Educators are opposing Mayor Muriel Bowser's administration's cuts to pay equity funds.
Washington (DC News Now) — Early childhood education advocates rallied Friday to protest D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser's proposed cuts to school districts' pay equity funds, with many fearing it would displace needed teachers. ing.
The gathering of educators and parents at Samuel Gompers Park in Northwest Washington, D.C., ironically preceded the annual conference of local early childhood educators. Many expressed deep concern that these cuts would set families and teachers back.
The cuts were part of millions of dollars in other cost-cutting measures proposed by the Bowser administration to avoid future budget deficits. The mayor told the City Council on Wednesday that while he didn't want the cuts, the city had to make the difficult decision to cut a number of popular programs.
One such program is the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund, which provides funding to increase salaries for teachers and caregivers to account for low pay levels.
“It's devastating for educators,” said Kathy Hollowell McClell, executive director of the Early Childhood Education Association, which promotes early education in the District of Columbia.
“Before the passage of the parity fund, the average child care worker in the District of Columbia earned about $31,000, which was far below a living wage in the District,” Hollowell said. Mr. Maykel said.
Funding reduction proposals were floated at the DC Early Ed X conference held at a district hotel. More than 1,000 early childhood educators participated.
“I'm really disappointed that the mayor made this choice,” said Rukiya Amber Shaneen, director of Early Childhood for DC Action, a group that fiercely opposes the cuts. “I think she talks a lot about shared sacrifice. But in this case, we can be more thoughtful and do better in setting budgets and setting priorities.”
Jamal Berry, CEO of Educare DC, an early Head Start provider, also expressed serious concerns about how the cuts would impact teachers and families.
“When they step back, it means they pull out of this space, like we were seeing before the pandemic,” Berry said. “We're going to see more calls and less interaction with kids. We're also going to be less able to recruit high-quality teachers into the field, which was the whole point of pay equity in the first place.”
