Protecting Early Education: The Vital Role of Subsidies, Pay Equity, and PKEEP in DC

Thank you Chairperson for the opportunity to testify at the Council today,

My name is Donna Mason and I am the Executive Director of St. Albans Early Childhood Center in Ward 3. I have worked in the field of early childhood education for over 40 years. Since 1972, our mission has been to provide high quality educational services using a developmentally appropriate preschool curriculum for a multi-economic and culturally diverse group of young children. I am here today to testify about the incredible benefits of three programs to my center: the child care subsidy program, the Pay Equity Fund & PKEEP. The threat of losing funding with any of these programs would have severe impacts across the board at St.Albans, from programming, HR & administrative operations.

In a few short years, the Pay Equity Fund has been a game changer for the early education sector. Mathematica research finds that DC has experienced a 7% early education workforce growth and enjoyed a 23% return on investment in the Pay Equity Fund. That ROI comes from less turnover, fewer work absences, a financially and emotionally healthier workforce, less educator reliance on public benefits, and an increased supply of child care seats and lower child:educator ratios. My early educators report a higher quality of life, I am able to hire higher quality staff and the program covers critical budget items at my center. 

Threatened cuts last and this year to the Pay Equity Fund have led valued early educators to resign from St. Alban’s, since they do not know if the next budget will cut their pay by tens of thousands of dollars. My teachers have planned their lives around their new salaries, many have invested in purchasing homes, cars, and also moved closer to work. The uncertainty has also created vulnerability with St. Alban’s finances, prohibiting us from conducting long term financial planning. 

Moving on to child care subsidy, I want to commend OSSE for making changes to the program that now make more families eligible to receive child care subsidies and which make the application process and timeline easier to navigate. The Department of Human Services (DHS) is now responsible for implementing these application processes and eligibility determination changes. I hope this Committee will ask OSSE about their partnership with DHS since the fall to ensure there has been sufficient training on policy manual changes for DHS workers and ensure that OSSE and DHS are working collaboratively to troubleshoot any challenges arising from the recent changes. 

The subsidies that early learning programs receive simply do not match the full cost of providing child care. The Council must make progress to continue to increase the reimbursement rates for child care subsidies. 

Lastly, PKEEP is a critical program for St. Albans. In Ward 3, it is particularly important for PKEEP community based organizations to exist, because DCPS cannot meet the demand in our Ward. The program helps us provide reduced cost PreK services to 67 of 82 eligible students. If the program were to be eliminated for CBOs, St. Alban’s would lose as many as 108 students (3s and 4s). This sudden change would threaten our entire budget. 

I thank the Committee for its time and am happy to answer any questions.