New York, NY – Today at City Hall over fifty yeshiva administrators and advocates joined Councilmembers David Greenfield (D-Boro Park), Lew Fidler (D-Marine Park), Letitia James (D-Crown Heights), Brad Lander (D-Park Slope), Stephen Levin (D-Williamsburg), Mathieu Eugene (D-Flatbush), Mark Weprin (D-Queens), Ydanis Rodriguez (D-Manhattan) and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, along with representatives from the offices of Jumaane Williams (D-Flatbush), Karen Koslowitz (D-Queens) and Mike Nelson (D-Midwood) to deliver over 12,000 letters from their constituents to Mayor Bloomberg asking him to restore funding for Priority 7 vouchers in this year’s budget. Nearly 2,200 low-income children benefit from these vouchers by receiving day care or after-school programs. There is no plan to provide these children with alternative programs.
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“There is no question that our city is facing a tremendous budget deficit, but balancing the budget on the backs of one community is not the solution,” said Councilmember David Greenfield who arranged the press conference and delivery of the letters to Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson. “Thousands of kids are going to be without childcare in communities that don’t otherwise benefit from publicly funded education and day care. Without Priority 7 these children and their families are without a vital lifeline, and the city has no plan for how to support these children once Priority 7 is eliminated.”
In 2008, ACS issued a Needs Assessment report titled “Charting the Course for Child Care and Head Start: Community Needs Analysis of Early Care and Education in New York City” which asserted that Boro Park and Williamsburg are two communities with among the highest need for early care and education. Residents in Boro Park and Williamsburg are also major recipients of Priority 7 vouchers, and the decision to completely eliminate the Priority 7 program would only exacerbate the existing need for early care and education programs in these communities.
Councilmember Lew Fidler said, “Parents should not have to choose between taking care of their children and working for a living. The Mayor found a way to provide funding for this important program last year in the midst of an election campaign. Now, he needs to find another miracle. Even with no election, he must do the right thing, and prove that last year’s restoration was not just a cynical political exercise.”
Councilmember Letitia James said, “We call on Mayor Bloomberg to honor his commitment to Priority 7-eligible families. Low-income households include families with broad circumstances, and many of those families may not be eligible for similar programs. We cannot turn our backs on families who depend on these childcare services.”
“I stand with my fellow Councilmembers to ask City Hall to save Priority 7 vouchers,” said Councilmember Stephen Levin. “This vital program, which has endured harsh budget cuts in the past, cannot be further reduced. Thousands of children will have no where to turn without Priority 7 vouchers. During these tough economic times, the city must continue to provide essential services: public day care is one of the services we just cannot lose.”
Councilmember Brad Lander added, “Mayor Bloomberg, we need your help. As you know, Priority 7 vouchers provide essential after-school and child care services for thousands of families in our community. My City Council colleagues and I are fighting hard to make sure we don’t abandon these families. Please meet us half-way, and don’t turn your back on needy families in our neighborhoods.”
The cost of Priority 7 has already been reduced from $16 million in FY 2010 to $12 million in FY 2011 because many eligible families have already shifted to Priority 5. Priority 5, which has even stricter income and employment requirements, likely won’t be a viable alternative for most of those families still receiving Priority 7 vouchers.
Four of the Councilmembers — Greenfield, Lander, Levin and James — met with ACS Commissioner John Mattingly to express their distress over the elimination of Priority 7 vouchers. However, that meeting did not yield any change in the elimination of the vouchers.
The delivery of more than 12,000 letters to Mayor Bloomberg today comes as budget negotiations between the City Council and Mayor intensify. The Councilmembers personally delivered the letters to Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson who received them on behalf of the Mayor. This week is the last full week of negotiations since, by law, the city must pass its budget no later than July 1st.
Wonderful news. Seventeen thousand people (presumably including a large percentage of yiddin) demanding that the city go out and borrow more money it doesn’t have so it can turn around and send checks to parents to subsidize their child care costs. Its time to end these subsidies and others like it. Parents should pay their own expenses for their own kids and not put their hands in my pockets to pay for their expenses
Maybe, just Maybe this is being overdone.
If I understand the program it provides some preschooling hours so the Mother can get some rest or cooking done. Perhaps it provides time for PT work.
It is not as urgent as rent programs. it is just a convenience. if you can’t handle your kids then there is a major issue. If you need the time for work; if the work does not pay enough to pay child care then forget it. You have no right to ask the public to pay your babysitting while you work for wages.
Maybe the emergency is those that get parnasa from the schools that get this money. Well try to compete in the real world, not just a world of prepaid vouchers that Uncle Sam provides.
Imagine those that lose their rent programs or those that deal with special kids at home, with their programs being cut. They can not show such support because they can not turn their back one minute on their child. They are still there but their numbers are less. Where are the politicos in their support?
Please save our energy for the real needs and there are very real needs, this is not one of them.
Hey hey relax!
$500 mil wasted on public school is ok?
But 12 mil for vouchers is not?
we all pay taxes and a lot of it goes for ps education. why can’t Yeshiva parents get some of that taxes for our education??
When satmar all signed up for the public school system two weeks before school was supposed to open, suddenly there was a budget made for them too,,, we need to have the same achdus as last nite, and sign all our kids up to the PS system, and teach the government a united lesson once and for all!
Privatize the school system!! a child in ps costs double (approximately6,500 vs. 14,000) than a private school jewish, catholic or other. give every parent a school voucher so they can send to schools of their choice.
There aren’t even that many kids in the the entire brooklyn in the program.
Shoytim!
Don’t you realize that these vouchers are INSTEAD of tuition, not just for after school programs! If they don’t get vouchers, they will have to pay for yeshiva, and then since they can’t, the yeshivas will close or not pay rabbaim.
You want that on your heads?