Report: NYC Day Care Centers Sit Empty

NEW YORK (AP) -- A new state law intended to help New York parents avoid sudden disruptions in day care service has led to millions of dollars in spending waste.

Gov. David Paterson signed a measure in August requiring New York City to give parents six months notice anytime they wished to close a taxpayer funded day care center.

That meant six centers already slated for closure and emptied of children had to ramp back up and stay in business until March.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the centers are now sitting almost entirely empty, but will full staffing.
Workers at the centers tell the newspaper they get calls all day from parents hoping to enroll their kids, but an admissions freeze means they are all turned away.

It will cost $2 million to keep them open until the spring, as the law requires.

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