Pre-K Pay Gap Must Be Nixed In NYC Budget, Pols Say

NEW YORK — The New York City Council is drawing a line in the sand to push Mayor Bill de Blasio to eliminate a massive pay gap within his signature universal pre-kindergarten initiative.

Addressing the pay disparity between Department of Education teachers and pre-kindergarten staffers at community-based organizations is the Council's top priority as it negotiates the 2020 city budget with the de Blasio administration, Council Speaker Corey Johnson said Thursday.

Educators in pre-K centers run by those organizations, known as CBOs, are paid thousands of dollars less than their fellows in the DOE — even though they serve about 60 percent of the 4-year-olds in the program, the Council says.

"Without a solid early childhood education these young children will not thrive in school after early child care," Johnson, a Democrat, said at a Thursday rally outside the DOE's headquarters at Tweed Courthouse. "... This disparity, this injustice, has been allowed to persist for far too long."

Early-education teachers at CBOs — many of whom are women of color — earn as much as $35,000 less than teachers at the DOE with the same job and qualifications, advocates for the teachers say.

The Council has called for at least $89 million to eliminate the gap, a figure Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams called a "rounding error" in de Blasio's $92.5 billion budget plan.But Johnson said it will likely take much more money to increase pay for CBOs' support staff as well as teachers.

"I don't want my CBO pre-K instructor to be on the soup kitchen line or on the food pantry line or (to not) have an opportunity to provide for their family," Adams said.

The debate over the disparity has been simmering for months. Thousands of pre-K teachers were reportdly expected to hold a one-day strike in May to call for higher pay, but their labor union called it off at the last minute because the city agreed to discuss the demands.

In response to concerns from CBOs, the de Blasio administration made additions to two requests for proposals governing early education and child care programs to offer service providers more financial stability. The changes will increase the funding floor for organizations that win contracts and account for cost increases, according to the mayor's office.

"Our early childhood educators play a critical role in making Pre-K and 3-K for All a reality," de Blasio spokesman Will Baskin-Gerwitz said in a statement Thursday. "We’ve listened to the concerns of community-based organizations and made changes to the early childhood RFPs in response, and we’ll continue to work together with these organizations to recruit, retain, and grow a talented workforce that serves New York City’s children and families."

But advocates say there's still a need for addtional money to make sure teachers are paid on par with their peers in the DOE.

"If community organizations are the backbone of DOE's signature program, then pay our workers what they deserve," said Alan van Capelle, the president and CEO of the Educational Alliance.