Bowser Defends Program Cuts in FY 2025 Budget Proposal

Tasha Brown walked into the John A. Wilson Building on Wednesday with the demand that the D.C. Council restores the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund, through which she’s been able to substantially raise the pay for degreed and certified teachers at the Hill Preschool in Southeast. 

Brown, assistant director at the Hill Preschool, told The Informer that the elimination of the equity fund, as seen in D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s fiscal year 2025 budget proposal threatens her ability to maintain a high-quality program with a student-to-teacher ratio well below what the Office of the State Superintendent mandates. 

“There’s no mistake that we will lose our teaching staff [members] with master’s degrees, bachelor’s degrees and certifications,” Brown said. 

On Wednesday, Brown counted among those who spoke in support of the D.C. Council increasing the tax obligations of high earners to close a budget gap. She was flanked by organizers and community members representing Just Recovery DC, D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, among other grassroots organizations who criticized cuts to the equity fund, the District’s emergency rental assistance program, and other programs of significance.

Brown noted that salaries subsidized through the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund allow educators to earn livable wages without moving into a leadership role.

In 2016, Brown started as a lead teacher at the Hill Preschool, long before the launch of the equity fund. She told The Informer that she didn’t enjoy a substantial pay increase until she assumed the assistant director role in the early days of the pandemic. 

As Brown recounted, her rise in rank revealed the intricacies of operating a popular private, tuition-based childcare center. She said maintaining a qualified workforce counts among her greatest obligations.

“If I can’t afford a teacher who went through a four-year program, we will get babysitters,” she told The Informer. 

“Some of our teachers will literally go from making $75,000 to $48,000 [per year],” she continued. “I worry tremendously for my staff who will experience a significant reduction in their salaries and consequently their quality of living if the equity fund is cut from the budget.” 

In the weeks leading up to Bowser’s budget presentation before the council, parents and advocates rallied around investments in early child care. Their efforts happened amid the release of a report that tied rising childcare costs to an economic downturn. 

The Under 3 DC Coalition, which authored the report, recommended investment in the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund and investments that keep childcare costs below 10%.  

At Council Hearing, Early Childcare Educator Equity Funding Takes Center Stage

On Wednesday, a teary-eyed D.C. Councilmember Christina Henderson (I-At large) spoke on the council dais in support of the equity fund. She described the proposed cut as an affront to Black and brown female early childhood educators for whom adequate compensation had long been an issue. 

“Childcare is not just about education, it’s an economic issue. It’s a workforce issue,” Henderson said. “We’ve limped along for years with minimal government assistance and the bottom fell out in the pandemic. Women left the childcare market because the math didn’t work. In the District, we said we would do something different. We’re the envy of the country. It’s not perfect but the suggestion that we go back to Square One is disappointing.” 

Bowser and City Administrator Kevin Donahue later told the D.C. Council they removed early childhood educator pay equity funding from their Fiscal Year 2025 budget proposal after Chief Financial Officer Glen Lee mandated that more than $200 million be added to the District’s Fiscal Stabilization Reserve. 

The mandate, which Bowser and Donahue said came late in their compilation of the budget, compelled them to cut the pay equity fund. Bowser encouraged council members to explore the possibility of legislation that prevents the chief financial officer from tying budget certification to requests like what Lee made this budget season. 

Bowser, who opposed the fund’s creation in years past, later warned council members about what she called its “unmitigated” future costs. Though she acknowledged the plight of Black and brown female early childcare educators, Bowser told Henderson that Black and brown women face similar challenges in other industries. 

“I’m thinking of the mostly Black women, brown women, immigrants who are supporting our elderly,” Bowser said. “We can talk to retail workers who support us in everything we do to subsidize their pay. There are a lot of things that we would like to do but we can’t take on,” she added. “It wouldn’t be sustainable.” 

Bowser Administration and D.C. Council Touch on Other Aspects of the Budget   

Bowser’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget proposal and financial plan is themed “Fair Shot: Strategic Investments and Shared Sacrifice.” 

That name inspired comments from council members who expressed skepticism about whether low- and moderate-income District residents will take on more than they can bear. 

To close an annual budget gap of $1 billion, Bowser made $493 million in reductions, $174 million in investments and $328 million in new revenue, specifically an increase in the paid family leave tax imposed on businesses, a sales tax increase in Fiscal Year 2026 in support of the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority, and a 911 fee imposed on people who book hotel rooms. 

Bowser emphasized that she balanced the budget without property tax and income increases, or the creation of new taxes. She told the council that if she were to do so, she would explain why and ensure that the revenue funds public programs. 

Minutes earlier, D.C. Councilmember Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1) pushed for “bold changes” in the revenue structure that benefit District residents — all while imploring the D.C Tax Revision Commission to finalize its recommendations to the council. 

Councilmember Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) pledged to fight to restore funding to the more than 100 interventions that were included in the Secure DC Omnibus Amendment Act.  D.C. Councilmember Trayon White (D-Ward 8) highlighted emergency rental assistance, library and recreation center renovation, and the Whitman-Walker Clinic Max Robinson Center in Southeast as priorities. 

Meanwhile, D.C. Councilmember Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) pressed for the funding of a public library on Kennedy Street, which Bowser took out of the Fiscal Year 2024 budget and blocked for Fiscal Year 2025. In her acknowledgment of their impasse, Bowser later pledged to reach a middle ground with Lewis George where the Kennedy Street corridor would receive resources akin to a public library. 

Councilmembers Anita Bonds (D-At large) and Matt Frumin (D-Ward 3) spoke about the need for workforce development and investment in opportunities that move District residents into the middle class, as Frumin said in reference to a Bowser slogan. 

D.C. Councilmember Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5) said he wanted to see large nonprofits and universities take on a larger tax burden to restore local programming. 

D.C. Councilmember Robert White (D-At large) expressed a desire to solve the District’s persistent problems while eliminating wasteful spending. He and Bowser later exchanged words about whether certain segments of the population, specifically low and moderate-income residents, could do without emergency rental assistance. 

In her Fiscal Year 2025 budget proposal, Bowser dedicated $20 million to emergency rental assistance, an amount significantly lower than what the District doled out during the pandemic with federal government support. 

In response to At-large Councilmember White’s question about her allocation, Bowser said she wanted to curb what she called some residents’ egregious dependence on the government that started during the pandemic. 

“We need to have them enroll in our workforce programs to get on a sustainable path,” Bowser later told The Informer as she suggested alternatives. “What’s not sustainable is the government paying everyone’s rent.” 

One Resident Decries Backlog of Emergency Rental Assistance Requests

Paulette Matthews had a different take, telling The Informer that she and other District residents have struggled to pay rent long before the pandemic. She too stood among organizers on the first floor of the Wilson Building on Wednesday in demand of a budget that helps more people pay their rent. 

Matthews’ qualm with the system lies not only with the dearth of funds available to residents, but the hoops and hurdles they have to go through to access them. She recounted often being put on hold and her call dropping when applying for emergency rental assistance. 

“Thank goodness I got through, but many people don’t and the money runs out quickly,” said Matthews, a former Barry Farm resident who currently lives in Ward 1. “It’s hard to pay for food and rent. We have a hard time paying [to ride] the bus. I belong in the city just as much as the people who think they own the city.”