Camila Faruqi testifies on provider survival and recommendations

Good afternoon, Chair.

Today I'll be reading from my testimony.

But before I do that, I do want to thank Emmy and DC Phillip because I am also getting those emails, responses back at

Sometimes midnight.

So it's a...

Send it to the post right now.

I love that.

That's great.

That's beautiful.

Very helpful.

And we appreciate it.

That's wonderful.

So my name is Kamala Faruqi.

I'm founder of Manhattan Schoolhouse.

We serve about 200 children in Upper East Side and Chelsea area for 3K and UPK.

We have, we are a small women-owned programs.

And we have been raising the standards of early childhood education in New York City for 15 years.

I came to this work as a working mother who struggled to find childcare for my own son.

We used patchwork.

I were full-time workers.

I believe in universal childcare with everything I have.

I support the expansion to 2K.

I'm here today because the providers expected to deliver that expansion are being pushed to the edge of survival.

And the committee needs to hear what that looks like from the ground.

2K will stand or fall on community-based programs.

We are the providers who are providing about 60% of the 3K and UPK.

And the 2K expansion cannot succeed without CBOs.

Some of the issues, they have been repeated over and over again today, and just like we, the early childhood educators, know that repetition creates deep learning and understanding.

I will repeat them again.

Payment delays.

This fall, we nearly couldn't open because of those.

Then pay parity.

We train the teachers, and we lose them to DOE.

Just this summer, we lost about five teachers now counting.

To DOE because of pay parity.

Frozen rates and a rising cost

of childcare.

Hiring is impossible in this market, and that goes for teachers, assistant teachers, floaters, and administrators.

Regulations written are far from what the ground reality in the classrooms are.

So here's what we think, we recommend to have a successful expansion of 2K.

Register contracts before the fiscal year begins, with advance payments to providers handed by July, not August, and never September.

Pay parity in salary and benefits for CBO educators doing the same work as their DOE counterparts.

Annual cost of living adjustments.

Timely invoice payments.

Smart regulations, not more regulations.

And coordination among DOE, DOH, and ACS, so providers are not the go-betweens between these agencies.

Real incentives for providers to open 2K classrooms, because without them, small and minority-owned women providers will not take these risks.

A permanent seat at the table for CBO.

And there are two things that did not come up today that I would like to mention.

One is as we talk about staffing for 2K, 3K, and UPK, we are being hollowed out for infant-toddler programs because many of the institutions and all, they are really focused on

2K up, but not really infant-toddler.

And that's the struggle we have.

If you're really talking about universal child care,

Universal childcare starts from birth.

So we have to really think about that.

Secondly, I will also mention one thing.

Some of the regulations, I'll give you one example.

A director here in New York City needs to have master's with certification, whereas just around the corner in Westchester, that's not the requirement.

So why would many of our professionals are moving out of the city to get these jobs?

So thank you.

And once again, thank you.

And can you can you can you just email that testimony?

I've already done that and I will do it.

OK, wonderful.

No, no, no.

Only one time.

Thank you.

Next.