In the face of a $700 million budget shortfall, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser proposed cutting the $87 million Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund, the nation's first publicly funded program intended to raise the pay of child care workers in the district and provide them with free or low-cost health insurance, reports the Hechinger Report.
The final budget passed by the city council in June keeps the $70 million of the funding in place, but several proposed rule changes are expected to pass that could save money for the fund, including capping participants at 4,100 and limiting the program to workers with a child development credential or higher.
Advocates are pushing to keep the salary increases and health benefits for child care workers in place, but expect to learn more about how the cuts will impact the program by September 3, when a task force is set to present its recommendations.
"We know some things are going to be cut, we just don't know exactly what," says the executive director of SPACEs in Action, a nonprofit organization that supported the fund.
"We're trying to keep it as whole as possible."
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