At the beginning of June, NYC Mayor Eric Adams announced the restoration of funding to several education programs in his Fiscal Year 2025 Executive Budget.
This included $75M in funding for the “hold harmless” funding pot, which aims to fix decreasing attendance. He also restored $20M in funding for the Summer Rising program, the free city summer cap for elementary and middle school students. Additionally, he restored $32M in funds that were used for initiatives previously paid for by COVID-19 stimulus funds.
However, current budget cuts still mean $170M less in funding for early childhood education.
According to the director of Small World Early Childhood Center, Staci White, a majority of the cuts fall into four categories: services with students with developmental delays, funding for 3K and 4K, funding to provide longer school days and school year hours to meet the needs of low-income working families, and funding for salary parity for educational staff in community-based organizations.
New York City council members, joined by advocates, parents, and childcare providers, are calling on the Adams administration to reverse their proposed budget cuts to the NYC early care and education (ECE) and youth service systems.
According to an X post from NYC Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez, fifteen of NYC’s major labor unions, including DC37, are urging the mayor to reverse cuts to early childhood education as thousands of families are being turned away from seats.
The Citizens’ Committee for Children released a report in October 2023. The report shows that nearly four out of five families in New York City cannot afford out-of-school child care for children ages six to twelve.
“The mayor loves to make promises, but when it comes to delivering on them—whether through long-term strategies or immediate solutions—he consistently falls short. By insisting on cutting 3K programs, he is failing parents, labor, and businesses,” said Gutiérrez. “The promises made to New Yorkers are now being broken, with drastic cuts to incredibly popular child care funding, parents are leaving, nonprofits are struggling and closing, and students with disabilities left at home. While the city council fights for a more affordable New York, we must ask: who is the mayor really fighting for?”
In addition to the $170M to allow for universal access to 3-K and Pre-K seats, the city council is asking for $60M to fund 4,000 extended-day and extended-year 3-K/Pre-K seats, $10M to fund outreach and advertising, $100M to meet the legal requirements for preschool special education, $25M to expand Promise NYC, and $32M baseline funding for 3-K.
The mayor and council members must reach an agreement, known as the Adopted Budget, by July 1.
The Greenline 