teachers together. When families learn the same financial language, everyone benefits, teachers gain a structured tool that supports real life learning with their own salaries. Parents gain clarity and confidence, and students begin building the habits that will carry them into adulthood. We often hear proposals for free bus rides and free colleges. These efforts are meant to help, but they are the equivalent of giving someone a fish.

Financial literacy is how we teach the next generation how to fish, how to budget, how to save, how to plan, and how to avoid the traps that lead to lifelong financial struggles. If we want a stronger workforce, stronger families, and stronger communities, we must start early. Middle and high schools are the years when habits are formed. If we give students the tools now, they will not need to rely on government support later. So, it is okay. You can submit your testimony if you have more online. Okay. No, bottom line is if we start early from daycare, we could continue moving forward with education on finances. Thank you.

(02:52:09)

Thank you. Laura, do you want to go next and then we will just go down?

(02:52:14)

Thank you. Good afternoon, chairs. Thank you so much for holding this hearing and your continued dedication to this issue. I am Laura Kiryaku. I am the director of policy at All Our Kin. We are a national organization that provides educational mentorship, professional development, and system building support to family childcare educators in New York. We offer bilingual services of licensing coaching, business series, educational coaching, leadership coaching to hundreds of family childcare educators at no cost to them, primarily in the Bronx, although not exclusively. Just for a little bit of very quick baseline setting for those who might not be as familiar with family child care. It is a licensed program of care in a person's home. And parents also often speak about the long-term bonds that they find and develop with their educators. Often there are families that will provide care across multiple generations. We are encouraged by recent historic commitments from the mayor and the governor and yet we are also anxiously awaiting new increased investments and new policies that support and nurture the child care workforce. In particular, has been mentioned many times today, I will just briefly echo the need for livable wages and comprehensive benefits. My colleague Lauren Melodia who just went in the panel before echoed the six to eight dollar an hour is for family child care providers who own their own business and own their own homes.

And so that six to eight dollars is after all of the other costs for the month have been paid. A large majority also do not have health insurance. Many qualify for Medicaid and SNAP and on average work about seventy hours a week. The second thing that I just want to briefly highlight that I am happy to discuss further is encouraging licensing and inspection to be fully inclusive of all modalities of care. This would really support the workforce to have inspectors who are well-versed in home-based settings who are culturally responsive and who are developmentally appropriate given the age appropriate fears of young children and strangers when they come to visit and inspect homes. Lastly, I will just also say that encouraging professional development and continuing education is important as long as we continue to increase access, awareness, and financial assistance opportunities. I will have more in my written testimony. Thank you.

(02:54:34)

Please submit. Thank you so much.

(02:54:41)

Okay. Good afternoon everybody. My name is Anna Santosuosso and I am a pre-K teacher in my 25th year of teaching. I am a graduate of NYU and Hunter. Because of the one simple fact that I work at a non-union center-based school, I am paid less after 25 years than a first-year DOE teacher. I get health care through the marketplace and I have no pension plan. I am also a mother to two teenage daughters as well as a native New Yorker. My voice today is not my own, but that of every single teacher in this city who is being paid far less than what they are worth. We have seen expansions like this in the past. We have attended rallies and hearings in the past. The DOE pours millions into brand new shiny buildings and administrative positions. We, the center-based teachers, showing up every day pouring our hearts and souls into our precious young students continue to be forgotten. Our school has seen generations within the same family attend in our school's 75-year lifespan in Astoria. By the way, why do our decades of experience not count? Costs have risen drastically and we cannot tread water for another two years. We have our own families. We want to provide the very best for our own children. We deserve the same pay, the same health care plans, and the same pension. We are at the point where we sound like a broken record. There is only one right way to proceed. Pay CBO teachers and staff equally and fairly. We are living in the same city doing the same job with the same New York City children.

It is time to act. While I understand my concerns are not the primary focus for today, I implore all elected officials here today to take care of the CBO teachers who are in this profession currently. We are suffering. And lastly, I just wanted to add when I had migrants in my class that did not speak a word of English, I spent most of my day on Google Translate. I had no support from the DOE at all. None. And we do not have Spanish-speaking teachers in our school. We only have five teachers in our school. And my last point, I do not think that a 12-to-2 ratio for two-year-olds is safe. I think it is extremely unsafe. I think that we need fewer students and more teachers, especially with diaper changes. Thank you.

(02:57:34)

Honorable chairs and members of the

(02:57:37)

committee. Good afternoon. My name is Sering Diggi and I am the founder and executive director of the Diggi Daycare Group. Since 2005, we have been operating and now we have five early childhood centers across New York City. I am here today to speak about the urgent challenges facing the early childhood educator workforce. First, we must address the pay disparity between the department of education and those working in the community-based organization. We do the same work, serve the same children, and meet the same standard. Yet, CBO educators are paid significantly less. This is not sustainable and it is driving experienced teachers out of the field and creating constant staffing instability in the communities that need the consistency the most. Second, we need more inclusive and flexible qualification pathways. Current requirements such as mandatory high school diplomas for all staff can unintentionally exclude the immigrants and dedicated caregivers with years of experience. And these individuals bring cultural understanding, commitment and real world skills that our classrooms depend on. We must create pathways that recognize experience while supporting professional growth. And third, we must invest more in early childhood special education. Educators are increasingly supporting children with complex developmental and behavioral needs, but without adequate training and resources. This leads to burnout and higher turnover.

Without proper support, we are failing both educators and the children who rely on them. In closing, I urge the Council to take action to ensure pay parity, create inclusive workforce pathways, and invest in training and special education support. Supporting the early childhood workforce is essential to the future of our children and our communities. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

(02:59:47)

Thank you so much for hearing me today. Hello, I am Dr. Susan Camrich. I am executive director of Twin Parks Montessori, an early childhood program on the Upper West Side. We have 450 children on three campuses which include two pre-K for all programs with 66 children. We have 130 teachers and staff. And while we operate as a school, we function for most of our families as a daycare. Families need schools like ours to be able to live and work in our city. The current rules are causing a staffing crisis. New York City Article 47 programs and schools are losing talented, dedicated teachers to other industries because of the New York City Department of Health's rigid requirements. We have many teachers who work at Twin Parks who begin as assistant teachers and have bachelor's degrees in other areas like art history, music, physical education, economics, engineering. Last year, we even had a lawyer. To become a Montessori teacher, teachers must successfully complete a comprehensive MACTE Montessori teacher education program. Right now in New York City, a person with a bachelor's degree in something, for example, like history and the added Montessori early childhood credential cannot be a lead teacher for a preschool group in a New York City daycare. We have talented and well educated candidates that would be outstanding lead teachers if the pathway were there. So at Montessori, other pathways I think should be considered.

In the fall I was very excited to learn that the flexibility for group teachers was implemented to make staffing easier. Group teachers with infant or toddler qualifications could lead preschool classes for two-year-old students. But after issuing that, it was added that if children turn three during the school year, they would need to be taught by preschool qualified group teachers. So, we establish our classrooms in September with teaching teams. And we like to keep our classroom cohort with teachers and children together until June. When we enroll two-year-olds, they definitely will turn three by the end of the year. We respectfully request that you recommend that new regulations from DOH would allow these children to complete the school year with their teachers. We are governed by the department of health. So the focus is on health and safety, not on educational quality. Although we are classified as a daycare, we run like a school. Having classroom communities stay together throughout the school year is better for the education of our children. Thank you so much for letting me speak.

(03:02:17)

Yeah, thank you all so much. And if you have written testimony, please feel free to drop it with the Sergeant-at-Arms. Thank you all so much. Calling the next panel up, we have Joyce McClammy, Angelie Desai, Greg Morris, Gregory Bender, and Stamo Carazerites. I am sorry. That is too much Greg energy right here. Separate it, you guys. And once again, I am sorry for mispronouncing anyone's name. My apologies. Anybody can start. Good afternoon. Thank you chairs for

(03:03:16)

hosting this hearing. We have been around this several times. Pay parity is a must. We have credentials just as DOE has. So why can we not get the pay that we deserve? There is another issue that I wanted to bring about too. I know that there are some CBOs that have direct leases. There are buildings I know of three that are in the Bronx that have direct leases and I inquired about those buildings because if you are fighting and you are struggling in your CBO and these buildings are sitting unoccupied where you are paying rent and everything trying to survive, those buildings should be utilized. You are paying the rent for them. They should be utilized and that is a must. You are wasting money on that. And if we are trying to make sure that our workers are taken care of, then if we make sure that they have a place that they can go to work, parents can bring their kids to a safe place. Use these buildings where we are not struggling to pay the rent, struggling to pay Con Ed, struggling to pay our staff. It does not make sense. And I just think that it is a big waste. And another thing is with the background checks, it takes three to six months to get those clearings. And then a lot of times the person that applied for the job, they have gone somewhere else. If you work in a daycare, once you get your certification, you are going to DOE because they make more money. So I think that we need to address this and we need to take care of it immediately.

(03:05:35)

Thank you, Joyce. Yes, of course, Gregory.

(03:05:38)

Thank you so much. And thank you to this amazing powerful bunch of chairs who have always been part of the fight. And I think as so many people have said and I think it is important to reiterate this is a historic time for early childhood education with crucial expansions and it is the time to get it right. Starting with salary parity. Yes. As we have talked about, while there has been some progress made over time, particularly with the leadership of the city council, the disparities particularly for longevity are really extreme and that is at the heart of our staffing crisis. The staffing crisis in early childhood centers is real and as well as in family based programs and we are seeing reduced capacity and closed classrooms because of the staffing crisis. So the first and most important recommendation is to achieve salary parity now in this budget and at this time of this expansion. Salary parity we believe should include establishing a defined career ladder, setting a minimum wage for childcare workers and working to address the existing disparities. I also have in our testimony, which will go into more detail, some of the recommendations of other key ways to support building a pipeline, including establishing a wage fund, providing universal health care coverage for childcare workers, expanding access to pension plans, providing housing support, creating career exposure and dual enrollment training programs, and launching a city-funded apprenticeship program.

Similarly, we urge city and state to work together to speed up the background check process, which I know you are going to have a hearing on next week. Building out new credentialing models to diversify the workforce and finding ways to ensure that you can actualize substitute teacher pools in New York City. Finally, in order to support the workforce, we do need to support the organizations that maintain early childhood education. And in order to achieve those recommendations, we urge the city to implement cost escalators in childcare contracts, ensure on-time payments, and hold providers harmless from enrollment based penalties while NYCPS controls enrollment. Thank you so much for the opportunity to testify, and we look forward to the work together.

(03:05:42)

It is an extensive testimony. Please make sure we have it digitally when you can. Thank you. Thank you so much for testifying.

(03:07:58)

Chairs, thanks so much for making this time. I am Greg Morse, CEO of the New York City Employment and Training Coalition, sitting next to a Greg is always of value to me. And it just so happens that today the New York City Employment Training Coalition and the Daycare Council put out a statement championing this particular hearing because of the value of this particular workforce. To take a quick step back, I simply want to say that the early childhood workforce conversation should really be understood within the context of our labor market and economic development strategies in this city right now across sectors. And you could have the same conversation when we talk about healthcare infrastructure, public service. We are seeing consistent patterns, vacancies, fragmented training systems and underutilized talent. This is why NYCTC has consistently advanced the position that workforce development constitutes core economic infrastructure. If it is the mechanism through which public investments translate into employment, wages, mobility outcomes, it is also central to an affordability agenda. Without access to stable, well compensated employment, cost of living interventions alone are insufficient. The question is whether or not we want to make the commitment as a city right now to this institutional alignment.

And at this point, I simply want to say to this council, because I submitted my testimony separately, you have talked more about workforce development just since January than I have heard at any point in time in my career in New York City. That is literally thrilling and that is the beginning step towards ensuring that we are creating pathways for the early childhood education sector, for healthcare workers, for our educators, for public service, etc. throughout the course of the city. The last note to make is this, and you know this well, so I am not telling you anything you do not know. Unless we modernize the administration systems that ensure that contract payments are made, you are just continually putting the people we represent, the providers we represent at a disadvantage. Last note to make as time goes is that summer youth employment remains the one investment this city makes in workforce development consistently year after year. There is your pathway to your future workforce.

(03:08:06)

Thank you, Greg. Thank you.

(03:10:13)

Good afternoon. My name is Angelie Desai. I am the CEO of Friends of Crown Heights. We currently have both center-based programs and a family childcare network. With having the visibility of both programs, it shows some of the disparities that we have within the city from family childcare providers not being paid adequately to staffing pattern issues not only in our CBOs but also within the family childcare programs with that CUNY and SUNY are doing phenomenal work on the ground. We need to do better looking at when we have student teachers. The student teachers for them to go into the DOE. All it requires is a fingerprinting process that is done over a week or two. For our CBO process, it requires individuals have to have an STR clearance. We have to get the fingerprinting clearance. We have to get the medical clearance. We have to get additional clearances that take up as someone mentioned 3 to six months. If we are looking to build a pipeline, that pipeline has to be a process where both the DOE and the DOH because we are beholden to both entities can speak together and decide what is best because we have individuals expressing interest in wanting to work in CBOs, but CUNY and SUNY are not promoting those CBOs because when they have the job fairs, guess who is there? That is right. The DOE. So individuals that are going into early childhood education are only being tunneled.

They are shown this vision of the department of education as an early childhood provider to families and forgetting the sector that provides 50 to 60% of the 3K and the pre-K classrooms are in community-based organizations. With that, we have to figure out a system that works best because as we are looking to expand with 2K, we have had the experience of the DOE taking over pre-K 15 years ago, 20 years ago. We have lost students. We have had also the 3K. When the DOE have the classrooms, they may have one three-year-old classroom in a building and two pre-K classrooms. We are the one that is housing 60 to 70% of the 3K and pre-K students. And we just have to do better.

(03:10:15)

Thank you, Angelie. Thank you.

(03:12:29)

Thank you, Angelie. Thank you.

(03:12:34)

Good afternoon, Chair Gutiérrez and members of the subcommittee. My name is Stamo Carol Lazerites and I am the first vice president of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators representing nearly 18,000 in-service and retired school-based leaders across New York City, including early childhood directors in both DOE buildings and CBO based centers. I am here today on behalf of our president, Henry Rubio, and our CSA leadership team. We appreciate the Council's continued focus on early childhood education and on workforce development. We believe that workforce development in this sector is not just a pipeline issue. It is fundamentally a stability issue. Right now, the system is working to recruit new educators while struggling to retain the ones it already has. According to the Daycare Council's workforce report produced a few months ago, New York City would need approximately 30,000 additional workers to support a truly universal birth to five system. And even today, the system needs about 5,000 new educators each year just to replace those who leave. It is not simply a recruitment challenge. It reflects a system that cannot consistently hold on to its workforce. Families experience this instability directly when a child's teacher leaves midyear, when classrooms are reshuffled, when trusted relationships are disrupted. For young children, those relationships are the foundation of learning, trust and emotional development.

If we focus only on expanding the pipeline, we risk a cycle where new educators enter a field only to replace those who leave. A workforce pipeline can only function effectively if the system it feeds into is stable. From our perspective, that stability is shaped by three core conditions: compensation, funding stability and payment reliability. When there is a lack of pay parity between CBO based educators and their DOE counterparts, educators and leaders cannot sustain long-term careers in the field. When funding fluctuates with enrollment, programs are forced to make staffing decisions based on uncertainty rather than need. And when reimbursement processes are delayed, providers face real challenges in meeting payroll and maintaining staffing levels. We also want to emphasize the critical role of program leadership. Early childhood directors are responsible not only for operations but for recruiting, supporting and retaining staff in high turnover environments. They are the primary source of stability for both educators and families. Strengthening leadership capacity must be part of any serious workforce strategy. Thank you.

(03:15:41)

Thank you. Of course, I have some questions and Chair Joseph as well. So, Chair, I wanted to know what is driving the low wages for our workers and when is the next negotiation and how do we bring that pay parity up? I know we did that for special education with the 4410. How do we get the other workforce to also meet that moment?

(03:16:06)

So, there are a number of factors and I think one of the key ones is just a level of disrespect and not understanding the value of the early childhood workforce. This is a workforce that has always been primarily women and primarily women of color and there is just a long history of not valuing and not paying this workforce fairly. And that has continued to this day. The current collective bargaining agreement expires in 2028. However, the City can move now to increase salaries. The salaries are determined by what amount the City is paying to its contractors. Contractors like the folks who testified here today cannot pay any more than what the City puts into their contracts. And so those contracts can be amended if the City puts more funding in which in fact they have done in 2019 when there was not a period where the contract where the collective bargain had expired. There was just an understanding that with the expansion of 3K there was a need to increase salaries for the workforce. So it is something that can be achieved through a City budget process and through an investment from the City.

(03:17:25)

Go ahead Joyce. I just like to add that it has been so long since daycare workers have had an increase. I know in 2012 we did not get one brown penny. Bloomberg took everything that we had from us and we did not get a raise. We just got this rate. We ratified our contract in 2024 and some of our CBOs are still waiting for their retro money. We have not all gotten our money. So, it has been a long time. If everything else is going up and our salary is not going up, then how can we survive?

(03:18:10)

One quick thing when we look at salary between a CBO employee and their counterpart within the DOE, the DOE's floor is our ceiling. So if we just think of it like that, where the DOE is starting for a teacher, that is the maximum amount we can offer whether we are unionized or not based on the contract. So there is that disparity already there. Primarily as everyone knows it is women and women of color and there is a blatant disrespect but we have individuals who have the same credentials as their counterparts within the DOE. Many of our CBO counterparts here, we are out millions of dollars in our lifetime. We are doing it because we have that bond with the community. There is that need as parents when you come in and you have your six-week-old or six-month-old in a program that they can stay there from day one until they age out into kindergarten into the bigger DOE public school system. That is what you are looking for. That is what families are looking for. But it comes back to a blatant disrespect with or without the same credentials. So the individuals that have the same credentials... Some of our teachers, they have been in CBOs for 15, 20 years. A DOE teacher after 20 years when you retire, you have a very nice pension. You can retire in peace. For a CBO teacher who has worked for 20, 30 years, you are looking at am I going to qualify for subsidy for health care? Am I going to qualify for food stamps? Am I going to qualify for housing assistance?

Because this is something they have been working in a system that does not respect them and does not respect the job that they are doing and many of our CBO teachers are looked at as babysitters. So, it is having that where there is respect but it also has to be matched with the finances.

(03:20:11)

What is the CBO starting salary just for the record? For a group teacher, a master certified group teacher, it is 68,000. After five years DOE might be up at 82, 84 if anyone has the exact figures I had 76 to 85,000 DOE after five years.

(03:20:32)

And CBO directors who usually teach approximately 5 years before becoming directors make that starting salary as a beginner director starting spring 2026 as New York City teachers make with five years experience. So to your point, a director might look at a New York City DOE school and prefer to be a teacher and retire in 25 years with all the benefits and make the same, if not more, especially if they have masters plus 30 compared to becoming a CBO director.

(03:21:05)

And all the experts on the table. How do we close that gap?

(03:21:10)

Money. I got to get... We got to find the money. We got to find it. Yeah, we need more money.

(03:21:16)

Pay parity. Yes.

(03:21:20)

And I know for my thing is we go to Albany every year before the budget is done. Money is put into early childhood, but it does not trickle down to the CBOs. It goes to DOE mainly. It does not come to us. So that is why that is another reason that our salaries are so low because we do not get the funding like we should.

(03:21:49)

Greg, do you want to weigh in?

(03:21:51)

I would just say the important thing to remember, especially as it relates to community-based organizations and the nonprofit sector and the human services, social services space is that City government relies on them to serve the community. And I would argue in many cases the ability to serve on the ground in the field as someone who started as a practitioner 30 years ago signing kids up for jobs through the summer youth employment program reminds me how critical that investment and that connection is. The reality though is if the human services sector decided tomorrow to say we are not going to accept any contracts that are not paying our people what they deserve to be paid, this City would literally spin off the rails.

(03:22:32)

This is... It is the nonprofit human services, community-based organizations that are not just the structural backbone of the City, you could also argue it is the economic backbone of the City. And I think there is a bit of a reckoning coming for the human services, social services, community based organization space to say if this administration wants to achieve its objectives, you have to hold us to the same standard and expectation that you are holding others to and in doing so you have to compensate us appropriately and if not well what... If then what if then the sector turns its back? What will that do? And I think that is a consequence that this City does not want. I do not think this administration wants and I know you as thoughtful dynamic leaders do not want that either. The reality is the nonprofit human services folks cannot eat either.

(03:23:27)

Thank you. Thank you. CM Won has questions.

(03:23:32)

Hi everybody. Thank you so much for coming and volunteering your time to be here. Can you help me understand? I know that the team that was here testifying from the agencies, the implication to me of what was implied was, you know, it sounds like the fastest solution is to unionize all the CBOs. So, I think it will be okay. So, I already see you shaking your heads. So, can you help me understand one like what has the process been like? Have you been encouraged to have your staff unionized? Like what does that mean for you as a small business owner and what is the alternative that you would propose back to the City and I know that the director has been kind enough to stay and I am pretty sure I saw Hawkins was here for a while so you know everyone is listening so I think we need that feedback.

(03:24:25)

So funny enough we are a union shop and it is still the salary and union for our director CSA and Local 205 for our teaching staff. It is still the same thing. So union or non-union individuals who are not unionized, they may have it worse off because it would just be minimum wage if you look at it, right? Union shops, we have guidance, we have salary that we have to kind of adhere to pension. There are certain additional benefits with medical and staff members that being compensated for as part of your contract. For individuals that are not unionized, they have it worse off. However, when we are looking at just credentials, if you are going into any other space, you walk in with your resume and you put your credentials down and the salary should reflect that. But in this scenario, it does not.

(03:25:23)

So, I represent, we represent CSA principals and directors, assistant principals, EA, supervisors, etc. across the City of New York. Just to put it in perspective, when I gave you the comparison before because we asked about teacher salaries, I compared a director with five years approximately experience compared to a New York City teacher. But the director is not a teacher. The director is a principal. Basically, that is a principal role. They supervise the building, all the teachers, all the assistants. They make sure that all the children are not only safe, but they are learning. They are in essence doing the work of a principal and the pay parity is an issue. The discrepancy is huge and I am just going to give you a scenario. A New York City principal begins at 174,500 approximately compared to 84,500 CBO director. There is a huge disparity and we have new fairly new contracts with our DOE administrators and we just ratified this contract last year approximately a year ago. Before that they did not have a contract for 20 years. They were working under since 2020. For 5 years they were working under their old contract. And as stated before they are all getting their ratification. They got their ratification monies. They got their retroactive pay. They just got their retroactive pay this February. Most if not all of our members by now. It is taking long. The pay parity is real. We have taken steps to get there sooner than later, but we are not close enough.

(03:27:11)

And as we see every day, the cost of living is just getting higher and higher in the City of New York.

(03:27:16)

Our mayor sees that. Or maybe wants our families in New York City to have free child care so that they can work. But how about the people who are working in these centers who are taking care of the families? They need to be able to take care of their families, too. So, we are all here asking for you to look at them as citizens of New York City, too. People who do right by our children in the future of New York City, and let us do right by them.

(03:27:43)

Absolutely.

(03:27:44)

Sorry, I just want to add one additional point. Yesterday same hallway hearing room on civil service and labor committee had a hearing. At that hearing the topic of early childhood education programs and services came up and it was the union folks that were in the room talking about the specific challenge related to reskilling and continuing to offer training, coaching, guiding and support to folks who have jobs right now. So I want to flag that because when I started my testimony, it was about taking a step back to say we are genuinely in a position where there are persistent vacancies, there is underpayment, there is a challenge related to the administration of contracting, there is fragmented training and there is the underutilization of talent. Talent that is both ready to be able to grow, expand, as well as new talent that wants to join the scene. So I just want to sort of frame that for this from the perspective of the union piece is critical.

(03:28:39)

And we need to be in the same room. Higher ed, the union shops, labor, non-labor, philanthropy as well as community based organizations need to sit together to strategize on all of this, but not one solution exists to make it clear obvious. And that hearing yesterday made it very clear to me that they are having their own challenges specific to training their particular talent. And I just want to highlight that.

(03:29:03)

Thank you all. And we do have to keep going, but I just have one question for Gregory Brendes from Daycare Council. You mentioned in your testimony data and I know that we heard from the administration that it is difficult to attain all sorts of data. Can you share with us what data the daycare council has?

(03:29:21)

Sure. And I will share some of the reports, but a few of the pieces. In 2023, we conducted a survey, interviewed more than 250 childcare centers. 83% of centers reported dealing with staff vacancies. Our research also demonstrated that 68.3% of centers had one staff member with more than 10 years experience. 51.9% of centers reported that an average newly hired teacher quit within 5 years. We also cite some data statewide from the Empire State Campaign for Child Care finding that there were 776 classrooms in community-based organizations closed due to understaffing. Some other key pieces of data we can share are around the differentials between lifetime earnings in a CBO versus a comparable position in a public school. For a director versus a principal, it is a lifetime difference of about $1.7 million over a 25-year career. And for a certified teacher in a community-based organization versus a certified teacher in a public school, over a 25-year career, it is over a $700,000 loss in earnings. A report that, as the director mentioned, in her previous life, she authored and led research on. So we thank her for that great report, as well as many of the great work she has done. Had indicated that we would need at least 30,000 new staff members which is a near doubling of the system of about 36,000 current staff members with a rate of loss of about 5,000 per year.

(03:31:13)

Wow. Thank you. Thank you so much and thank you all so much for your testimonies. I am going to call up the next panel. I would like to call up Paula Magnus, Emmanuel Nory, Nora Moran, Karen Tingley and Jenny Velos.

(03:32:05)

Right. Hi. My name is Nora Moran. I am the director of policy and advocacy at United Neighborhood Houses. We represent New York City settlement houses who are some of the earliest early childhood education providers in the city. My written testimony goes into more detail. I am going to echo a lot of what the previous panel and other panels have shared just around if we are really thinking about building a pipeline. We really cannot talk about a workforce pipeline if we do not address the underlying wage issues across the board. That is things like getting back to the path to parity that was started in 2019 for center-based workers, things like looking at a pay scale that Lauren Melodia had referenced and how important that is going to be to really also help people who are in the field now want to gain extra credentials and stay in the field. We hear from our network all the time who run both center-based programs and family childcare programs or family childcare networks about how hard it is to retain workers in this field. We did a survey of our network two years ago. Almost half of respondents, two-thirds of respondents said they had vacant positions. Half of those said those positions sit vacant for six months or more. These are some of the hardest roles for them to fill.

Really addressing the underlying wage issues is what we feel will be important to both stop the churn of people who are in the field now going to the DOE because that is their biggest competitor to keep people in the field and then also incentivize new folks to come in.

Second, it is important to just recognize all this stuff sits within an ecosystem. If we are not doing clearances quickly, someone is not going to wait two months to get fingerprinted to be cleared to work in a program and they are going to go find another job. So that is another important component of this. The last thing I will say, someone mentioned DYCD. We have settlement houses who are using private funds to look at some of their DYCD programs like cornerstones, beacons, SYP to create tracks in those around education, child focus programs, youth development. That is, if the city is really thinking about a pipeline, we encourage them to look at their existing resources to think about how to use those better rather than create something new. People are already doing this work. It just needs to be coordinated and scaled and things like that. So thank you.

(03:34:25)

Thank you, Nora.

(03:34:27)

Hi, and good afternoon. Thank you, chairs Gutiérrez, Joseph, and Won, and committee members for holding today's hearing. My name is Jenny Velos, and I am a policy associate at Citizens Committee for Children of New York. I am going to echo and reiterate a lot of what everyone else has testified to. One of the greatest threats facing the sustainability of New York City's ECE system is long-standing inequities in compensation for the childcare workforce. Teachers, staff, directors, and providers in both center and home-based programs are the backbone of the ECE system, majority of whom are women and women of color and who on average earn about less than other workforces in New York City. Also reiterating what Lauren Melodia says that family child care providers can earn as less as six to seven dollars an hour after all of their expenses are paid. Now this results in high turnover and staff shortages as providers seek higher paying jobs in the public school system. The inability to retain staff. Many providers are forced to close classrooms and in some instances their businesses. These closures leave families without a vital infrastructure in their communities. Families may have to travel farther and pay more for care, rely on families, friends, or other alternative care options, and some may be forced to reduce their work hours or quit their jobs, creating more economic instability for families.

We urge city leaders to take a number of actions to address workforce challenges and ensure the stability of families in the ECE system. First, the city must bring salaries and benefits and contracted ECE programs to parity with their counterparts in the public school systems, including by instituting longevity differentials for ECE workforce in line with comparable roles in public schools. Salaries and benefits must also reflect the true cost of care across the system. This includes salaries and compensation for family care providers who are integral to the 3K expansion. We also urge city leaders to address the particular challenges of providers serving children with disabilities and immigrant communities. Really quick, last sentence. The city must focus not only on adequate compensation for these providers, but on helping support the provision of services and resources such as professional development, educational materials, and language access services. We are grateful for your recognition of the urgency of addressing challenges within the ECE workforce and pipeline to help ensure we have a strong ECE system able to serve all children and families in the city. Thank you.

(03:36:57)

Thank you, Jenny. Emanuel.

(03:37:01)

Thank you for the opportunity to address this topic and for the advocacy which led to the creation of this much-needed subcommittee. My name is Emanuel Novi and I am the chief of strategic initiatives at Literacy Inc., often known as LINC. In my role, I oversee and coordinate the city council's only early literacy initiative, City's First Readers. At 17 partners strong, each delivering early literacy programming through a variety of different ways. We work in public spaces such as parks, libraries, nature centers. We are in home clinics, we are in pediatric offices, and we work directly with families right in their home. City's First Readers partners are thrilled that this council now has a subcommittee which can exert oversight and focus on this important issue, early childhood education. We know that a child's brain develops most rapidly from birth through five. We know learning to read does not begin on the first day of school. It begins on the very first day they are born. We also know that the prenatal environment greatly affects their capacity to learn.

With the current expansion of childcare programs and the consequent expansion of staffing for those programs, it is essential that the workforce serving our youngest be trained to implement the strategies that will support children's pathways to school readiness. This training must include not only the pre-reading stimulation that prepares children for formal literacy instruction, but the equally critical nurturing socialization for children, the social emotional security that allows them to thrive in school. While this hearing and this momentum of the moment are around child care and the workforce, we should not overlook the opportunities to embed knowledge and practices about early literacy in every system, especially our pediatric public health systems. We at LINC and our partners at City's First Readers are excited about the possibilities the subcommittee presents and we look forward to supporting your mission and collaborating with you to benefit New York City's youngest readers as they begin their journey in education. Thank you.

(03:39:10)

Good afternoon. My name is Karen Tingley. I am the vice president of education for the Wildlife Conservation Society. So we oversee the education and learning that happens in our five parks including the Bronx Zoo and the New York Aquarium where we see about three and a half million people each year. I am here to speak about the importance of high-quality science learning in early childhood education and how it connects to this workforce pipeline that this committee has been discussing for the past three years. We have led a program called STEM Starters which is a partnership between New York City public schools community-based child care center home-based childcare centers and our zoos to bring science learning into bilingual pre-K classrooms. What makes this work powerful is not just the experiences for the children, but the sustained investment in teachers and the school community. Through ongoing professional development, co-creation of curriculum, and classroom ready science kits, we have made measurable impact using Teaching Strategies GOLD. Our evaluation shows gains in students use of scientific tools, persistence in problem solving, and additionally early language and literacy development. These are foundational skills that extend far beyond science. That is the point I am trying to make.

Early exposure to science is not about content alone. It builds identity. When young children see themselves as curious, capable investigators in the world, it shapes their confidence and interests for years to come. At the same time, WCS is one of the city's largest providers of youth workforce development in science and conservation. Through the longtime support of New York City Council and the speaker, WCS has operated the STEM Career Lattice program, a career pathways program that supports 1900 young people in internships and career pathways where youth collectively earn about five million dollars annually. What we see is consistent is that young people are talented and they are motivated. But if you can wrap it up in a few seconds. Basically cultural institutions including the science network where everyone is supporting both early childhood and workforce development programs. I just encourage the city council to think about the work that goes into these efforts at the cultural institutions level and do not forget about us because we can provide that needed support for teachers and students.

(03:42:04)

I love that. Thank you. Good afternoon, chairperson and the committee. My name is Paula Magnus. I am the president of North Side Center for Child Development in Harlem. I want to thank the city folks for staying because I think it is so important that they stay to hear from the public some of the concerns because it usually is a little bit opposite of what they sometimes present. So I do want to thank them for staying and we have already heard how there is underpaid and all of that. So I will not go into detail that is already what I want to say is that I think first of all the city staff should have met with every current provider before moving forward and I think that is extremely important and you learn from those that have already been in the field doing the work.

(03:42:10)

You will then hear about how the cost is a problem. I personally do not know how you are going to expand when there is already a financial problem. What you may find happening is those that are in the business of doing this will exit the business of doing this and what will happen is a decrease in child care services. So I think if you do not address the financial piece of it all the expansion is like a dream that cannot happen and to not have met with every current provider before a movement was made is a bad mistake. So I just wanted to stress that the finances is what it is all about and you cannot expand when you do not have the dollars and we do not have the dollars to support those that are already doing the work. They will exit the field. That is really my comment. Thank you.

(03:43:26)

Thank you. Thank you all so much for your testimony. We have one last in-person panel and then we will switch over to Zoom. Deborah Sue Lorenzen, come on up. Latoya Simon, Joanne Derwin, and Gail Buffalo. Hello. We have one seat left on this panel. If anyone has not testified, no do-overs. Only if you have not testified. Okay. They are trying to get their whole two minutes, right? No, you do not get four minutes. Thank you so much. Okay, you can get started whenever. Thank you.

(03:44:33)

Hello. Hi, I am Gail Buffalo. I am an assistant professor of early childhood education at City College's Center for Worker Education just half a mile down Broadway. I was struck by the numbers in CUNY, the 3,613 undergraduates currently in programs leading towards a bachelor of science in early childhood education. Of the 862 students represented at senior college level, 323 are in my program half a mile down the street at the Center for Worker Education. Since 2005, we have provided a bachelor of science leading to initial teacher certification to working early childhood teachers across the city. They have always been with labor. That is how they got connected to the Center for Worker Education. What I want to paint a picture of in the next minute is just in listening to you all. I also am a 3K mom. I am a recipient of a grant from PDI when I was doing my doctoral research at Teachers College and I was a consultant at PDI when they got so many teachers credentialed who needed the support to pass the certification exams.

There are so many things that I want to say but I want to say the things that I think would be most helpful to you. My vision for early childhood professionalization over the lifespan of my career and the work that I want to do with teachers is this naming that professionalization is associated with the certification but that is not an indicator of quality. That is right. When we think about Article 47, we really need to look at how quality is being named in Article 47 to give us a runway to CM Joseph's dream that not anybody is left behind. So one thought of many and maybe there will be some opportunities for questions later, but one thought is what if every certified teacher and director in CBOs could have the opportunity to unionize with UFT as a starting point for that representation and the motivation to stay in the CBOs. Thank you.

(03:46:43)

Thank you.

(03:46:51)

Good afternoon, chair and members of the subcommittee. My name is Latoya Simon. I am the director and founder of Simran Academy and I am also a certified teacher from birth to sixth grade. I am here today to urge you to not overlook or devalue the work experience of the CBO staff and we are also non-unionized. So the salaries that you have been hearing, our staff receive less than that. I am going to pivot to a different area specifically on retention because I feel as though you are working on creating this pipeline where we can recruit qualified staff, but we have to look at retention, right? We do not want to recruit all of these beautiful staff, qualified, educated staff members for them to leave us within five years. That is the current situation.

I am not sure if anyone touched upon this but with the pathways that DOE currently have for teachers in the teaching fellows program I feel that is something that we can tap into to allow CBO staff members to become a part of it. It is something that is already existing. It is something that we can scale on because believe it or not the requirements are very similar to what CBOs have to go through. Right. The only difference that I see, I actually created a side by side chart and the only difference that I see is that actually CBOs provide longer training to their staff. DOE fast-tracks it. The other difference that I see is that of course the benefits are higher for DOE staff. Everything else is basically the same. We are going through the same process. Our teachers are going on study plans. We have to take different college credits to be able to obtain our certification. But it is one and the same minor differences that if we combine that, we will be less likely to lose our teachers to DOE. One of the other things that we should do to retain the teachers at the CBOs is to include incentives. Offer to pay for the tuition as it is being done with DOE. Offer various incentives. Thank you. That would be all.

(03:49:21)

Thank you. We have your chart. Thank you so much. You are welcome.

(03:49:27)

Hi, my name is Joanne Derwin and I am the executive director of One World Project. One World Project is a pioneering nonprofit community center based in Brooklyn offering innovative Spanish immersion educational programs for all ages. OWP started with eight children in my living room back in 2012 and now serves over 370 households annually and employs 44 teachers from 13 countries. One of One World Project's core programs is our preschool which serves one to five year olds and includes UPK. To help recruit and retain and train qualified early childhood educators, we have developed a comprehensive in-house workforce development program that provides accessible career pathways for talented youth, aspiring teachers, and experienced educators to enhance their skills, gain experience, and grow within a supportive and inclusive community. We received no funding from anyone to do this work, but we did it because we needed to. We think of our workforce development program as a river basin where each program is a tributary flowing towards one shared purpose, nurturing exceptional early childhood educators we need and deserve. We are prepared to expand our workforce development program and recruit, train, and place more teachers and have applied for $120,000 grant in discretionary funding from City Council. We met with the budget office and we would love to meet with you. We have reached out lots to your general emails. I just want to share a little bit.

We offer a CIT program for youth between 14 and 17 as an entry point. We then move to an assistant trainer program and then we move on to a lead teacher program. I know I am out of time, but we put together this I think it is beautiful personally information about all the different programs, how they are connected, and we would really love to talk to you more about the work we are doing. Yeah, we will make sure I think if we can just make sure to set up a time. Thank you. Thanks so much. Yep.

(03:51:52)

Good afternoon. My name is Deborah Sorenz. I am the director of youth and education at Saint Nick Alliance. We operate one early childhood center in addition to programs that youth service programs for K to 12 that serves some 9,000 kids a year. I would like to testify about thinking holistically about the child care workforce. So if we think about the child care workforce stretching from birth to 13 years old then we know that we have one of the nation's largest publicly funded after school networks and there is a real connection there and I think lost opportunity right now that we can build on. Through DYCD Compass Elementary alone there are 12,000

(03:52:43)

program staff supervising some 107,000 K to fives and about half of them are K to 2s are in their birth to second grade certification if you will. Saint Nick Alliance alone has more than 350 staff serving K to 5. About half of these staff or as I said are working with the K to 2s and if given the means and opportunity might choose early childhood education or youth services as a profession. Notably Compass is also expanding this year and we will need more workers. So it is just a little more competition there, right? So DYCD already has existing workforce programs, workforce development programs that could be leveraged. Saint Nick Alliance operates many of them with the largest SYP provider in Brooklyn for example. We have AmeriCorps members. We have all of these youth service workers who might want to go into the field. But I have to honestly say it is difficult for me to advocate for them to pursue a career in early childhood education knowing they are going to make less than they are making as a youth worker, part-time youth worker. It just does not make sense. So I think really if we could look as City Council could work with DYCD and DOE and DOH to look at this holistically, I think we might come out with a better product at the end.

(03:54:16)

Thank you so much. Thank you all for your testimony. Do you have any questions? No questions? No. Okay. Well, I thank you all so much. If you have not submitted testimony, I know you were writing as you went along. Please do submit the testimony to us via email so we could review and we will see you all very soon. We do have a hearing next week, a joint hearing with the health committee and we are expecting DOH to be there as well. So you can come give us your two minutes then too just in case. But we will be in touch. Thank you.

(03:54:43)

Okay,

(03:54:46)

we are going to move on to Zoom. No, do not leave. We all stay. You stay now. You can leave. Go home. Oh, that is right. I had a thing to say. No, no, no. You are right. No, you are right.

(03:55:07)

Oh, and yes. Do we have to read their names?

(03:55:16)

Okay, we are gonna start with Rebecca Schneider Kaplan on Zoom.

(03:55:25)

Hello. Can you hear me?

(03:55:28)

Yes, we can. Rebecca, I am so sorry.

(03:55:30)

Sorry. I apologize. Thank you so much for allowing me to speak today. My name is Rebecca Schneider Kaplan, also known as Miss Becky, and I am a proud UPK4 teacher at Stepping Stones Preschool in Staten Island, New York. I support the proposed child care workforce grant and services program. But let me be clear, I cannot support it without reform of the current system first. I believe that we should be hired by the DOE directly and gain union membership in the UFT because right now the system is not just strained, it is breaking the people who hold it together. Yes, we need to recruit a new generation into early childhood education. But how can we do that honestly when the current workforce is underpaid, undervalued, and under supported? CBO centers were not given the opportunity to RFP to show our real costs and what salary should be and include all union costs for the owners and directors. If they were able to show real costs and get paid what is due to them, they will be okay. If my own child came to me and said they wanted to be a teacher in a community-based organization today, I would tell them not to do it with the way things are. Not because the work is not meaningful, but because the conditions are unstable. Many new employees in UPK centers are actually DOE employees and UFT members. So where is the incentive for anyone else to work in a CBO? Our programs also lack crisis teams. That is really essential to have in every PreK setting with the increase in the need for services.

I am not embarrassed to say I feel frustrated. I am already doing this work and I do not feel respected or valued for it. I cannot afford my student loans. I paid hundreds of dollars for child care and I am doing the job of an educator, but I am not treated like a DOE employee. So, I ask, how do we justify investing in a future workforce while neglecting the one that exists today? Support this legislation, but pair it with real immediate reform because without that time is expired. This is not solution. It is a replacement plan. Thank you.

(03:57:41)

Thank you, Rebecca. And please, it is good to see you. Please submit your testimony so that we have everything. Thank you.

(03:57:49)

Next, I want to call on Shannita Bowen. You may begin.

(03:57:54)

Good afternoon, joint committee chairs and members of the City Council. My name is Shannita Bowen. I am former family child care educator of 16 years in the Bronx, chief operating officer for ECE on the move, a grassroots organization representing nearly 800 family child care educators and the parents that they serve. And I am also co-chair of the steering committee for Empire State Campaign for Childcare. I want to be clear, if we are serious about building a workforce pipeline, we must start with the workforce we already have. Before you recruit new educators, you must stabilize, invest in, and preserve the existing family child care workforce, especially the owner operators who are the foundation of the system. Right now, the conditions are pushing people out, not bringing them in. We already know the barriers. Low wages that do not reflect the true cost of care, burnout from 10 hours a day with no structural support, lack of benefits, no retirement, no safety net, competition from better paying sectors, including the DOE roles, and layered on top of that, a market rate system that does not work for providers serving the subsidy families. These rates stemming from a statewide survey keeps our rates artificially low by tying them to what families can pay instead of what care truly costs in subsidy dependent communities that guarantees that providers will be underpaid.

Also a waiting list thousands of children creating instability and fear for providers who rely on the enrollment and policies that look good on paper but are not accessible in practice like the 15% differential for extended hours. Where is it at? So let me say this plainly. You cannot build a new workforce on a broken foundation. If educators cannot afford to pay themselves, if they cannot afford their staff, they cannot afford support act to access support. If they Thank you for your testimony. Time is expired.

(04:00:02)

You have 10 more seconds. Okay, they will leave and they are

(04:00:06)

leaving and we need a cost of care model immediately. One that reflects our expenses and eliminate the waiting list, please, so we can fill our slots. Thank you so much.

(04:00:15)

Yeah, thank you.

(04:00:18)

Next, Lacy Peters may begin.

(04:00:26)

Hi, and please excuse me being literally on the ground, but this is I am Lacy Peters and this is Cyrus. He is my 10-month old son. I am on faculty at Hunter College, part of the City University system, obviously. I just wanted to be here today to listen in mostly. I work with graduate and undergraduate students. So, I was curious to know about the workforce pipeline issues, but one issue I wanted to bring attention to that has not been discussed as of yet is related to private equity. What we have noticed at Hunter, especially among our graduate students, is more and more people are working in Bright Horizons. And the reason they are doing that is because Bright Horizons is offering them tuition reimbursement or paying their tuition to go to school and get the credentials in their licensing. But the issue being it is wonderful that students are getting this kind of support financially speaking, but the problems are that now they are working in these for-profit private equity-backed programs encroaching on early childhood and teacher education. And we know too that private equity has its tentacles in the curriculum that is being used in the 3K and PreK for all programs. And so we just as we continue with this expansion, I just want to be particularly mindful of how dangerous this can be, what types of precedent we are setting when perhaps we are putting profit over children perhaps or using children as points of data or dollars. And so mostly that is all I really wanted to say.

I am sorry. It is a little disoriented. I would also before I stop, my time is up. There is so much nuance to offer too about what is happening at CUNY related to early childhood programs. So happy to work in collaboration with anyone and Dr. Buffalo being there too I know is off for some also additional insight but it is really good work that is happening and there is more being done to help create articulation agreements between the two-year and four-year institutions do things like acknowledge credit for prior learning so that experiential learning like what is happening when teachers are working day in and day out to do this job counts for something like a student teaching credit and so on. So, we should definitely continue conversations so that we can create more pathways that lead to the equity and equality we hope to aspire to as we expand our universal programs.

(04:02:50)

Thank you, Lacy. And congrats. You have an amazingly well-behaved child while you are on Zoom. That is impressive. My kid would have been crying. And thank you. Thank you for listening in.

(04:03:02)

Next up, next up we have Muing Hugh. You may begin.

(04:03:15)

Can you I am not sure if you can Can you hear me? Yes.

(04:03:20)

Great.

(04:03:22)

So hi everybody. I am Muching. Thank you for holding, you know, like a webinar like this. I am the education director at Bean and Sprout. This is a Montessori school. Bean and Sprout is Montessori program in Woodside serving children from six months to 5 years old. So PreK since opening in 2023 and receiving our permit in July 2024. We have built stable classroom routines, strong family partnerships and a program that reflects the needs of our community. Our approach basically combines a consistent Montessori model with trilingual is Spanish, Mandarin and English education to support each child's development. We focus on key outcomes such as independence, language development, attention span, and self-regulation skills that are essential for kindergarten readiness. So despite this strong foundation and growing demand from families, we have not received 3K and UPK seats from the DOE over the past two years. We have been trying very hard and this has limited access for families who are actively seeking high-quality you know developmentally appropriate Montessori education and I believe this probably is the only Montessori you know school in this area and it creates a gap not only in access but also in equity. The lack of three and UPK seats also presents you know the operational challenges in Montessori program.

It is already difficult to hire teachers who are Montessori trained and all the you know I would say the qualified group teachers tend to work for public schools they do not want to come to a private school this becomes even more challenging when the public funding strong story pathways making it harder to build and maintain consistent high-quality teaching teams. Again we understand that you know seat allocation is complex. However we really respectfully ask for consideration of programs like ours. Basically who has a lot of families who are seeking high quality time has expired who want to join our program. So we hope to partner with the DOE to increase access and ensure that more children can benefit from a strong early learning foundation. That is all I wanted to say. Thank you.

(04:05:36)

Thank you so much.

(04:05:44)

Next we have TMO Kirus. You may begin.

(04:05:51)

Very good on the pronunciation. Thank you. Good afternoon, Chair Won Chair

(04:05:57)

Gutiérrez and members of the committee. My name is TMO Kurs and I am testifying on behalf of the Consortium for Worker Education CWE where I serve as the director of child care initiatives. We serve as the workforce development arm of the New York City Central Labor Council, providing training, education, and child care services to 33 unions and their affiliated locals each year. CWE supports our child care system in two, excuse me, crucial ways. Assisting families in accessing affordable care and training childcare workers through our facilitated enrollment and scholarship programs. We connect working families to vouchers and subsidized care. Additionally, we fund training for unionized childcare workers and through the Wise nanny training program educate at-home providers. We know that building a truly universal child care system will require a major upscaling of the workforce. A persistent gap we work with to address is care for parents who work non-traditional hours, episodic workers, and families with children who have special needs. The administration's expansion of 2K hours from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. is a meaningful step. However, New York City is a 24-hour city with a 24-hour workforce. Parents who work in health care, transportation, and hospitality can face real challenges outside that window. For the thousands on the voucher wait list, the options are often informal arrangements, job-threatening compromises, or expenses that stretch family budgets to the breaking point.

One of the most direct ways to support this population is by investing in training for legally exempt providers and helping them obtain licensure so they can serve more children. These providers typically operate settings which are often the best fit for workers with non-traditional schedules or children with special needs. We are encouraged by the legislation that is being introduced to educate childcare workers and build capacity. As these initiatives roll out, CWE stands ready to partner with the Council on further training initiatives. Thank you.

(04:08:24)

Thank you so much.

(04:08:32)

The next person we have is Carolyn Cleveland. You may begin.

(04:08:39)

Good afternoon, Chair Gutiérrez, Chair Won, and members of the subcommittee. My name is Carolyn Cleveland, and I am chief operating officer at the Kennedy Children's Center. We are a city contracted 4410 program, and we serve more than 400 preschoolers with special needs in Harlem and the Bronx. You have heard from many of my CBO peers about the staffing crisis, but I am here to talk about why our schools are 100% fully staffed. The city highlighted the need for pathways for non-traditional teacher candidates, but we are already making that vision a reality. Since 2017, we have run a community-based grow your own pipeline program that recruits, trains, and certifies diverse adults directly from our local communities. We train about 100 adults annually to become certified teacher assistants, and to date, we have trained more than 500 people. Graduates can then enter our registered apprenticeship program and work toward debt-free teacher certification and school administrator certification, all while working full-time in early childhood classrooms. We were able to convert our existing Grow Your Own program into a registered apprenticeship program, thanks in large part to a startup grant from the mayor's office of talent and workforce development for which we are very grateful.

And it has underwritten critical program components like coaching, supervision, and wraparound supports like tutoring that make it possible for non-traditional teacher candidates to actually balance work, school, and life. Currently employ more than 30 apprentices, which as far as I know may make us the largest sponsor of education apprentices in New York State at this point. So KCC is living proof that the grow your own model works, but it needs ongoing sustainable funding to reach its full potential, not just one time startup investments. So, I want to urge the City to invest in scaling models like ours, and we would love to partner even more closely with you to do so that we can really build a strong, diverse early childhood workforce. Thank you.

(04:10:41)

Thank you so much. And before we conclude, I just want to make sure that we did not accidentally miss any panelists on Zoom. No hands up. We are good. All right. I want to thank my illustrious co-chairs, Chair Rita C. Joseph, Chair Julie Won, and of course the staff and all the people that came to testify. Thank you all so much. Good night.