By Brian Ghezelaiagh and Eden Goykadosh
Cutbacks in Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed budget abound, and it’s the city’s youth who will ultimately pay the price. It is projected that the proposed city-wide budget cuts to daycares and afterschool programs will leave an estimated 47,000 children out of the progressively narrowing window of access to intellectually stimulating and socially enriching care while their parents are at work. And with education and “closing the achievement gap” purportedly being one of the central themes of Bloomberg’s administration, one has to wonder why the educational cracks, through which the city’s kids will inevitably fall, are becoming ever larger.
This is certainly not the first round of budget cuts weathered by city-subsidized childcare institutions. Since 2009 there has been a decline of 2000 children from low-income working families who attend afterschool care, from 51,712 to 42,215. Add to that the 40% decline of the Department of Youth and Community Development’s Out-of-School Time Program and we’re left with a problem with immediate and longstanding ramifications.
As the article mentioned, the cutbacks in the mayor’s budget poses a threat to “firehouses being shut down, arts programs slashed and senior centers closed.” The reality is that there is only a limited amount of funding and if it is not sufficient to finance all activities, something is going to have to be crossed off the list. Evidently, certain institutions/programs take precedence over others, like services that provide safety or basic needs to society. What do you think can be done to protect programs that dominate a lower tier on the list of public services, i.e. daycares and afterschool programs?
#1 by Farnia Naeem on March 6, 2012 - 2:02 pm
Although afterschool and daycare programs do provide services that are essential in order to create a functioning society, these small investments in children have large payoffs later on. For example, Ms. Fernandez’s 4-year-old who has learned to write her name and count to 20, has clearly benefited from the instruction provided, and can now feel more confident in kindergarten. After school programs provide even more possibilities for children; they allow children to make many new friends, discover new interests, and gain a sense of community and family when they are away from their parents. Such programs can shape children into confident and sociable young adults who do not shy away from new experiences. So, if we truly want to help children to succeed, we should invest in them and encourage them to explore their academic and creative interests in and out of school.
It is also worth noting that not all day-care centers will be closed; in fact, only programs cannot find private funding will be forced to shut down. Needless to say, daycare facilities for wealthy families will have a much lower risk of shutting down, than those catering for low-income families. Afterschool public school programs will probably turn to fundraising, such as bake sales and car washes, in order to fund activities. But, once again, schools in wealthier areas will be able to gather much more funds.
Given the inequitable nature of budget cuts and their effects on social sustainability, we are forced to admit that America is not the land of equal opportunity that it was intended, or rather advertised, to be.
#2 by Anna Liang on March 6, 2012 - 4:12 pm
There is no doubt that every parent wants his or her child to be successful when they grow up, and such notion of success is often coupled with programs like daycare or afterschool sessions. At times of economic difficulties, however, it is only reasonable that some programs get cut back or cancelled. Not to say that we should compromise the children’s future, but as citizens we should keep in mind that city has a limited budget. On the bright side, at least not all of the city programs will be canceled; it was mentioned that the programs that can serve the “largest number of eligible children” will be maintained.
I cannot speak from experience on the benefits of city programs for children, but as mentioned in the article, I am certain that they promote literacy and learning habits in children. These skills, however, are not only found in afterschool programs; they can readily be taught by parents and teachers alike. Since there is only so much we can do to help with budget (after all, no one likes higher taxes), why don’t we share some of the responsibility – or a greater portion of such – in educating our children. As for parents who face the issue of picking up their children from school, like Jacqueline Bailey, they can arrange a stay-at-home initiative with neighbors who are willing to look after the children while mommy and daddy are away at work. When times get rough, and the purse strings get tighten, it’s time to revert back to the basics.
#3 by Michael Squitieri on March 6, 2012 - 11:34 pm
I think we can all agree on the fact that these budget cuts are detrimental to the children, the so-called future of America, but the question is, what to do about it? There’s the argument that there’s a finite amount of money from taxes, everyone is tightening their belts and cuts must be made in all parts of government. Yet, I think the answer to that question is the same thing that is causing these troubles in the first place: government. More precisely, utilizing the government channels properly. We all need to be very vocal about these concerns. Contact your congressmen and women, your city council members, the mayor, any politician that counts you as a constituency. Alert them of your disgust of these budget cuts and that your vote for them will hang in the balance until this matter is dealt with. The public needs to take action and form organizations (perhaps PACs, or Political Action Committees) and start lobbying Washington and getting the word out. This may be my optimism shining through, but the government channels will work as long as they are constantly being used.
#4 by Tova Medetsky on March 7, 2012 - 3:45 pm
I think that this issue of nonstop budget cuts is part of a larger issue. As John Keynes teaches us, there is a circular flow of money within the economy. When the market works efficiently, money is transfered from household to businesses and from businesses to households. The issue becomes when there is what Keynes calls a “liquidity trap”. This is when households become worried about what the future will hold. Therefore, they save more and buy less. This in turn means that businesses will produce less thereby laying off workers. Doing so pumps less money into the households which means that households will spend even less. Businesses will cut back even more which leads to a complete downward spiral of the economy! It sort of seems to me like this is where our economy is headed. Constant budget cuts are not necessarily going to do the trick. In fact, I think that government spending might even help the economic situation. It might help in alleviateing some of the liquidity trap that we have found ourselves in, thereby causing the proper flow of money to pick up again.
#5 by Hayoung Ryu on March 7, 2012 - 10:10 pm
At a time of economic difficulties, proper budgeting is the most evident problem, at all times. Yet, it is always impossible to lay out the best solution that will make everyone happy. It is bothersome to hear that Mayor Bloomberg has proposed another round of heavy budget cut to publicly managed daycare centers and after-school programs. If this proposal becomes reality and over 200 institutions close down as a result of, it WILL be the young children paying the price of this economic downturn that we are all facing. In a classroom of 25 children, it is almost impossible for the teacher to help out every child individually, even if the teacher is aware of each child’s weakness in learning. And this is why after-school programs come to be extremely helpful to students in improving their academic skills. Also, daycare centers will help kids to be at a better standing, before entering the public school system. Yet, I am not so sure how the city will manage to keep every place opened with such shortage in budget. I say that people should definitely let the government know of their thoughts. And hope for more subsidies (than proposed) to be distributed. I know that it will be impossible to keep ALL the places open but I think people have the chance to minimize the cut as much as possible.
Also, as Anna have mentioned, if the older family members (parents, relatives, older siblings) and school teachers would give more effort to help the young children, it would all be for the better. This sounds unrealistic and rather unconvincing to parents who work most of the day or teachers that just has too many students to take care of, but it will be worth to give a try.
#6 by Oleksandr Dudnyk on March 7, 2012 - 10:58 pm
Children are the future. What they experience during their childhood shapes them, and it is thus important for us to ensure that children get the intellectual and social stimulation they need. After all, they are the leaders of tomorrow, and we must make sure they are developed, knowledgeable and socially confident through daycare and after school programs. What can we do about it? Well, a good idea is to set up a program in which college students can volunteer to teach young children beginner math, English and other subjects so they are prepared when the go to school. This would not impose a financial burden on the city, and would benefit children and perhaps even college students in many ways. Another thing that we can do is write letters to city officials to make them see that this issue of budget cuts is relevant to us. Finally, we can appeal to the media so that they may promulgate the issues of budget cuts to like-minded people that wish to bring about change and ensure children are not affected by the budget cuts.
#7 by Tahmina on March 8, 2012 - 1:19 am
As repetitive and cliché as it may sound, these children are in fact, the future generation. Depriving them of resources that nurture their upbringing and lay strong foundations for knowledge, would be a direct detriment to the future.
As someone who has worked at a daycare for two years, I can tell from experience how important a role such facilities play in a child’s life. They begin to gather many important and life-long skills at daycare, these include but are certainly not limited to interpersonal skills when making friends, learning to share and cooperate, learning basics before heading off to kindergarten. It serves as a good training period for them to learn about how one should behave in a classroom setting, this prepares them well for the upcoming school years. Not only that, but daycares offer them a safe haven where teachers nurture their creativities and help them build a strong foundation from the ground up so that they may effectively use the education they will receive in the upcoming years. It is quite clear that such facilities are of great importance to a child’s life.
Though it is understandable that the mayor is under tremendous amount of pressure to balance the city’s budget, it seems rather hypocritical that being advocate of closing the education gap he decides to cut back on programs that do just that.
#8 by andrewkyi on March 8, 2012 - 11:56 am
Growing up with the opportunity to attend free after school and extracurricular programs definitely increased my learning experience. It is these vital programs that gives the extra boost to kids to broaden and gain new interests. Like everyone else mentioned before, children are our future and the city needs to keep that in mind as they manage the budget. Unfortunately, there is no short term solution to save all of these essential programs. I agree with Michael that the root of this issue and many others come from our government. Their responsibility is to maintain and protect the future generations as well as present day problems. Advocating and protesting to the city and government officials can only do so much. Without funding a lot of programs cannot continue however if more people volunteer and contribute back to the community, it can be useful. Programs can invest in volunteers to help subside their financial problems. In our present day situation, every little help can go a long way.
#9 by Jenna Peet on March 9, 2012 - 9:40 am
The Department of Education’s attitude towards student performance and the latest round of budget cuts are certainly contradictory. There is a lot of evidence to date that shows that the time children spend in daycare or after school programs is spent getting ready for tests: doing drills of reading or math problems to achieve certain state standards. Modern education has, without a doubt, a high-stakes culture.
However, these drills are detrimental to a child’s intellectual and personal development; there’s evidence to back this up as well. Children’s language skills expand exponentially in the first three years of life, but children are not fully equipped to master reading until they are at least six or seven. Recreational time is valuable for social and emotional skills to develop: what other time is better to learn how to share, how to collaborate, and how to react to others than when playing with other girls and boys? But these non-“intellectual” developments are put on the back burner in our society. Perhaps it is better for children to not be in these programs, if it gets them out of that pressure and somehow into a more comfortable setting, where they can learn in different ways.
#10 by Deborah on March 14, 2012 - 7:55 pm
The unfortunate reality is that sometimes there just isn’t enough funding to cover everything. Lacking one resource (in this case, money), we can substitute another (time and labor). I agree, therefore, with Oleksandr’s suggestion of creating volunteer programs to engage other members of society with the children, providing them with experience and the children with the programs they need.