A pre-K expansion in New York City has opened up jobs for teachers in the public schools. Their current employers, those community-based daycare centers, are often happy their teachers have opportunities but still sad to see them go.
Creating more pre-K access for students in New York City’s public schools has been good news for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s pre-K expansion. However, it has forced some daycare providers to scale back on the number of employees they can keep, the New York Times reports.
Their current teachers often get drawn to—or, some say, actively recruited by—the pubic schools and their higher salaries and better benefits. They may look to land jobs in one of the new pre-K programs as a way of securing their future. “I’m emotionally invested in the center,” one teacher was quoted as saying, speaking about her job at Cypress Hills Childcare Center in Brooklyn, which is near her lifetime home. “It’s kind of hard for me to get up and leave, but I have to think about my future. I want to plan my wedding and think about getting a house.”
Seeing a potential issue, Mr de Blasio raised the salaries for community-based daycare providers to a little more than $44,000 a year, compared to a little more than $48,000 for a starting teacher in the city’s public school system. That’s not a huge difference, but teachers at these community centers, like Cypress Hills, often don’t receive employer-paid health insurance and get only two weeks of vacation annually since they’re required to work over the summer.
Ultimately, though, increasing the need for quality pre-K teachers has had the good effect of increasing the level of talent in the pool of teachers applying for pre-K jobs. Although individual centers may be disappointed to lose a favorite teacher, that teacher’s decision, made according to his or her own needs and desires, will lead to a better pre-K experience for kids in New York.
As Maryland begins to expand pre-K next year, I wonder if a similar situation will develop. Like New York, Maryland is expanding pre-K in phases, which may give community daycare centers time to adjust. But will they?
What do you think the effect of expanding pre-K will be?