By Jasper Smith

When Cashawn Thompson began her career as an early childhood educator nearly 20 years ago, she said she made just over $6 an hour and struggled to make a living. 

Today, Thompson said she can better support her family and pay for the mortgage of a home she now owns thanks to assistance from the Early Childhood Pay Equity Fund, a first-in-the-nation program for childcare workers that increases their wages comparable to public school educators.

But the benefits of the equity fund may soon end for Thompson and thousands of other D.C. early childhood educators who have received support through the fund over the last three years. 

Last week, Mayor Muriel Bowser presented her $21 billion budget proposal to the D.C. Council, intending to reallocate money toward public safety, education and downtown revitalization for 2025 – and shave more than $500 million from city programming. 

On April 5, Thompson joined her colleagues to rally against the proposed elimination of the Early Childhood Pay Equity Fund. Crashawn Thompson has worked with children for more than 20 years. (HU News Service/Jasper Smith)

In response to the childcare fund cuts, Thompson joined dozens of D.C. educators, daycare teachers, parents and community members on April 5 in Samuel Gompers Memorial Park to rally against the mayor’s proposed budget.

“The only way most people in D.C. are able to go to work is because they have someone like us taking care of their kids,” Thompson, who works as an educator at the National Children’s Center, said at the rally. 

“I’m not going backward, and I’m not going to let Bowser take me or the rest of my colleagues back,” she said.

According to the council, the mayor’s 2025 budget includes eliminating the equity fund and reducing $10 million from the Childcare Subsidy program from the city’s budget.

 Some educators say this decision will negatively impact their livelihood and the families who rely on childcare services. 

In a statement to the council, Bowser said the cuts are coming as the city prepares for a $4 billion budget deficit through 2029, as pandemic-era federal funding is nearly depleted. 

Bowser explained in the hearing that the decision to shrink the budget was made following late requirements from the city’s Chief Financial Officer, Glen Lee. 

“In building the FY 2025 Fair Shot Budget, we were guided by our values: protecting core city services and preserving programs that protect the health and safety of our community,” Bowser wrote.

To early childhood educators like Justin Harvey, the possible elimination of the Pay Equity Fund is “nerve-wracking.”

“I’m a little worried about my career and where I’m headed,” Harvey, a parent of two who works as an early childhood educator at Rosemount Center, said. “It made me nervous to understand that my job is not protected.”

Dozens of community members held signs protesting the proposed budget cuts in Gompers Memorial Park on April 5. Under 3 DC organized the event early Friday morning, before many participants started their day as early childhood educators. (HU News Service/Jasper Smith)

During the rally, organized by the family advocacy coalition Under 3 DC, Councilmember Christina Henderson said protection of the pay equity fund and other city programs that face reductions is a high priority.

She pledged to do everything in her power to reverse the cuts. 

“I walk into a childcare center every day,” Henderson said. “The teachers who support my children, who have taught my children how to count to 10 and their ABCs … I want to thank you for the work you do each and every day. But, ‘thanks’ is not enough. You need fair pay.”

In the council meeting days prior, Henderson said the balancing of the budget disproportionately impacts Black and brown women who make up the childcare workforce, a sentiment shared by childcare workers and community organizers at the rally. 

According to a study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and The Education Trust, 94% of childcare providers are women and 40% are women of color. 

The study also noted that Black childcare workers earned an average of 78 cents less per hour than their white counterparts.

Travis Dallie, organizing director of Under 3 DC, said Black and Brown women have cared for children in the District for generations without fair compensation to take care of their own. He said he hopes to change that. 

“The mayor does not care about Black and Brown women who don’t have money,” Dallie said. “She made her values clear in her budget, and it’s for us to make sure our council members reject her heartless budget.”