A Queens day care provided free preschool but didn’t get paid the funding it was owed from May to August.
Universal free Pre-K is a lifeline for working parents across the city.
The program gets over $1 billion in state and federal funds.
This is not the first time we went to bat for these Pre-K providers.
After the New York City Department of Education didn’t pay up, the cooks, the maintenance staff, and the teachers and administrators all kept working for free.
Maintenance manager, Benny Miller has devoted the last 23 years of his life to Quick Start Daycare. This summer, when the school suddenly didn’t have the money to pay the janitor, he still showed up, every day.
“How come?” 7 On Your Side’s Nina Pineda asked.
“Because I love the kids and love the school,” Miller said.
There are 76 kids who attend Quick Start.
School administrator Adrienne Bond says the invoices she sent the New York City Department of Education weren’t paid for four months.
“It was extremely stressful because I had to come in and see staff literally crying tears,” Bond said. “And when I say crying to some of them was saying, I’m getting eviction notices. The lights were turned off.”