Mayor Michael Bloomberg City Hall New York, NY Dear Mayor Bloomberg:

Transcription

1 Mayor Michael Bloomberg City Hall New York, NY Dear Mayor Bloomberg: As faculty at our city s schools of education and college education departments, we urge you to protect child care and after-school programs in the city budget. We are very concerned that your 2013 Executive Budget will cut child care and after-school programs for more than 47,000 children. This means that 47,000 fewer children will have services and resources that help ensure school success. We are pleased that your administration is implementing policies to improve the quality of early childhood and after-school programs. We are in the business of preparing teachers to be effective in the classroom. However, we know that school success is not based on teachers skills alone, but also on children s early development and children s experiences after the school bell rings each day. Cutting children from these programs will impede the progress of our schools. By the time children enter kindergarten, children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds lag significantly behind children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds in academic skills. Long-term research demonstrates that low-income children who participate in high-quality early childhood education programs have better outcomes in school and beyond. Compared to similar children left out, children who participated in these programs were more likely to graduate from high school, be employed, and have higher earnings. For low-income, working families in New York City, subsidized child care programs are often the only opportunity for children to participate in an early childhood program. Cutting thousands of low-income children from subsidized child care programs would widen the achievement gap that exists between low-income children and their more affluent peers. Research also shows that after-school programs help improve children s development, safety, and academic performance, as well as reduce risky behaviors. After-school programs allow children and youth to engage in academic and developmental enrichment activities in a safe environment after the school day ends. Under your proposed budget, thousands of children would lose access to after-school programs. Nearly half of the elementary and middle school Out-of-School Time (OST) programs in New York City would shut down. This dismantling of after-school programs would move our city s schools in the wrong direction. We recognize the tight fiscal environment the city faces. However, leading economists have found that high-quality early childhood education and after-school programs are cost-effective, saving taxpayers money in the long run. We stand with the Campaign for Children and strongly urge you to restore at least $170 million for child care and after-school programs. Respectfully, 1

2 Laurie B. Behringer, Ph.D. Visiting Assistant Coordinator, M.A. Program in Higher Education and Student Affairs Alessandra Benedicty, Ph.D. Assistant David C. Bloomfield, J.D. Chair, Department of Childhood, Bilingual and Special Education James H. Borland, Ph.D. Rita S. Brause, Ed.D. Associate Dean, Academic Affairs Advanced Language and Literacy Education Programs Graduate Fordham University Fredda Brown, Ph.D. of Special Education Stephan F. Brumberg, Ed.D. Affiliations are listed for identification purposes only. 2

3 Suzanne C. Carothers, Ph.D. of Early Childhood Education Department of Teaching and Learning Julie Carter, Ph.D. Associate Department of Curriculum and Instruction St. John's University Madhabi Chatterji, Ph.D. Associate of Measurement, Evaluation, and Education Director, Assessment and Evaluation Research Initiative Department of Organization and Leadership Stuart Chen-Hayes, Ph.D. Associate Program Coordinator, Counselor Education/School Counseling Lehman College Patricia M. Cooper, Ph.D. Associate Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education Miriam Eckstein-Koas Adjunct Faculty Graduate Touro College Miriam Eisenstein Ebsworth, Ph.D. Associate Director of Doctoral and Post-M.A. Programs in Multilingual, Multicultural Studies 3

4 Beverly Falk, Ed.D. Director, Graduate Programs in Early Childhood Education Urban Education Doctoral Program Faculty Graduate Center of the Francine Falk-Ross, Ph.D. and Literacy Coordinator Pace University Harvey Fertig Graduate Touro College Elaine Goldberg Adjunct Instructor Nancy Gropper, Ed.D. Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Bank Street College of Education Carol M. Gross, Ed.D. Assistant Department of Early Childhood and Childhood Education Lehman College Floyd M. Hammack, Ph.D. Program in Sociology of Education Department of Humanities and Social Sciences 4

5 Abigail M. Jewkes, Ph.D. Assistant Coordinator, Early Childhood Education Program Department of Curriculum and Teaching Hunter College Maris H. Krasnow, Ed.D. Clinical Associate of Early Childhood Education Department of Teaching and Learning Elisabeth Johnson, Ed.D. Assistant Department of Education College of Staten Island Helen L. Johnson, Ph.D. of Child Development and Educational Psychology Elementary and Early Childhood Education Laura Kates, Ed.D. Assistant Assistant Director Education Programs Kingsborough Community College Bonnie Keilty, Ed.D. Associate Pace University Ted Kesler, Ed.D. Assistant Elementary and Early Childhood Education Department 5

6 Fern J. Khan Special Advisor to the President for Community Affairs Bank Street College of Education Tatyana Kleyn, Ed.D. Assistant Charlene Kohler-Britton Director, Early Childhood Center Programs Cynthia Lashley, Ph.D. Assistant Elementary and Early Childhood Education Ronald Lehrer, Ph.D. Associate Dean and Chair Programs in Education and Special Education Graduate Touro College Henry M. Levin, Ph.D. William Heard Kilpatrick of Economics and Education Ann Marcus, Ed.D. Anand R. Marri, Ph.D. Associate Department of Arts and Humanities 6

7 Sandee McClowry, Ph.D. Counseling Psychology and Teaching and Learning Nancy P. McKeever, Ph.D. Faculty Bank Street College of Education Nancy Needle, Ed.D. Part-time Hunter College Pedro A. Noguera, Ph.D. Peter L. Agnew of Education Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Development Executive Director Metropolitan Center for Urban Education Margaret Terry Orr, Ph.D. Faculty Bank Street College of Education Priya Parmar, Ph.D. Assistant Diane Ravitch, Ph.D. Research of Education Michael A. Rebell, LL.B. of Law and Educational Practice Executive Director Campaign for Educational Equity 7

8 Craig E. Richards, Ph.D. Barbara Rosenfeld, Ph.D. Assistant Barbara Schwartz, Ph.D. Clinical Associate Department of Teaching and Learning Sara Seiden Adjunct Faculty Greg Seals, Ph.D. Associate Department of Education College of Staten Island Norman Shapiro, Ph.D. Emeritus Martin A. Simon, Ed.D. Department of Teaching and Learning 8

9 Frances K. Stage, Ph.D. Department of Administration, Leadership, and Technology Daniel Stein Graduate Touro College Rachel Theilheimer, Ed.D. Teacher Education Department Borough of Manhattan Community College Patricia Velasco, Ed.D. Assistant of Education Bilingual Education Program Coordinator Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education Gail S. Wangel Adjunct Early Childhood Coordinator Department of Education College of Staten Island Gay Wilgus, Ph.D. Assistant Graduate Program in Early Childhood Education 9