The child care sector and parents are becoming increasingly frustrated with millions of dollars of delayed payments, causing one major center to close.
According to the New York Times, some NY-based child care centers wait months to be paid by the city, which adds stress to an already unstable industry.
Complaints from New York City child care providers are piling up about the city's payment delays.
In response, school officials stated that the organizations who processed their file invoices correctly would finally "receive at least 75 percent of their contract for the fiscal year ending in June," despite the enrollment being lower than expected.
'We need them desperately'
It is not only New York City that has been experiencing a child care crisis but the entire nation. This started when the pandemic reduced the child care business to almost nothing, and now that it is over, competitive labor markets are drawing away the workers.
It has been reported that the child care sector crisis is getting worse. The waiting lists are getting longer, and the centers are losing workers to fast food chains offering better salary rates and benefits, according to Vox.
Adding to this are the providers' complaints about the city's delayed payments for prekindergarten and 3-K programs that are supposed to be funded publicly.
David C. Banks, the schools' chancellor, said a "rapid response team" will be deployed to child care centers to take care of the payment issues and assist providers in processing invoices.
"I hear them, I see them, I feel them, and I'm doing everything I can to come to their aid. We need them desperately. I don't want to see any of these groups go out of business," Banks declared.
'Emergency' for everyone
Due to these delayed payments, the Sheltering Arms, a major provider that serves an average of 400 children across six preschool sites in the Bronx, Queens, and Manhattan, is closing its doors next month.
The news of this provider shutting down has alarmed parents. They are now worried about losing the free preschool services they get and are relying on.
City Council members, on the other hand, are criticizing the staffing changes of the city's Division of Early Childhood Education, which has resulted in losing more than 100 workers this 2022, the NY Post reported.
Deputy schools chancellor, Josh Wallack, took to Twitter a month ago and wrote that the child care workers had carried the children through a pandemic, and until each one of them has been paid, the crisis continues to be an "emergency," not only to the workers but for everyone.
School officials stated that the city has a due amount of $140 million for child care providers for the fiscal year that ended in June. About $120 million of this money has yet to be released because providers still need to submit invoices, and there are about 480 centers that are having a hard time submitting invoices.
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