(The Center Square) \u2014 New York is moving to further expand “universal” childcare by diverting $1.2 billion to create 10,000 more seats in taxpayer-subsidized pre-K programs this fall.<\/p>\n
The expansion was announced Monday by Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who said the move will extend the program offering “free” childcare for 2-year-olds to 22 of the Big Apple’s 32 school districts, including the Bronx and Staten Island.<\/p>\n
“For far too many New York City families, the joy of welcoming a child comes with a terrifying set of questions: How will I afford child care? Will I need to give up my job? Will I be forced to leave the city I love?” Mamdani said in remarks. “Today, for 10,000 more families, we have an answer.”<\/p>\n
Hochul pushed for the additional funding in the $268 billion state budget to expand options for childcare in New York, with the latest reports showing that parents are paying in some cases more than college tuition to have someone watch their children during the workday.<\/p>\n
Under the plan, free childcare for 2-year-olds would be offered in “high-need areas” within the city in the first year of implementation. The state is funding the program for the first two years, and after that, the Legislature will be required to provide funding to keep it going.<\/p>\n
Two weeks ago, Mamdani and Hochul jointly announced that New York City will move 10,000 kids off a voucher waitlist, providing them all with free childcare. The city has also pledged $700,000 for early childhood educator apprenticeships to recruit, train and retain early education teachers.<\/p>\n
Overall, the lack of childcare options in New York is costing working families, some of whom spend 20% to 40% of their annual income on childcare programs.<\/p>\n
The average cost of childcare is $15,394 a year in New York, the sixth-most expensive state in the nation, according to a recent report by the Economic Policy Institute.<\/p>\n
A typical family in New York would have to spend 39.8% of its income on childcare for an infant and a 4-year-old, according to the report. Childcare costs in New York City are even higher.<\/p>\n
Advocates have long complained that low compensation and the rising costs of caring for children are putting some providers out of business. Early education providers are also struggling to retain workers in an industry where the pay is traditionally low.<\/p>\n
Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins called the state’s expansion of free 2-K in New York City a “lifeline to families” and said it “will ensure that more families’ childcare needs are being met by providing safe and enriching learning environments for children across the city.”<\/p>\n
“Universal pre-K has long been championed by the senate majority and it’s exciting to see the program grow through investments this year’s budget provided,” she said in a statement. “More families are getting the support they need to build a more prosperous life in New York.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(The Center Square) \u2014 New York is moving to further expand “universal” childcare by diverting $1.2 billion to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,24,55,54,56],"class_list":["post-377167","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"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377167","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=377167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}