April 29, 2019

Take Action in Support of CBO teachers

On April 25, Mayor de Blasio released his Executive Budget for FY 2020 and still neglected to address the wage gap between early childhood educators.

Despite the important role that CBOs play in implementing UPK and 3-K and their long history of care for subsidy eligible infants and toddlers, the city pays early educators at Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) 60 percent less than their peers at Department of Education (DOE).

Salary disparities among educators persist and grow more stark over time. For example, an MA certified teacher in a CBO earns $15,000 less (or 32%) in the first year of employment and the disparity grows to over $35,000 less than their DOE peers (or 66%) by 8 years of employment. Learn more in our infographic.

According to the American Community Survey, 69 percent of teachers across the entire early education workforce in New York City are women of color, and we know that 60 percent of the city’s prekindergarten programs in the city are in CBOs. Thus, salary disparity perpetuates the cycle of underpaying women — in particular, women of color — who provide critical services to children and families who experience poverty.

Furthermore, CBO centers providing universal prekindergarten, as well as care to infants, toddlers and three-year old’s, serve many communities with child poverty rates.

Currently, there are 81,611 children under age 5 enrolled in early education services at schools and CBO centers. Well more than half of these children — 50,906 of them — are taught by teachers at CBO centers.

How you can take action

 There are several ways for you to get involved and some key dates to keep in mind. 

Call-In Day

On April 30, join other supporters of early childhood educators at CBOs by either calling 311 or the Office of the Mayor at (212) 788-3000 with the message below:

Hi, my name is ________ and I am calling with a message for the Mayor.
I am concerned about the unfair salary differences between early education staff at community programs and DOE schools. Teachers at community programs earn as much as 40% less than their peers at the Department of Education.
For the sake of my child and all the children and families in my community, I urge the Mayor to address these pay disparities and ensure that staff in community-based early education programs receive equal pay for equal work.

On May 2, thousands of early childhood educators will be striking to fight for equal pay. Please take a few moments of your time to support them by either tweeting at local leaders and/or sending a letter to your city representative, Mayor de Blasio and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson.

Sample Tweet

Take Action

Writing a letter to Mayor de Blasio, your city council member, and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson will only take minutes.

Spread the Word

Lastly, spread the word about our campaign by sharing this blog post with your friends on social media. Here’s copy for a post you can copy and paste:

Did you know NYC pays Pre-K educators at community-based organization as little as 60% of their peers at @nycschools? This is despite their critical role in teaching young children largely in vulnerable communities. Want to support CBO teachers? Click to learn how. http://bit.ly/2ZIpyFZ

Tags
early childhood education, salary parity, wage parity, Education

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