April 25, 2019 Honorable Bill de Blasio Mayor City of New York City Hall New York, NY 10007 Dear Mayor de Blasio: We are the backbone of your efforts to expand early childhood education programs, particularly your signature initiatives Pre-K for All and 3-K expansion. We support the creation of an integrated birth to five early education system; however, we are profoundly concerned that the new RFPs underwriting the creation of this system will harm providers, teachers, and children and families in communities we serve. We are outraged that the RFPs advanced by the Department of Education (DOE) starve the early education system of sorely needed investments even as teachers threaten to strike and providers consider closing classrooms or entire programs to remain financially viable. We call on your administration to withdraw the DOE’s Birth-to-Five RFP and the Head Start/Early Head Start RFP and to work with us to develop a comprehensive plan that allows children, families, neighborhoods, and community-based providers to succeed. Not only is greater transparency needed on the total amount of resources the administration aims to commit to the creation of the Birth-to-Five early education system, but goals must be established on the number of children the system hopes to reach by age cohort and program type. Most importantly, the administration must guarantee that contracts are funded at a level that not only supports salary parity with teachers, staff and directors in public schools, but fully covers the costs associated with running a high-quality early education program. The current RFPs are unworkable and unacceptable, because they: • Perpetuate salary disparities: If these RFPs move forward, teachers, staff, and directors in community-based organizations will continue to earn significantly less than their counterparts in public schools. Currently, the gap in compensation between CBO early educators and DOE early educators ranges from $15,000 to $35,000. • Penalize providers with Pay for Enrollment: The Pay for Enrollment plan in the RFPs allows DOE to pay providers less than what is needed to cover all costs by penalizing providers if enrollment dips. As DOE will handle all enrollment centrally, providers will be limited in their ability to bring new children into programs even if there is tremendous need. • Fail to efficiently structure programs: The Birth-to-Five RFP reduces services for families by creating a new distinction between “core” and “non-core” hours which shows a lack of understanding about what children and their families need. Programs that offer extended day, holiday and summer hours, along with family support are a crucial part of early education for the poorest children and families in this city. Anything that jeopardizes these program components will have a negative impact on children’s school readiness and parental employment stability. • Provide no funding for indirect costs: Funding for indirect expenses such as program management and oversight, administrative operations, facilities, and organizational insurance policies are critical to keep programs running. These costs are not covered in the RFPs. • Lack cost escalators: Program costs will naturally grow over time and yet, the RFPs fail to build in cost escalators and therefore set providers up for major gaps in funding. Despite many conversations with providers, advocates, and other stakeholders, your administration refuses to address these problems. It is one thing to state your support publicly for the benefits of Universal Pre-K, campaign on the expansion of 3- K and laud the progress to be achieved in creating a unified birth to five early childhood education system in New York City, it is quite another to commit the resources necessary to make such progress a reality. We urge you to withdraw the Birth-to-Five RFP and the Head Start/Early Head Start RFP and restart this process, this time with the resources needed to ensure salary parity and fully cover the costs associated with running a high-quality early education program. Thank you for your attention to this matter. We will continue to speak out and publicly share our concerns with New Yorkers. We stand ready to help you achieve a strong, stable, high quality Birth- toFive early education system to support New York City’s children and families. Sincerely, Mallory Tompkins Director 82nd Street Academics Howard Martin Chief Executive Officer Bronx House Frank Alvarado Executive Director ACE Integration Head Start Eileen Torres Executive Director BronxWorks Rawaa Nancy Albilal President & CEO Arab-American Family Support Center Joanne Oplustil President & CEO CAMBA Tiffany Taylor CEO The Baby Play Place Nancy Kolben Executive Director Center for Children’s Initiatives Terry Maher President, Board of Directors Bellevue Day Care Center Julia Jean-Francois Julie Stein Brockway Co-Directors Center for Family Life in Sunset Park Ellen Baxter Executive Director Broadway Housing Communities James Parrott Senior Director for Fiscal and Economic Policy Center for New York City Affairs Traci Donnelly CEO Child Center of New York Alan van Capelle President & CEO Educational Alliance Phoebe Boyer President and CEO Children’s Aid Jennifer Jones Austin CEO & Executive Director Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies Wayne Ho President & CEO Chinese-American Planning Council Roderick Jones Executive Director Goddard Riverside Community Center Jennifer March Executive Director Citizens’ Committee for Children Sr. Paulette LoMonaco Executive Director Good Shepherd Services Jim Purcell President & CEO COFCCA Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies Jess Dannhauser CEO Graham Windham Maria Collier Executive Director Cypress Hills Child Care Corporation Michelle Neugebauer Executive Director Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation Sheila Sessoms Executive Director Dawning Village DCC Andrea Anthony Executive Director Day Care Council of New York, Inc. Kelly Haley Executive Director East Harlem Block Nursery Daniel Diaz Executive Director East Side House Settlement Alex Budnitsky Executive Director/CEO Edith and Carl Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst Robert Cordero Executive Director Grand Street Settlement Roy Leavitt Executive Director Greenwich House Isabel Ching Executive Director Hamilton-Madison House Yesenia Zuniga Interim Executive Director Hartley House David Garza Executive Director Henry Street Settlement Ken Jockers Executive Director Hudson Guild Allison Sesso Executive Director Human Services Council Christopher Hanway Executive Director Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement House Margaret Della Executive Director Kingsbridge Heights Community Center Daniel Eudene Executive Director Riverdale Neighborhood House Linda Lee Executive Director Korean Community Services Deann Forman CEO Riverdale Y Warren Scharf Executive Director Lenox Hill Neighborhood House Michael Rochford Executive Director St. Nicks Alliance & School Settlement Association Damyn Kelly President and CEO Lutheran Social Services of New York Rita Santelia Chief Executive Officer Mosholu Montefiore Community Center Jack Doyle Executive Director New Settlement Apartments Steve Choi Executive Director New York Immigration Coalition Maria Lizardo Executive Director Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation Patricia Simon Executive Director Ocean Bay Community Development Corporation Keith Little CEO SCO Family of Services Elizabeth McCarthy CEO Sheltering Arms Children & Family Services Sue Fox Executive Director Shorefront YM-YWHA Brighton-Manhattan Carolyn Capizzi Owner and Education Director Smart Start Gregory Morris President & Executive Director Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center Judith Zangwill Executive Director Sunnyside Community Services Alice Mulligan Executive Director Our Savior’s Lutheran Pre-School Lewis Zuchman Executive Director SCAN New York Terry Troia Executive Director Project Hospitality Torsette Gilmore-Vasquez Director Toi’s Tiny Tots Daycare Ben Thomases Executive Director Queens Community House Jill Eisenhard Founder & Executive Director Red Hook Initiative Eric S. Goldstein CEO UJA-Federation of New York Susan Stamler Executive Director United Neighborhood Houses David Nocenti Executive Director Union Settlement Davon Russell President WHEDco Melissa Aase Executive Director University Settlement Society Sharon Greenberger President and CEO YMCA of Greater New York Pelham Boller Executive Director Urban Strategies, Inc. Martin G. Englisher Chief Executive Officer YM & YWHA of Washington Heights and Inwood c: Richard Carranza, Chancellor, New York City Department of Education Josh Wallack, Deputy Chancellor for Early Childhood Education and Student Enrollment, New York City Department of Education Dean Fuleihan, First Deputy Mayor J. Phillip Thompson, Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives Dr. Herminia Palacio, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Melanie Hartzog, Director, New York City Office of Management and Budget David Hansell, Commissioner, New York City Administration for Children’s Services Honorably Corey Johnson, Speaker, New York City Council Honorable Laurie Cumbo, Majority Leader, New York City Council Honorable Mark Treyger, Chair, Committee on Education, New York City Council Honorable Stephen Levin, Chair, Committee on General Welfare, New York City Council Honorable Daniel Dromm, Chair Committee on Finance, New York City Council Honorable Margaret Chin, Co-Chair, Women’s Caucus, New York City Council Honorable Carlina Rivera, Co-Chair, Women’s Caucus, New York City Council Honorable Scott M. Stringer, New York City Comptroller Honorable Jumaane Williams, New York City Public Advocate Honorable Eric Adams, Brooklyn Borough President Honorable Ruben Diaz, Jr., Bronx Borough President Honorable Gale Brewer, Manhattan Borough President Honorable Melinda Katz, Queens Borough President Honorable James Oddo, Staten Island Borough President Shelia Poole, Acting Commissioner, New York State Office of Children and Family Services Dr. Deborah Bergeron, Office of Head Start, Administration for Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services Carolyn Baker, Regional Program Manager, Region II, Office of Head Start, Administration for Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services Magdamari Marcano, Regional Program Manager, Region 2, Office of Child Care, Administration for Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services