A budget deal between Mayor Adams and the City Council is expected to leave tens of millions in cuts to preschool education programs — over the opposition of thousands of New York City parents who were shut out of 3-K this year.
Lawmakers agreed Friday to restore $20 million to early childhood programs, said sources familiar with the budget talks. The programs had been facing $170 million in cuts that Adams attributed to the fact thousands of seats have gone empty in some neighborhoods, though waitlists have grown elsewhere in the city.
A Council source acknowledged the deal leaves a hole in the early childhood budget, compared to fundings levels before cuts over the last year. But the lawmakers suggested the restoration is a sweet spot that ensures programs are universal without wasting money on seats that stay vacant.
“The system is so broken that just pumping money into the hole is not going to work,” the source said.
City Hall did not immediately return a request for comment.
Sources said the handshake deal on a 2025 fiscal year city government budget, expected to be announced by the mayor and the speaker Friday afternoon, also includes $25 million to extend the days and hours of operation at more early childhood education programs — a Council priority meant to align with families’ schedules and help fill the empty seats. A total of 4,800 seats next year will be part of a pilot that offers child care through the workday and summer.
A biweekly “working group” will meet with the administration to resolve issues as they arise around early childhood education, according to the sources. It was not immediately clear who would participate in the advisory body.
Despite the investments, the budget hole is still likely to anger 3-K advocates and the families of young children, who have demanded full restorations.
“The mayor promised every family a 3-K seat, and parents planned accordingly,” said New Yorkers United for Child Care executive director Rebecca Bailin. “Instead, families across the city received rejection letters due to the mayor’s budget cuts — and this will continue until every dollar is restored.”
In April, the city allocated $92 million of city funding to backfill most expiring federal pandemic aid for another year of 3-K, plus $5 million to boost outreach. But the investment did not undo Adams’ two rounds of cuts this year, known as Programs to Eliminate the Gap, which he said were necessary to offset the cost of sheltering migrants.
The city has made major investments to keep up programs that were funded with temporary dollars. Throughout the country, pandemic aid has dried up, leading to significant programmatic cutbacks and employee lay-offs — a fate that the city this budget cycle mostly avoided.
The handshake deal includes more funding for young children with additional needs.
The budget earmarks $25 million to provide child care to undocumented families, plus $30 million in new funding for special education preschool programs that were also facing a pandemic aid shortfall.
“We’ve been hearing from family after family whose young child with autism or other challenging disabilities missed out on the chance to go to preschool this year,” said Randi Levine of Advocates for Children. “This investment will help hundreds of children who have been waiting.”
