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AGENCY TESTIMONY
Childcare voucher funding challenges
3:42:19
·
113 sec
Comptroller Lander addresses the significant funding challenges for childcare vouchers resulting from changes in the state budget and poor planning.
- The state budget has left a funding gap for childcare vouchers that the city must now address
- At least $275 million is needed for the program in FY 2026, growing to $625 million in future years
- Lander urges the mayor and speaker to negotiate with the state for additional funding
- He emphasizes the need for a vision of truly accessible, universal childcare
- Lander concludes by calling on the council to set aside critical reserves to protect essential services for vulnerable New Yorkers
Brad Lander
3:42:19
Poor planning and communication on part of both the administration and the state have led to families facing uncertainty.
3:42:27
The state appropriated an additional $350,000,000 for the program, but for state fiscal year 2026 only, and at the same time mandatorily increased the city's minimum contribution, resulting in funding needs of at least $275,000,000 for the program in FY '26, not reflected in the executive budget, and growing to 625,000,000 in future years unless additional funding is provided.
3:42:53
So I urge the mayor and the speaker to go back to the state.
3:42:58
I know they've closed their budget, but they closed their budget in a way that opened challenges for us, and we either need to find them in the city budget or get the state to help, because the answer cannot be to tell thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of families that they won't be able to keep having their childcare.
3:43:16
New York families need and deserve city leadership that's working toward a vision of truly accessible, universal childcare, not pointing fingers over the shortcomings of the existing system, although the mayor has failed to articulate a plan to overcome the funding gap.
3:43:32
This budget can and must take necessary steps to ensure that no families currently receiving subsidies lose them.
3:43:42
The executive budget prepared by the Adams administration for FY '26, as I've outlined, lacks even the most basic elements to guard against the risks we now face.
3:43:52
We urge the council, as you engage in your negotiations with them in the coming month, to set aside the critical reserves necessary to protect the essential services that are a lifeline for the most vulnerable in our city.
3:44:05
You have fought that battle many times in the past.
3:44:08
And I know you will work hard to do it over the next month.
3:44:12
Thank you.