Updated Information Discussed on ACS Reductions to Head Start and Day Care Programs
Save Head Start and Early Childhood Education Sponsors Emergency Meeting At La Between
Updated Information Discussed on
ACS Reductions to Head Start and Day Care Programs Discussed
City Cutting Back UPK Funding:
The Administration for Children’s Services has notified day care and head start centers that have Universal Pre-Kindergarten contracts with the Department of Education that it is cutting its share of the center budgets as of February 1st. Cutting funding retroactively of centers having UPK programs is grossly unfair and contrary to UPK expansion initiatives by the New York City Council and New York State Legislature. This drastic reduction of early childhood education funds will not only reduce services to 4-year olds but force many centers to close. We urge the City Council to call on ACS to continue providing city funds to these UPK programs so UPK standards can be maintained.
City Eliminating Kindergarten in Day Care and
ACS is planning to stop serving 5-year-olds in its day care centers this fall and close all their kindergarten classrooms. If ACS goes through with this plan, it will force over 3,300 young children to attend over-crowded public school kindergarten classes, and leave their parents struggling to find child care for their 5-year-olds’ out-of-school hours. It will have a devastating impact on the day care centers, leaving them with empty classrooms and putting them at risk of closing altogether. ACS needs to keep its kindergarten classrooms open to ensure that all of the ACS center children turning five this year can get a good kindergarten education and the year-round child care that their parents need.
For more information contact:
Renee Sutton: 718-542-1161 (rsutton@lapen.com
Kenneth A. Golden: 718-992-1321 (kag@bestweb.net)
Barbara Manners: 718 466-1604 (aabdurrahim@aol.com)
