Wednesday, April 15, 2026, 1 p.m. (New York City time), 250 Broadway - 8th Floor - Hearing Room 1
Committee: Subcommittee on Early Childhood Education
0:53 Your seats. Good morning
0:53 .welcome to New York City
0:55 council hearing for the
0:55 comedian early early childhood
0:56 k joined with the committee on
0:58 workforce development and the
0:59 committee on high education at
1:00 this time. Please sign all
1:01 cell phones, electronic
1:02 devices to minimize
1:05 interruption. Moving forward
1:06 .no one is to approach today is
1:07 chairs. We are ready to.
1:09 Begin. Thank you. Thank you
1:11 all for your patience. Good
1:13 afternoon. I'm Council Member
1:14 Jennifer Gutiérrez, chair of
1:15 the New York city's
1:16 subcommittee on early
1:17 childhood education. Welcome
1:19 to our hearing centering on
1:20 the early childhood educator
1:22 workforce development and
1:23 pipeline. I'm excited to be
1:24 joined by the chair of the
1:25 committee on higher education
1:26 Council Member reader Joseph
1:29 and the chair of the committee
1:30 on to work development council
1:31 member Julie one we've taken
1:32 some big steps towards
1:34 universal child care since our
1:35 last hearing, and this is
1:36 exactly the type of progress.
1:37 We've all been pushing for
1:39 ,but we can't stop here today's
1:40 hearing will examine a
1:42 significant problem in our
1:43 early childhood education
1:44 system, a growing shortage of
1:45 the educators that sustain it
1:48 as the City moves towards
1:48 implementing a universal child
1:50 care system, the workforce
1:51 will need to double in size in
1:54 order to accommodate projected
1:55 future enrollment a recent
1:56 analysis found that based on
1:57 average turnover rates in
1:59 earlyhild chood education
2:00 class, the City needs at least
2:02 5000 New educators every year,
2:05 childcare programs continue t
2:06 ohave some of the highest rates
2:08 of turnover with a survey of
2:09 New York City childcare
2:10 programs, finding that 52% of
2:12 centers report New, leaving
2:15 within five years with a
2:16 sizable percentage of our
2:18 teachers having over 20 years
2:20 of experience and nearing
2:21 retirement while our New
2:22 teachers are simultaneously
2:24 exiting the field we're about
2:25 to be on the brink of a stark
2:29 staffing shortage independent
2:29 of the expansion. If this City
2:30 is going to achieve a
2:32 universal child care system it
2:32 has to start with the pipeline
2:34 of teachers that will support
2:35 it to do so, the subcommittee
2:37 today will also hear pre
2:39 considered intro 2606,
2:41 sponsored by myself in
2:43 relation to establishing a
2:44 child care workforce, grant
2:46 and services program. And
2:46 while this hearing will not
2:48 acutely focused on the issue
2:50 of pay, parody and improved
2:53 benefits educators for
2:54 educators educational
2:54 assistance and staff with or
2:57 without union affiliations. We
2:58 . Do expect the admin to
2:58 answer some of those questions
3:01 today and we'll get an entire
3:02 hearing in the future to it.
3:05 Today we will focus on how t
3:05 equally as important to make
3:09 sure it is a sustainable one.
3:11 I looked to the success of the
3:12 New York teaching fellows
3:13 program of how we've been able
3:14 to increase our teaching
3:16 workforce and provide them
3:17 with unparalleled educational
3:19 support and remain committed
3:20 to providing the same support
3:23 to our hour
3:23 . Workforce will now pass it
3:24 to chair Joseph for her
3:28 opening statement
3:29 . Thank you, cec Gutiérrez as
3:30 a longtime public school
3:31 educator. The topic of
3:33 developing and recruiting
3:34 qualified teachers to wor
3:35 kwith our youngest children I
3:36 simportant to me as a chair of
3:39 the committee on highe
3:40 reducation. I want to know more
3:42 about how cooney place such a
3:44 significant role and ensuring
3:46 that our youngest New yorkers
3:47 get a good start on the
3:50 education path. I also want t
3:51 oensure that any New yorkers
3:52 who have interests in or
3:54 experience, but early
3:55 childhood education as a
3:56 career path are able to get
3:58 the credentials they need t
4:00 oenter or to advance that
4:03 workforce. I'm happy to say
4:04 that cuny is playing a very
4:05 active part in preparing these
4:08 workers.
4:08 Currently approximately 360
4:11 0working towards a degree and
4:12 early childhood education a
4:15 great variety of certificates,
4:17 advanced certificates
4:18 associate's degrees bachelor's
4:20 degrees, masters and other
4:21 credentials in early childhood
4:26 education, including with
4:26 bilingual and special
4:27 education. Focuses are offered
4:30 at various cuny community
4:31 college and senior college
4:33 colleges. In addition, the New
4:35 York the New York early
4:38 childhood professional
4:39 development institution, which
4:40 is a public private
4:41 partnership at cuny works t
4:44 oprovide comprehensive support
4:46 for early childhood
4:46 professionals at every stage
4:47 of their current korea journey
4:51 . As cuny chancellor phyllis
4:51 the felix.
4:53 Mottoes rodriguez recently
4:55 noticed, noted, this is a
4:56 moment where we need to meet
4:58 the demand for their workforce
5:00 . I look forward to this
5:01 discussion. I would like to
5:02 thank my staff and the staff
5:04 committee on higher education.
5:05 Giovanni piquant my chief of
5:06 staff julia goldman pickman
5:10 ,the committee's senior
5:10 legislative council region and
5:11 paul, the committee senior
5:13 legislative policy analysis
5:14 and allie. So for the
5:17 committee's financial analysi
5:18 s. Thank you, chair, Gutiérrez
5:21 . Thank you, chair, Joseph I
5:22 old non pass it to chair one
5:24 for her opening statement.
5:25 Thank you so much hair, goatee
5:26 and Joseph for your
5:28 partnership on this important
5:30 hearing three moms.
5:31 Here sharing this hearing,
5:32 so thank you so much for being
5:35 here and my name is really one
5:36 and I have the privilege of
5:37 sharing today's council and
5:38 committee of workforce
5:40 development in partnership
5:41 with early childhood education
5:42 and higher education and
5:45 today's hearing. We're looking
5:46 to understand chraonically
5:47 understaffed and underpaid
5:48 profession. We're we're here
5:48 to discuss what the city's
5:49 workforce development and is
5:50 doing about it because every
5:52 single one of us are living in
5:53 every single day. If my
5:56 aftercare, my child care
5:57 cannot provide the right
5:58 amount of teachers or student
6:00 ratio. It's going to be a very
6:01 hard day at work for me early.
6:04 Tallet educators are a
6:05 cornerstone of New York cit
6:06 yand without them, families
6:07 cannot continue to justify
6:08 raising their children in the
6:09 City we cannot have a
6:11 conversation about the future
6:12 of New York without talking
6:12 about the future of early
6:14 childhood educators
6:15 livelihoods before us today we
6:16 have New York city's.
6:20 Talent, the city's central
6:21 body for aligning agencies
6:22 with educational institutions
6:23 and provide private partners
6:24 around workforce priorities
6:25 and this committee wants t
6:26 ounderstand whether New York
6:27 City talent is treating this
6:29 crisis with the urgency it
6:30 deserves as well as the
6:31 celebrations that we've been
6:32 having a lot of victory laps.
6:35 There are over 36000 early
6:36 childhood educators in New
6:38 York City right now and the
6:38 City needs at least 5000 New
6:40 ones every single year just t
6:43 okeep pace, the weightless for
6:44 preschool special education
6:47 teachers is over 3400 students
6:49 , hundreds of classrooms are
6:51 currently empty because
6:52 there's no one to staff them
6:53 and over 40% of the current
6:55 workforce is nearing
6:59 retirement age. A recent
6:59 survey of the city's child
7:00 care found that over 50% of
7:02 center's reported their New
7:04 teachers leave within five
7:05 years. So even when we do
7:07 bring people in we struggle t
7:11 okeep them.
7:11 Why did they leave. What can
7:12 we report details that it is
7:14 because of abysmal wages
7:15 despite high educational
7:17 financial barriers to entry.
7:20 This includes $525 certificate
7:21 application with $250 renewal
7:25 for childhood development
7:25 associate or $160 exams a
7:28 hundred $4 or 50c for
7:30 fingerprinting and $600 for a
7:33 New york's New York state
7:33 teaching certification. This
7:34 does not include the cost to
7:36 go to college or training for
7:39 these positions so that means
7:39 that you're paying anywhere
7:40 from 75 200 k just for
7:42 undergrad. Then you're paying
7:44 an additional hundred k or
7:45 more for your higher education
7:47 for your master's degree and
7:47 then on top of that you're
7:48 throwing up about over a
7:50 thousand another thousan
7:51 ddollars for all these
7:52 certificates on the
7:56 fingerprinting yet despite all
7:57 those costs that's already
7:57 what over $200000 a debt that
7:59 you be in if you can't afford
8:00 to pay all that in cash. All
8:02 of that just for a median wage
8:05 of $69000 a year, which is
8:07 less than the 20 25 median
8:09 salary in New York City,
8:10 according to the state
8:10 department of labor
8:14 . It's not lost on me that
8:14 this policy is deeply gendered
8:16 most people who occupy these
8:17 roles are women, particularly
8:18 immigrant women and women of
8:20 color who take on this work
8:21 with pride and joy for our
8:25 future generations
8:25 . We're not just talking about
8:27 wages here as any parent with
8:28 a taller here knows kids will
8:30 always get sick and they also
8:31 expose our workers to
8:34 illnesses daily as I eat m
8:35 yhalls as I live with two
8:38 . Toddlers. It is important
8:39 for us to provide them with
8:41 adequate and fair access to
8:43 health care coverage to boost
8:43 our retention rates for our
8:43 teachers. We need to find a
8:48 way to connect these dots
8:49 before the spiral goes into
8:51 full blown crisis to give
8:52 credit words do New York City
8:53 talent has made some
8:54 investments by contributing t
8:56 ocuny early childhood education
8:58 apprenticeship program, but
8:59 last however, in New York City
9:00 talent release its workforce,
9:01 innovation and opportunity act
9:04 , also known as w ay oh ay
9:05 local plan for 20 25 2 20 29
9:09 and did not identify early
9:09 childhood education as a
9:13 priority sector. This
9:13 committee wants to understand
9:14 why that was and what New York
9:15 City talent plans to do about
9:19 it. We want to understand how
9:20 New York City talent
9:20 coordinates with you, the
9:22 department of education and
9:23 the office of trump and early
9:25 childhood education to build a
9:27 real pipeline into this field
9:28 and whether this
9:29 administration is prepared t
9:31 omake early childhood education
9:33 a genuine workforce
9:34 development priority through
9:35 budgetary commitments and
9:36 meaningful investments in the
9:37 sector as we come to we come
9:39 .we're nearing the end of
9:41 fiscal year 26 and finalizing
9:43 the negotiations for fiscal
9:45 year 27. I look forward to
9:47 hearing from the
9:48 administration on all of our
9:49 witnesses today and to a
9:51 productive discussion about
9:51 how the council can support
9:54 this work.
9:55 Because we know that the
9:55 governor and the Mayor has
9:56 been making a lot of
9:59 celebrations for the beginning
10:00 of two care to care for 200
10:02 0students as well as three k
10:04 fully funding and pre k. We
10:06 to camp three k because inre
10:12 districts like mine and in
10:14 neighboring districts. We're
10:15 still struggling to get kids a
10:15 seat of the table or at the
10:18 school before we begin. I want
10:20 to thank my committee staff
10:21 senior counsel outs pollen off
10:23 senior policy analyst william
10:24 hauge, knack deputy chief of
10:25 staff now live in my district
10:27 manager theresa tone my
10:28 financial analyst spencer kun
10:31 for their work and preparing
10:33 for today's hearing, I'll now
10:33 turn it back to two charge.
10:37 Joseph. Oh, just kidding. Sure
10:38 . What he did her opening
10:38 remarks. I'm going to turn it
10:39 back to the they were good
10:41 remarks we should hear it
10:42 again, but we but we won't,
10:43 but we want what we want. We
10:45 started it. Thank you bot
10:46 htoday we'll hear from the
10:47 mayor's office of child care.
10:49 The, uh, cuny, the City
10:50 university of New York, the
10:52 office of talent and workforce
10:53 development, the department of
10:55 education as well as other
10:56 early childhood educators
10:56 ,providers and stakeholders.
11:00 Additionally, I'd like t
11:00 oremind everyone that this
11:01 subcommittee has launched a
11:02 form for providers you can
11:04 check board on my website and
11:06 on socials. I want to thank
11:07 the members of the early
11:08 childhood education
11:09 subcommittee who have joined
11:10 us today, Council Member
11:12 Joseph Council Member Kevin
11:13 Riley, who is with us council.
11:17 Felder. Um, I think those are
11:17 the folks on the committee and
11:18 I'd also like to acknowledge
11:21 the problem on, um, obscene
11:25 areola, lewis Maloney
11:28 . You know, it's, of course,
11:29 education shared dinner with
11:30 who had to step out for a
11:31 second and is anyone on.
11:33 Two. Oh, and council membe
11:34 rfelt, I guess he's on my
11:37 committee. Thank you. One more
11:40 . Council members, some co
11:40 felda. Additionally, thank you
11:43 to the staff are set of staff
11:44 for the subcommittee, julia
11:46 goldsmith, pinkham, katie
11:47 selena great tomato angeline
11:49 lawless and margaret bronze,
11:51 barnsley as well as my own
11:51 staff on your lair, Frank luc
11:54 a, I'll allow further work on
11:54 today's hearing and finally
11:55 thank you to everyone who
11:56 assigned him to testify and
11:58 for being here instead of an
11:59 outside in a beautiful day. We
12:02 look forward to hearing from
12:03 all of you. I want to remind
12:04 everyone who wishes to testify
12:05 in person today that you must
12:06 fill out a witness slip, which
12:07 you can find on the desk of
12:08 the sergeant at arms near the
12:10 entrance of this room, please
12:11 fill out the slip, even if you
12:13 have already registered
12:13 advance that you will be
12:14 testifying in person, if you
12:16 wish wish to testify on any of
12:18 the legislation, please
12:18 indicate on the witness slip
12:19 whether you are here t
12:20 otestify in favor or in
12:23 sition. I also want to
12:24 point out that we will not be
12:25 voting on any legislation
12:25 today to allow as many people
12:27 as possible to testify. We are
12:28 limiting it to two minutes per