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Lawmakers push large new investments for childcare workforce and to preserve slots
Summary
Senate and Assembly members urged inclusion of significant new childcare workforce funding and slot preservation in the enacted state budget, warning of potential slot losses in New York City and other counties if needs are not met.
Senator Jabari Brisport, chair of the Senate Committee on Children and Families, and Assemblymember Andrew Hevesy, co-chair of the Human Services and Labor Subcommittee, urged the Legislature to include major new funding for the childcare workforce and to preserve childcare slots in the final enacted budget.
Brisport highlighted the Senate’s one-house proposal for $500,000,000 for the childcare workforce and the Assembly’s $212,500,000 proposal to preserve childcare slots, saying those additions improve on the governor’s executive proposal. “We’ve been hearing for a while the crisis in childcare with multiple workers not being able to stay in the field because of the poverty wages,” Brisport said. He warned New York City and additional counties are sounding the alarm about potential cuts to childcare slots if budgets do not meet local needs.
Assemblymember Hevesy emphasized that the primary need is workforce support. He thanked his Senate colleagues for proposing $500,000,000 for the childcare workforce and said the funding would be the first significant workforce investment since the pandemic. He noted New York City’s gap estimates have shifted rapidly, mentioning a recent figure of roughly $900,000,000 as of this week and that it had been reported as $2,000,000,000 the previous week.
Both lawmakers and other speakers framed the workforce shortage as a driver of potential slot loss and urged that workforce pay and supports be addressed so providers can retain staff. The Assembly and Senate one‑house proposals also contain measures removing a minimum‑wage barrier to access childcare subsidies, a change Assemblymember Jessica Ramos listed among broader affordability actions.
No formal votes were held during the subcommittee meeting; members called for the budget conferees to adopt childcare workforce and slot preservation dollars during final negotiations.
Looking ahead, chairs said they will press for the workforce funding and slot preservation in negotiations with the Assembly and the governor so that child care providers statewide, and particularly in New York City, do not reduce available slots.
