Several hundred child care workers, parents and others worried about D.C. Mayor Muriel Bower’s proposed $300 million in cuts to child care funding spoke out at a rally at a Downtown park Friday.
The early education child care workers — many wearing purple sweatshirts and holding signs reading “Stop Cuts” and “Pre-K Teachers Deserve Better” — chanted slogans such as “Hey-hey, ho-ho, Bowser’s bad budget has got to go!” and “When child care is under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” at Samuel Gompers Park.
One of the speakers at the rally was Raul Echevarria with CommuniKids.
“It’s an injustice. We will not take it, and we will go wherever we need to go to make sure that we’re heard,” he said.
Organizers of the rally called on people to write post cards and letters to their city council representatives, as well as call them and show up at a public hearing on the 2025 budget set for May 3. Bowser proposed the cuts in next year’s budget, saying there needed to be difficult trade-offs to balance the spending plan.
Yessenia Vargas spoke at the rally. She has taught preschool for six years.
“Please, educators, parents, family members, community members, we have to continue fighting so that the mayor hears our voice.”
Also speaking at the rally was Jackie Strickland, who’s been a child care worker for 40 years.
“Mayor Bowser’s elimination of the pay equity fund shows that she undervalues early childhood educators,” Strickland said.
Parent Amy Klein, holding her baby at the rally, said the proposed budget cuts could do real harm.
“I think the risk is you start having trouble attracting and retaining highly qualified professionals.”
If the cuts are put in place, child care workers fear their pay will be decreased without the city putting in funds to bridge the gap, resulting in them looking for higher paying jobs and creating less available child care.
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