More than a dozen Morning Without Childcare rallies were held across Connecticut on Wednesday to demand increased support for the early education sector.
Around 150 people, including child care professionals who had closed their doors for the morning, were on the New Haven green to mark the fourth annual iteration of the event.
Friends Center for Children Executive Director Allyx Schiavone was one of them.
“Right now, we're trapped in this cycle: we pay poverty-level wages, we lose teachers. We lose teachers, we close classrooms. We close classrooms; families lose child care. Families lose child care, they can't work,” Schiavone said. “Families not working means our economy suffers to the tune of $1.5 billion a year.”
According to Schiavone, the average Connecticut family currently spends 27% of their income on child care.
Rally-goers called on lawmakers to pass a bill sponsored by Gov. Ned Lamont (D) to use the state’s surplus to pay for preschool.
Any unappropriated surpluses from the general fund would be transferred into a newly created Universal Preschool Endowment. Ten percent of that fund could be used each year. The proposal calls for it to be seeded with $300 million from the 2025 surplus (which was $443 million).
Under the proposal, families making less than $100,000 per year would pay nothing for preschool, and families who make between $100,000 and $150,000 would pay no more than $20 per day.
In March, Senate Republican leaders said they support the idea of more state support for early childhood education, but want the money appropriated during the budget process.
“Republicans would have been in full support of finding $30 million, within the confines of the budget, and putting it towards daycare and preschool spending. Early childhood supports are a critical CT workforce issue,” Senators Eric Berthel (R-Watertown), Heather Somers (R-Groton) and Stephen Harding (R-Brookfield) said.
“But it’s the way the majority Democrats go about it that is so disappointing. They are taking $300 million of taxpayer money and throwing it off-budget.”
Lamont was expected to attend a Morning Without Childcare rally in Waterbury. Mayor Justin Elicker (D) and Comptroller Sean Scanlon (D) attended New Haven’s rally.
