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Activists demanding childcare funding arrested at Parliament building • NC Newsline

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Eight activists demanding that lawmakers allocate $300 million in emergency child care funding were arrested at the state legislature building on Wednesday after North Carolina General Assembly police ordered them to stop chanting and shouting. Police told the protesters they had received a noise complaint.

The activists received three warnings before police arrested them, bound their hands with zip ties and took them away. The protesters were charged with second-degree trespassing and a related offense.

“We asked them three times to keep their voices down or they would be arrested,” said Martin Brock, police chief for the NC General Assembly. “After the third warning, we gave those who continued to sing a final warning.”

Brock told reporters he did not know who complained about the noise.

MP Donny Lambeth

Later, the state House of Representatives unanimously passed an amendment to Senate Bill 357, authorizing $67 million in emergency funding to keep stabilization payments going until lawmakers can end their budget impasse.

“Basically, this amendment reallocates funds from the State Fiscal Recovery Fund and helps us get through the first quarter,” said Republican Rep. Donny Lambeth of Forsyth. “We’ve all heard about the child care cliff. July 1 is an important date because funding will stop, and this amendment allows the funds to be allocated for at least the first quarter.”

Lambeth said lawmakers are expected to return to Raleigh before funds run out to pass a budget. The bill has been sent to the Senate.

Two weeks ago, a coalition of daycare operators, religious leaders, parents and others called on state lawmakers to provide $300 million in emergency appropriations to keep daycare centers open and teachers supplied with classroom supplies.

The Republican-led House and Senate have proposed allocating about $135 million to child care subsidies that will no longer be provided by the federal government starting next month.

Supporters have said $135 million is not enough to keep the centers open and teachers in classrooms long-term, reminding MPs of their position during a rally outside Parliament House.

Emma Biggs, a child care worker in Charlotte, said $300 million would be needed just to maintain the state’s child care system.

Emma Biggs is arrested during a rally in Parliament Building. (Photo: Greg Childress)

Biggs, one of the eight protesters arrested, said lawmakers refused to meet with advocacy representatives to discuss the child care crisis.

“They continue to ignore us and make proposals that they believe will support child care in this state – less than half the minimum level of care we need to stay open,” Biggs said.

Rev. Rob Stephens, coordinator of the NC Repairers of the Breach organizing committee, said some centers will be forced to close within four days despite adequate funding.

“This is not just speculation, this is not fantasy, this is already happening,” said Stephens, who was also arrested.

Rev. Wayne Wilhelm, three-time chairman of the North Carolina Poor People’s Campaign, said lawmakers have a “selective approach to life.”

“It’s a shame that we have to continue to come here and make demands and proclaim to the people behind us (the lawmakers in the House) that life is so precious and so important that we (have to) ask them to fund early childhood education,” Wilhelm said.

Newsline previously reported that the state will soon spend the last $1.3 billion in federal grants that helped child care facilities survive the pandemic. Some of the money was used to increase workers’ wages.

NC News Line reported in April The a survey by the North Carolina Child Care Resource and Referral Council found that 88% of child care centers will have to increase parent fees when federal funding runs out. Forty percent said they would have to increase parent fees immediately. About half said they would lose administrative and teaching staff, and about two-thirds said they would have trouble hiring new staff with comparable experience and training.

Nearly a third of the programs surveyed said they would have to close within a year. That equates to more than 1,500 programs and nearly 92,000 child care and early education places.

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