The City Council is yet again swinging back at Mayor Eric Adams’ for his early childhood education cuts, calling on Hizzoner to restore funding and maintain investments for vital child-care services.
The council outlined key education priorities in its preliminary budget response released in April, but many remained completely or partially unfunded in the mayor’s FY25 executive budget, including most notably the restoration of $170 million for 3-K and pre-K seats.
However, the mayor did restore some funding — $500 million — in April for education programs including mental health care, career readiness and literacy programs.
The future of pre-K and 3-K, however, remains unclear.
Much of the ongoing contention about early childhood education between the mayor and council resulted after an independent budget analysis showed slashes in millions of dollars in funding for pre-K and 3-K since 2022 when Adams took office.
Council Member Rita Joseph (D-Brooklyn), chair of the council’s committee on education, highlighted the importance of supporting not only child care but other critical education programs, especially with federal financial aid now gone.
“With the loss of billions in federal funds, it is imperative the city invests in maintaining funding for early childhood education, preschool special education, community schools, school food programs, restorative justice initiatives, and beyond in the adopted budget,” she said.
Unanswered questions about 3-K
The City Council is demanding not only restorative funding, but also investments to ensure the quality and future of child care, especially 3-K programs.
During a press conference last month, Adams said 3-K would only be funded for a year with no baseline dollars. In response, the council is now calling for a commitment of $60 million to expand full-day and full-year seats to meet families’ needs, and $10 million in new funding for 3-K marketing and outreach.
But the mayor has already included $3.5 million of that funding in his executive budget. He also restored $5 million for pre-K and 3-K enrollment.
The council is also calling for $96 million to replace expiring federal stimulus funds for preschool special education, though $81 million has already been included in the mayor’s budget.
“New York City students are recovering from historic, pandemic-era learning loss that requires additional support through critical education programs,” City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Queens) said. “The council has consistently called for funding commitments to these vital initiatives that were at risk due to expiring federal stimulus funds. While the administration’s commitment of more than $500 million to replace some of the expiring federal funds was a step forward, there is more work to be done to restore tens of millions of dollars for education programs that students and families need.”
During his press conference last month, Mayor Adams explained why initial cuts were necessary.
“We hit a fiscal cliff. There were a series of programs and initiatives that were permanent in nature with temporary dollars…We looked at this fiscal crisis and we managed it in the appropriate way with our partners in the City Council,” he said.
