Mayor Adams And Speaker Adams Safeguard $500M For Education, Promote Early Childhood Enrollment

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams today announced that, thanks to strong fiscal management.

The city will make multiple new investments, including more than $500 million in city and state funding for educational programs for young New Yorkers in Mayor Adams’ Executive Budget next week. First, the city will protect $514 million — the majority of which will be baselined with recurring dollars — in New York City Department of Education (DOE) programs that were only previously supported with temporary stimulus dollars, including mental health care, career readiness, and literacy programs for New York City public school students in the Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) Executive Budget.

The Adams administration will also launch a $5 million outreach effort to maximize the number of children enrolled in 3-K and Pre-K programs across New York City. Additionally, the city will invest $25 million in funding to provide special education classes and related services within district schools to Pre-K students with special needs who would otherwise be on waiting lists at contracted providers. Finally, Mayor Adams announced the city will invest $8 million toward the MyCity portal, making it easier for any New Yorker to apply for subsidized child care and other city services.

“Nobody works harder than New York City parents and families, and we know that nothing holds them back more than the lack of access to child care and support for their kids. Our administration has invested in our children, increasing public school enrollment, boosting test scores, and revolutionizing how we are teaching kids to read, and today we’re delivering again for working-class families,” said Mayor Adams. “Thanks to our strong fiscal management, we are protecting $514 million in key education programs spanning mental health care, literacy, and career readiness. We’re also investing in our youngest New Yorkers by launching a $5 million outreach effort to boost early childhood education enrollment, putting $25 million to support Pre-K students with special needs, and ensuring families can easily apply for child care with through the MyCity portal. Today is a good day for New Yorkers, for all working-class families, and for our children. Our administration made the right fiscal decisions for our city, but we never compromised on delivering the essential services New Yorkers rely on.”

“Today’s joint announcement of over $500 million in funding to support educational programs at risk of ending due to expiring federal stimulus funds is an important step forward in the city budget process,” said Speaker Adams. “Our students, especially those who require critical support services, need continued access to the programs that can help them recover from historic pandemic-era learning losses. The Council has consistently called for funding commitments to these vital initiatives that were at risk, including in our Preliminary Budget response. We have also focused on ensuring access to early childhood education programs and improving outreach efforts so that working and middle-class families can benefit from them. We are encouraged by this significant step and look forward to our continued work with the administration and all stakeholders to deliver a budget that supports essential services for New Yorkers. Our city budget must adequately invest in the city’s children, working families, and their collective future for a healthy, safe, and successful New York.”

“The Adams administration is committed to investing in the building blocks for our community: accessible, equitable, and affordable education and child care, and more efficient ways to access services,” said First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright. “The investments of over $500 million that we are announcing today demonstrate our ongoing commitments to our children and families. We will continue to refine our work to ensure we have the right resources in the right places for every New York city child and family to thrive.”

“The Adams administration believes that from the crib to career, government has a fundamental role in preparing our young people for success — and that starts with early childhood education,” said Deputy Mayor for Strategic Initiatives Ana J. Almanzar. “Today’s holistic, multi-million-dollar investment is part of an ongoing commitment from our city to make sure every student has the resources and tools to thrive. The old saying is true — it takes a village, or in our case, a city to raise a child. Together, New York City will raise our children to make sure they have everything they need to turn their dreams into a reality.”

“A strong educational foundation gives every child and young person the tools, resources, and supports they need to develop,” said Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom. “Today’s announcement maintains important early childhood education programs and investments from pre-K through high school, offers sustained support for youth mental health, and has a range of other investments to address specific needs of students. Additionally, many of these programs are part of proactive efforts and early interventions to provide support to children, young people, and families on their path to thrive.”

“No parent should be forced to choose between keeping their job or taking care of their children and today’s announcement reaffirms this administration’s commitment to ensuring New Yorkers have access to high-quality, affordable child care,” said Chief of Staff Camille Joseph Varlack. “Every child deserves a chance to be able to thrive regardless of their zip code and by investing in programs and services that support everyday New Yorkers, we are building a brighter, safer, and more livable city for generations to come.”

 “We are thrilled and deeply grateful for the monumental $500 million in permanent funding to support programming for our youngest learners, our students with disabilities, our multilingual learners, our non-traditional students, our student-athletes, and to support school safety efforts,” said DOE Chancellor David C. Banks. “This transformative investment is a significant step towards ensuring that New York City remains a viable, vibrant home for young families where our children get a bright start and a bold future.”

“Since its launch one year ago, MyCity has improved the lives of thousands of working-class families across New York City by providing them easier access to critical child care subsidies,” said New York City Chief Technology Officer Matthew Fraser. “This significant investment re-affirms the Adams administration’s commitment to democratizing technology to make the city a better place to live and raise a family for all New Yorkers.”

“Coping with the extinction of COVID stimulus funds and navigating the harsh reality of saving permanent programs seeded with temporary dollars is not easy. Today’s announcement of $514 million in funding by the Adams administration for educational programs is a positive step towards our collective goals,” said New York City Councilmember Justin Brannan, chair, Finance Committee. “From early childhood education and community schools to bilingual services and arts programming, prioritizing equitable access to education and replacing expiring federal stimulus funds are top priorities in the Council’s Preliminary Budget response. As we head into Executive Budget hearings next month, we look forward to negotiating in good faith with the administration to deliver a budget that delivers for all New Yorkers.”

“Today’s announcement of over $500 million in funding marks a crucial advancement in safeguarding our educational initiatives from the threat of expiring federal stimulus funds,” said New York City Councilmember Rita Joseph, chair, Education Committee. “Our commitment to preserving these programs, particularly for students in need of vital support services, remains steadfast. The Council’s advocacy for funding, articulated in our Preliminary Budget response, underscores the importance of sustaining initiatives imperiled by the pandemic’s impact on learning. We are resolute in our efforts to ensure continued access to early childhood education programs and enhance outreach to benefit working and middle-class families. This significant milestone reaffirms the need for continued collaboration with the administration and stakeholders to craft a budget that prioritizes essential services for all New Yorkers. Investing in the well-being and future of our city’s children and working families is paramount for a thriving, secure, and prosperous New York.”

Currently, New York City has tens of thousands of empty early childhood education seats that remain unfilled every day. The city’s $5 million outreach effort aims to maximize the number of children enrolled in child care, and by focusing on populations and neighborhoods with low enrollment rates, the administration will help ensure the promise that any child who needs an early childhood education seat can access one. Since taking office, the Adams administration has prioritized making accessible and affordable child care available to any parent who needs it, boosting the number of children enrolled in child care by nearly 36,000 — a 27 percent increase — and reduced the per child co-pay from an average of $55 per week to less than $5 per week.

By stabilizing the budget and fiscal outlook, the Adams administration has been able to invest city and state recurring dollars and protect 15 DOE programs that were supported under the last mayoral administration with expiring federal stimulus dollars. In the Executive Budget, the Adams administration will apply a combination of $514 million in city resources and recurring state funds, to backfill programs, including:

• Supporting the citywide 3-K expansion as it transitions from its original stimulus funding source ($92 million, FY25);
• Supporting nearly 500 social workers and psychologists who provide mental health supports in schools ($74 million, FY25+);
• Maintain funding for special education Pre-K providers to increase service hours, and resources for DOE-related services and evaluation teams ($56 million, FY25+);
• Funding for the 113 Community Schools that were supported with stimulus ($48 million, FY25+) and Program to Eliminate the Gap restoration that would have impacted 170 Community Schools ($8 million, FY25+);
• Pathways program that facilitates career pathways programs in high schools, offering apprenticeships, career-readiness, and access to college credits ($53 million, FY25+);
• Arts funding programming ($41 million, FY25);
• Funding for Learn to Work at transfer schools and Young Adult Borough Centers, which offer counselors and internships to at-risk adults and older youth at 66 sites ($31 million, FY25);
• The Public Schools Athletic League ($27 million, FY25+);
• Literacy and dyslexia programs and academic assessments for both English language arts, and math ($17 million, FY25+);
• Funding for coordinators for students in temporary housing in schools and shelters ($17 million, FY25+);
• Bilingual education funding for curriculum and assessment, teacher preparation and staffing, professional learning, and multilingual family and community engagement for 100 bilingual programs ($10 million, FY25+);
• Programming provided by community-based organizations through Project Pivot that provides enrichment, youth development, and violence interruption for roughly 250 schools ($15 million, FY25);
• Funding for six nonprofit affinity groups at nearly 170 schools that strive to prepare students for high school graduation, as well as for successful futures in a career or college ($10 million, FY25);
• Support for the New Visions Data Platform data portal that is used by hundreds of schools to track and show student achievement and attendance data ($9 million, FY25); and
• Translation and interpretation services for DOE students and families ($6 million FY25+).

The administration will also be expanding enrollment efforts with a $5 million investment to make sure that all New York City parents are aware of 3-K and Pre-K opportunities across the five boroughs so that the city can maximize the usage of these high-quality early childhood education programs that help children begin a lifelong journey of learning. These programs also help parents struggling with costly child care, and help working families achieve more earning power.

Under Mayor Adams’ leadership, the city has made significant investments and enacted policies to support working-class families and put money back into the pockets of New Yorkers by reducing the per child co-payment or out-of-pocket cost of subsidized child care for a family earning $55,000 a year from $55 a week in 2022 to just $4.80 a week today. The city has also reduced the co-payments all families pay for subsidized care, bringing the average co-payment per child to less than $220 per year, down from $1,500 annually in 2022. Additionally, the Adams administration successfully advocated to increase the income threshold for families to access subsidized care to the federal maximum, meaning over 230,000 more children may qualify for a child care subsidy.

The Adams administration has also boosted the number of children enrolled in child care, enrolling over 36,000 more children over the past two years, a 27 percent increase. Additionally, Mayor Adams released MyCity, a one-stop-shop portal where parents can easily apply for and track their applications for subsidized child care. In the first year since launching, 65 percent of all applications for child care subsidies were received online through MyCity.

Photo credit: NYC.gov.