Today, hundreds of thousands of New York children head back to school \u2014 and for many parents, there\u2019s a milestone worth celebrating: more kids than ever will start the year in free, publicly-funded child care.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because this year, New York passed a historic expansion of free early childhood education: a statewide free pre-K guarantee, the launch of free 2-K for two-year-olds in New York City, and pilot programs to start expanding free care to infants and toddlers across the state.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s one of the strongest commitments to families any state has made, and it\u2019s already changing lives.<\/p>\n
But the job isn\u2019t done yet. As the new school year begins, tens of thousands of parents across New York are still scrambling \u2014 because even this year\u2019s historic expansion doesn\u2019t reach most families with young children.<\/p>\n
The gaps are everywhere. In New York City, there are still few affordable options under age two. Across the rest of the state, free care doesn\u2019t even begin until age four. A stunning 96% of three-year-olds statewide<\/a> have no access to free child care.<\/p>\n And even the programs New Yorkers can be proudest of \u2014 free universal 3-K and pre-K \u2014 still mostly run part of the day, ending around 2:30, while parents work until six. A \u201cfree\u201d seat that ends in the early afternoon still leaves families paying for after-care, or leaving work early for pickup.<\/p>\n We know this struggle personally. We are both parents of children one and under. Between the two of us, we\u2019ve navigated impossible hours, sticker shock, and the exhausting search for good care that\u2019s both close to home and affordable. Managing child care is nearly as demanding \u2014 financially and emotionally \u2014 as the full-time jobs we love.<\/p>\n Across New York, parents like us are in the same boat \u2014 taking on debt, cutting back hours, turning down promotions, or leaving the workforce entirely, with the sacrifices falling primarily on women.<\/p>\n Others are voting with their feet. A recent Citizens Budget Commission analysis<\/a> found that New York\u2019s population has fallen well below its pre-COVID-19 peak \u2014 and that millennials, the generation now starting families, are leaving the state in greater numbers than any other generation. Those families are the glue of our communities \u2014 and the foundation we need for a healthy tax base.<\/p>\n But this year proved what we can achieve when parents don\u2019t give up and when leaders listen. New York didn\u2019t just expand child care \u2014 it modeled what\u2019s possible when the government meets families where they are.<\/p>\n That\u2019s exactly why we can\u2019t stop now. We made history this year \u2014 but this is no time to rest on our laurels. We have to keep expanding the care families need. That means permanent, guaranteed funding for 2-K so it reaches every two-year-old in New York City, and free 3-K for every three-year-old statewide. It means no more seats that end at 2:30 and leave working parents stranded. Every seat should be available all day and all year long \u2014 whether it\u2019s 2-K, 3-K, or pre-K.<\/p>\n And finally, it means funding this essential public good in a way that lasts \u2014 a progressive, sustainable source of revenue, so a program families depend on can\u2019t be cut when budgets get tight.<\/p>\n New York has made more progress on child care than almost anywhere in America. Now we have to finish the fight \u2014 to serve every family, in every neighborhood, from a child\u2019s first months until they begin kindergarten.<\/p>\n Santosuosso is a Council member serving on the Subcommittee on Early Childhood Education<\/a>. Bailin is executive director of New Yorkers United for Child Care<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Today, hundreds of thousands of New York children head back to school \u2014 and for many parents, there\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,24,55,54,56,299],"class_list":["post-342665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}