New York City parents are in an uproar over childcare this month. Mayor Eric Adams had repeatedly promised 3-K seats would be available for early childhood education services, but more than 2,500 families said they couldn’t get placement.
“New Yorkers are relying on the City to deliver a budget that prioritizes and funds early childhood education,” said speaker Adrienne Adams in a statement. “The Council is fighting for equitable opportunity for working families, investments in our children’s education, and dignity for our providers. The reality is that not every child has a seat, and we must confront that with investments that fund and fix the system. Now is the time to strengthen 3-K, Pre-K, preschool special education, and Promise NYC to make good on our promise to New Yorkers. Our children and families need us to get this right.”
Parents and education advocates have called for the restoration of proposed $170 million city cuts to pre-K and 3-K programs, as well as expansion of free seats to include full-day and full-year scheduling for all kids under the age of 5. To heighten matters, the city budget deadline is on June 30.
“The city’s been making cuts. That has consequences. They don’t have seats in the right area where kids are, which is the other issue. Kids got into places just too far away,” said Rebecca Bailin, executive director of New Yorkers United for Child Care (NYUC). “They have not prioritized it or invested in it.”
Last year, the Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York (CCC) released a report that concluded the “vast majority of New York City families cannot afford any form of child care” for children under 5 years old. This escalating problem feeds into a child’s overall development and has ramifications for the city’s economy. Families in the Bronx and Brooklyn experience the highest childcare cost burden, the CCC found.
In general, childcare costs can range from $20,000 to $40,000 annually, said Bailin.
Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Staten Island continue to have the most extreme shortages of 3-K seats, according to a Gothamist analysis, while other neighborhoods in north Brooklyn or the Lower East Side had hundreds more 3-K seats available than applicants.
Bailin said she isn’t sure whether the mayor’s repeated promise was an outright lie or just misleading.
“Child care has been an enormous strain on our budget,” said Suz Kroeber, a mother from Washington Heights and a member of New Yorkers United for Child Care. “My wife and I both have major school debt and the $29,000 a year we spend on child care for our 2 year old is a real hardship. New York City is famously unaffordable, but the fact that there was the promise of free child care made it feel like we would be insane to leave. But now we’re deeply concerned about the future of our city. The idea that the mayor would take away something that’s helpful, beloved, and represents our values is mind-boggling.”
A coalition of parents partnered with NYUC to deliver about 6,000 petitions to City Hall on June 6 and demonstrate their growing frustration with Adams. The coalition was joined by United Federation of Teachers (UFT) and local electeds such as Public Advocate Jumaane Williams; Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso; and councilmembers Jennifer Gutiérrez, Pierina Sanchez, Lincoln Restler, Tiffany Caban, Julie Won, and Alexa Aviles.
“The city has said that 3-K would be universal, yet clearly, many families are still unable to access these programs,” Williams said in a statement. “This is alarming, as cuts deny services at critical ages for children to learn and grow. Access to this care is especially important for low- to middle-income working parents, often Black and Brown families facing existing inequities and injustices. The promise of every applicant getting a seat regardless of neighborhood, income, or immigration status should be fulfilled not only in words, but results.”
The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) also joined in demanding $25 million in funding for Promise NYC, which provides childcare vouchers for immigrant families.
“Data from my office shows that the number of children and young people living in shelters in NYC has more than doubled since January 2022, largely due to newly arrived asylum seekers,” said City Comptroller Brad Lander in a statement. “As a city, we should be increasing our support for new New Yorkers, not ending programs that serve English Language Learners (ELL) and immigrant students. Immigrant families need child care that provides safe, enriching spaces for their children so they can work to build new lives here. Schools must be able to help newly arrived parents navigate enrollment, homework, vaccinations, and so much more. This is why we urgently need sustainable funding for programs such as Promise NYC, Immigrant Communication and Outreach, and ELL transfer schools.”
Councilmember Rita Joseph, education committee chair, NYUC, and unions held an additional rally last week Thursday to call on Adams to restore cuts to the early childhood education programs ahead of the looming budget deadline.
“We are here to address a critical issue that impacts every one of us: the future of our children and the vitality of our city,” said Joseph. “Our youngest New Yorkers deserve the best start in life and it’s our duty to provide it. Service providers across New York City are the backbone of the family, of early childhood education. They dedicate their lives to nurturing, teaching, and guiding our children during their most formative years. These educators need our unwavering support and robust funding to continue their invaluable work in time.”
According to the city council, at the end of the 2022-2023 school year, more than 1,100 students were waiting for a seat in a preschool special education class and 12,300 children didn’t receive a preschool special education seat or at least one of their mandated preschool special education services.
“The high cost of child care is forcing many families to make difficult choices and sometimes resulting in even leaving the city,” continued Joseph. “This is unacceptable. New York City should be a place where families can grow and prosper, not a place they feel compelled to leave due to financial strain.”
Council members also drilled down on the need to pay early childhood education providers equitably and on time.
The mayor’s office has since pushed back on the disinvestment narrative and reversed some unpopular budget cuts.
A city hall spokesperson said in a statement that the administration deeply believes every child deserves the opportunity to succeed. Compared to five years ago, three times as many children are applying for seats, they said. They maintained that more children are getting a seat with their top choice and more seats are available.
“Under our administration, the system is serving more young New Yorkers than ever before, and with recent investments of more than $640 million for educational programs and school budgets, we are investing in our young people and making our city more livable for working-class families,” the spokesperson said.
The city received a $4 billion commitment from New York State for Child Care Block Grant funding over four years, the spokesperson added. This funding was used to increase the number of children enrolled with Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) low-income vouchers—by nearly 500%, to more than 38,000 children. It also funded child care for eligible families who wanted an ACS voucher or have an active cash assistance case, or for infant, toddler, and Extended Day 3K/Pre-K seats through city public schools.
“Thanks to our efforts, the overwhelming majority of children are getting into the early childhood programs their parents wanted them in. Already this year, despite the fact that the number of applicants more than tripled in the last five years, 94% of families have received an offer compared to just 67% in 2019,” the spokesperson said.