NEW YORK—Hundreds gathered at the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) in Lower Manhattan on Thursday morning, demanding that Mayor Michael Bloomberg find the money in the budget to save child care.
The protesters included 50 children ages 3 to 5 and their families, District Council 1707 members, and child care workers. Due to a sudden, heavy rain, the protest did not continue outside Gracie Mansion at noon, as organizers had planned, and the children returned to their day care centers.
“Mayor Bloomberg says he saved child care, but classrooms and day care centers are still being closed. Children and their parents deserve better,” said Raglan George Jr., executive director of District Council 1707. “Why should we stand by while the mayor takes away classrooms and jobs? These children won’t.”
Last month, Bloomberg made changes to his proposed budget that increased ACS funds by about $40 million to support the 16,000 children that would not have been supported in the system otherwise. Bloomberg said all children currently receiving care will continue to be supported by the system in fiscal year 2012.
However, the original budget cut $90 million from subsidized child care, and amendments have to be made to the system.
District Council 1707 calculates over 4,300 children using center-based child care that will have to be removed from the system under the current proposed budget, and over 10,000 children would lose child care service if home-based and voucher-based child care is included. Public day care classrooms have already been closing, and in addition to the 119 closing in June, 97 more are slated to close. The district council estimates 650 workers will lose their jobs.
“It’s our contention that the money is there and he needs to use this money wisely,” said G.L. Tyler, political action director for District Council 1707. “Is [the mayor] going to use it for these CityTime consultants that took $800 million on a useless project or day cares? He’s got to re-establish priorities that help working families.”
Bloomberg commented on the CityTime fraud in a statement and said they would aggressively explore options on how to recover costs, but that the project’s intention—a modernized timekeeping system—has been accomplished.
“We have more than 163,000 employees on the system now, and we expect to hit the 165,000-employee target,” Bloomberg said. “People are getting paid properly and the system is working.”
Tyler adds that the City Council has been very helpful over the past few months, during which they’ve organized over 30 protests, and he said that they have received support from many elected officials.
The protesters included 50 children ages 3 to 5 and their families, District Council 1707 members, and child care workers. Due to a sudden, heavy rain, the protest did not continue outside Gracie Mansion at noon, as organizers had planned, and the children returned to their day care centers.
“Mayor Bloomberg says he saved child care, but classrooms and day care centers are still being closed. Children and their parents deserve better,” said Raglan George Jr., executive director of District Council 1707. “Why should we stand by while the mayor takes away classrooms and jobs? These children won’t.”
Last month, Bloomberg made changes to his proposed budget that increased ACS funds by about $40 million to support the 16,000 children that would not have been supported in the system otherwise. Bloomberg said all children currently receiving care will continue to be supported by the system in fiscal year 2012.
However, the original budget cut $90 million from subsidized child care, and amendments have to be made to the system.
District Council 1707 calculates over 4,300 children using center-based child care that will have to be removed from the system under the current proposed budget, and over 10,000 children would lose child care service if home-based and voucher-based child care is included. Public day care classrooms have already been closing, and in addition to the 119 closing in June, 97 more are slated to close. The district council estimates 650 workers will lose their jobs.
“It’s our contention that the money is there and he needs to use this money wisely,” said G.L. Tyler, political action director for District Council 1707. “Is [the mayor] going to use it for these CityTime consultants that took $800 million on a useless project or day cares? He’s got to re-establish priorities that help working families.”
Bloomberg commented on the CityTime fraud in a statement and said they would aggressively explore options on how to recover costs, but that the project’s intention—a modernized timekeeping system—has been accomplished.
“We have more than 163,000 employees on the system now, and we expect to hit the 165,000-employee target,” Bloomberg said. “People are getting paid properly and the system is working.”
Tyler adds that the City Council has been very helpful over the past few months, during which they’ve organized over 30 protests, and he said that they have received support from many elected officials.
