Nancy Mion & Judith McGinn
NYS Public Policy Directors

Child Care and its cost has an enormous economic impact on US familes

Resources are available here for work on this resolution.

CHILD CARE IS VITAL
TO WOMEN'S ECONOMIC SECURITY

DID YOU KNOW?

• 85% of a person's intellect, personality and social skills are developed by the age of 5
• 95% of public investment in education occurs after age 5, when the most critical learning years have passed.  
• There is  a 45% yearly turnover in child care staff and salaries are to low for staff to support themselves

WHAT YOU CAN DO
to Make Early Care and Education a Top Budget Priority

• Contact your senators regarding a NYS FAMILY LEAVE BILL. Emphasize the need for this legislation.
• Write letters to your NYS Legislators and Governor Paterson to support Child Care (encourage your branch members to write too.)        

WHAT TO INCLUDE IN YOUR LETTER

Information from the Winning Beginnings NY Legislative Agenda below. Select issues that are of concern to you.    AAUW NYS is a member of Winning Beginnings NY, a coalition of organizations and agencies concerned about Child Care in our state..

Child Care Budget and Legislative Agenda for SFY 2007-2008 

Winning Beginning NY supports birth to five strategies and seeks to:

Enact legislation so no family is required to pay more than 10% of gross family income for child care.   No co-pay should be required of families with incomes under 100% of the FPL.

Support Governor Spitzer’s four-year plan for prekindergarten.

• Support a $99 million investment in the 2007-2008 budget.
• Add $5 million in start up funds to support new school districts in opening pre-k classrooms.
• Increase the legislative mandate to 20% requiring local school districts to contract with community based programs to provide pre-k services.

Promote excellence in early care and education.

• Include $15 million to recruit, retain and prepare qualified early childhood educators.
• Establish an Early Childhood Teacher Equity Compensation Fund to move towards equity in compensation for equally-qualified early care and education professionals.
• Support implementation of a Quality Rating System for early childhood programs.

Create an Early Learning Commission.

Establish an Early Learning Commission with public and private representation from all stakeholders to maximize the use of resources, better plan and coordinate, and promote excellence and accountability in all early childhood settings now managed in multiple state agencies.

Our Children are our Future

The following resolution was passed at the 2006 AAUW-NYS Convention:

Resolution on Childcare and its Economic Impact

on Families in New York State

WHEREAS AAUW has promoted educational equity since its inception; and

WHEREAS AAUW-NYS passed a resolution in 2005 promoting economic equity for women; and

WHEREAS childcare in NYS is a critical factor in the economic health of families; and

WHEREAS the quality of childcare in NYS is inconsistent, placing the overall well being of children in jeopardy; and

WHEREAS NYS families face a multifaceted childcare dilemma—childcare is often unaffordable, unavailable, of unacceptable quality and/or inaccessible; therefore let it be

Resolved that the AAUW-NYS Board investigate childcare issues and the economic impact to families and encourage NYS branches to do the same; and be it further

Resolved that the AAUW-NYS Public Policy committee become an advocate for improved childcare in NYS by joining the NY “Childrens’Action Network” and the “Childcare That Works Campaign”, and keeps AAUW branch members informed about childcare issues.

Submitted by Jane Smith, Bath Branch

Donna Seymour, St. Lawrence Branch