Campaign for Children Statement on Mayor’s Executive Budget for Fiscal Year 2022
Campaign for Children Statement on Mayor’s Executive Budget for Fiscal Year 2022
“Mayor de Blasio’s Fiscal Year 2022 Executive Budget takes several important steps to support children and families’ recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the academic, economic, and social injustice it has wrought. The Campaign for Children applauds the Mayor’s efforts to make 3-K universal by 2023, expand access to early education services for children with special needs, and fund indirect costs of non-profit providers in the health and human services sectors. We also applaud the opportunity made possible through the Summer Rising initiative, bringing academic resources with summer enrichment programming at no cost to families at a time when they need it most.
All of these investments are crucial right now to ensure that our city’s children and their families have the supports needed to address the learning loss, economic insecurity, and social isolation they have experienced during the past year, and we strongly urge the administration to ensure that adequate and timely resources are provided to ensure their success.
However, there are several more steps our City’s leaders must take as the budget process moves forward. First, funding provided for the Summer Rising initiative must be adequate, and per-child rates for CBO providers must be increased to match the higher level of programming that Summer Rising demands. Increased reimbursement rates are needed to support CBO planning, hire and retain new staff, purchase supplies, and provide staff training. The full potential of this initiative will be met only if CBOs are given the right resources to support it; providers need to know as soon as possible the funding available to operate these programs. Second, funding for School’s Out New York City (SONYC) and any summer programming must be baselined so that programs can be up and running every summer and these vital services can be removed from the annual budget dance.
Finally, we must also ensure that the investments made in the Executive Budget for early childhood education will be sufficient to meet the needs of families to support their and the city’s economic recovery. To that end, we are deeply disappointed that the Mayor’s proposed budget failed to utilize the significant amount of available federal funds to address the lack of affordable infant and toddler care in the city or for extended day programs for 3-year old and 4-year old children. More information is needed to ensure that the Executive Budget’s investments in early childhood special education will bring enough seats to the system to address the shortage for preschoolers with disabilities while continuing to support the 4410 special needs preschools who have been educating this population for years. Furthermore, the City must finally invest in the salaries of preschool special education teachers and bring their salaries to parity with their colleagues in public schools.
As a coalition of advocates and community-based organizations who have long fought to ensure that New York City’s families have high-quality and stable early childhood and youth services systems to rely on, we look forward to working with city leaders to ensure that all New York children and families have the educational and developmental programming they need to prepare for a successful school year and for their long-term economic recovery.”
Download the Full Statement Here
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About the Campaign for Children
The Campaign for Children is a coalition of 150 early childhood education and after-school advocacy and provider organizations, including Citizens’ Committee for Children, Children’s Aid, United Neighborhood Houses, Good Shepherd Services, FPWA, the Day Care Council of New York, UJA-Federation of New York, and the YMCA of Greater New York. The Campaign’s successful advocacy saved child care and after-school programs for more than 47,000 children by securing more than $120 million of one-year City Council discretionary funds for two consecutive years, which then were successfully baselined. The Campaign also advocated for the expansion of Universal Pre-K and middle school after-school programs in NYC and saved summer programs for over 34,000 children.
