EXCERPT FROM: The Washington Informer
By Norma Porter Anthony
As District Mayor Adrian M. Fenty prepares to release his proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2011, on April 1, a group of frustrated District residents wanted to make sure that he heard them loud-and-clear.
That’s why the Parents and Providers’ Alliance for Child Care (PPAC) called a press conference inside the John A. Wilson Building, Tue., March 23 to voice their concerns over childcare subsidy funding. The group has staged several protests in front of the Wilson Building in Northwest to oppose budget cuts that adversely affect access to quality childcare for low-income District families.
“Unfortunately with the economic climate the way it is, we’re really struggling now. We’re hoping to continue to deliver high quality service, but everyday it gets harder and harder to keep the doors open, said Debbie Hall, executive director of Big Mama’s Children Center in Southwest.
Hall said that providers cannot withstand additional cuts in funding. Childcare is too important an issue to cut, especially during a recession.
“Childcare keeps families in jobs, keeps childcare staff employed and on a career path, keeps small businesses open and educates our children,” she said.
The District established the childcare subsidy program under The Day Care Policy Act of 1979 to help parents who work or attend school afford childcare. Parents must meet certain income requirements based on family size in order to receive lower childcare rates.
But the Fenty administration has slashed $22 million in funding for the childcare subsidy program over the last four years. As a result, childcare providers continue to receive compensation from the subsidy program at the 2004 market rate. The city has not raised the rate of compensation for six years and childcare providers who participate in the subsidy program are forced to come out-of-pocket for increases in food, supplies and operational costs, members of the organization said.
Crystal Kitt, 31, said that she’s alarmed about the cuts to childcare funding. She wants Fenty and the Council to reinvest in the program.
Kitt’s three-year-old son attends the Northwest Settlement House preschool program in Northwest. Kitt, who works at Luke C. Moore Academy in Northeast, said that the tuition runs $800 a month. However, she pays $520 through the subsidy program.
“We need more services for the infant and toddlers; they are a very vulnerable age group,” the Southeast resident said.
“I need the funding because without it, I wouldn’t be able to afford childcare. They say ‘No Child Left Behind’, but if you cut the program, then you’re leaving a lot of children behind,” Kitt said.
Council member Harry Thomas, Jr. (D-Ward 5) agrees with Kitt.
“We cannot afford to take cuts in areas where we know our working men and women need affordable childcare. We need to make sure that these wonderful providers are paid at the rates they deserve to be paid, that the quality of service and continued care is not interrupted,” he said.
“We’re already in at least a $25 million hole when we look at this program, so we need to understand going in [to discuss the budget] that they have taken about as many cuts as they can take. We need some restoration or redirection of dollars and programs,” Thomas said.