New York will unveil a plan to expand free or affordable child care

quote:

---

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday will unveil a plan to vastly expand free or affordable child care for New Yorkers across the state over the next several years.

In doing so, Ms. Hochul is partnering with Mayor Zohran Mamdani and putting him on a path toward realizing one of the central promises of his victorious campaign last year.

The goal of the multiyear plan, which Ms. Hochul is expected to introduce alongside the mayor in an appearance Thursday morning and will be a part of her State of the State address on Jan. 13, would be to one day offer universal access to children statewide, her office said. Investments in this year’s budget, which is due April 1, would create access for 100,000 more children, her office said, before the plan is expanded more broadly.

It comes days into the new mayoral term of Mr. Mamdani, a democratic socialist who ran on a promise to make child care free for all New Yorkers under the age of 5.

In her executive budget, Ms. Hochul will propose funding more pre-K seats across the state and increasing the funding for existing seats, in order to achieve universality for 4-year-olds by the beginning of the 2028-29 school year, her office said. While assistance exists today for some low-income parents, middle-class families outside the city are largely on their own.

The governor also said she planned to work with Mr. Mamdani to “fix the city’s 3K program” and make it truly universal. The program had faced cuts under former Mayor Eric Adams and does not currently serve all the families with 3-year-olds who may want or need to use it.

In addition, the city will begin what Ms. Hochul is calling “2 Care,” starting with “high-need areas selected by New York City and expanding to serve all families by year four.” Ms. Hochul has promised to fully fund the program for its first two years.

---

quote:

---

There are a lot of unanswered questions about Ms. Hochul’s plan, particularly how much it will cost this year and in the years to follow. Aside from the complex logistics involved, implementing child care universal is expensive.

Mr. Mamdani has said that his vision of universal child care for every child from 6 months to 5 years old could cost $6 billion each year in New York City alone. Separate estimates have determined that universal child care across the state could cost as much as $15 billion annually once it is fully up and running.

Providers and policy experts were cheered on Thursday by the framework Ms. Hochul announced. Not only does it begin to expand availability, they said, it also takes meaningful steps toward shoring up existing parts of the system that have been underfunded.

---