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DC councilmember on proposed program cuts due to $700M budget shortfall

Councilmember Christina Henderson spoke on Get Up DC about the impact eliminating the early-childhood educator pay equity fund would have.

WASHINGTON — It is budget season in D.C. right now, with public hearings underway for the proposed 2025 budget. Mayor Muriel Bowser presented the budget to the D.C. Council earlier this month. The mayor's proposal prioritizes education, public safety, and downtown D.C. Officials say 70% of the 2025 budget is set aside for just 10 agencies. 

One of the initiatives that would be eliminated in this proposed budget is the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund, saving the city $70 million a year. The fund was created in 2021 to achieve pay parity between early childhood educators and their K-12 counterparts. In addition to pay changes, the fund also offered healthcare to workers. 

Hundreds of district preschool teachers and advocates protested their unhappiness with the proposed cut after the budget was released. 

"It feels like we're balancing the budget on the backs of Black and brown women in the child care sector," said At-Large Councilmember Christina Henderson. "We told them there is a future in child care, go get your associate degree, go get your bachelor's degree and now we're going to tell them to go back to making minimum wage?"

Councilmember Henderson spoke about the proposed cuts with Marcella Robertson on Get Up DC Saturday morning. 

Robertson: Why is the Early-Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund important to you?

Henderson: "We made a promise to these early childhood educators a few years ago. It was a lot to get them to trust us to say that the government is going to do what they said they would do. But also when we think about the child care sector in general, it's super important to the economy ... [and] to the workforce. It's super important as it lays the foundation for all the education that might happen, and yet these workers are the lowest paid on the totem pole, usually making minimum wage. I strongly believe if you're taking care of the workforce and everybody else's children, you should be able to earn enough to take care of your own families as well."

Robertson: What has this fund done for individuals in the early childhood education field?

Henderson:  "Over 4,000 workers have already received a pay increase. Many businesses tell us that this is something they've been using to recruit and retain folks in the early childhood sector. And above that we have a lot of individuals who went back to school. They got their associate degree or bachelor's degree in early childhood development. So the idea that we're going to say 'sorry, you got these additional credentials, but the pay is no longer going to be available to you,' I really feel like we're going to see the child care sector collapse in the District if we don't fix this."

Robertson: Where would the money come from to keep this in the budget? 

Henderson: "That's the conversation we're having right now. I feel very proud that all of my colleagues seem to be standing strong, in terms of our need to continue this program. There might need to be tweaks here or there, but to completely eliminate it, especially where it might result in someone losing their health care in the middle of the year, that's just something we can't stand for. I feel like I'm looking under every couch cushion to see where there's money to be found." 

   

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