Wednesday, October 7, 2026, 1 p.m. (New York City time), 250 Broadway - 8th Floor - Hearing Room 1
Committee: Subcommittee on Early Childhood Education
Chair Jennifer Gutiérrez led an oversight hearing on the first year of 2-K, the City's free child care program for two-year-olds, which opened on September 10 with just over 2,000 children in five school districts; no legislation was voted on. Emily List, executive director of the Mayor's Office of Child Care and Early Childhood Education, testified that the state committed $73 million for year one and $425 million to serve 12,000 children in fall 2027 (including Staten Island's District 31), that more than 5,700 families applied, and that 59% of offered families received their top choice; NYC Public Schools Deputy Chancellor Phillips said about 60% of seats are in home-based settings, acknowledged contracting and payment delays, and said the system is hiring roughly 228 positions. Members asked about the budget, provider rates, independent home-based providers outside networks, extended-day continuity into 3-K, workforce pay parity, special education supports and permitting delays, and officials committed to provide enrollment data, rates, vacancy figures and an advance briefing on next year's districts. Parents, advocates and providers supported 2-K but urged pay parity for community-based educators, on-time payments and contracts that reflect the true cost of care, inclusion of children with disabilities and independent family child care providers, and community outreach.
0:18 Thank you. Hello. Good
0:18 afternoon
0:23 , welcome to today's New York
0:23 City Council haron, but a
0:24 committee on early childhood
0:27 education at this time, please
0:29 silence cell phones if you
0:30 wish to speak in today's
0:32 hearing. Please fill out on a
0:33 parent's card with one of the
0:36 sergeants.
0:37 Moving forward no one is t
0:39 oapproach is chair, you begin.
0:42 Thank you. Good afternoon,
0:44 everyone. I'm Council Member
0:46 Jennifer Gutiérrez, chair of
0:46 the subcommittee on early
0:48 childhood education and
0:49 welcome to today's hearing on
0:51 two in New York City earlier
0:52 this year, governor kathy
0:54 hopeful and Mayor zoran
0:55 free childcare for two yea
0:59 rold in New York City through a
1:00 program cald tleo k within a
1:01 few short months, the mayor's
1:02 office of child care, along
1:03 with the department of
1:05 education started to make good
1:06 on that promise with 2000 o
1:09 four liberalised lerner's
1:10 having started to k just a few
1:13 weeks ago. This is an amazing
1:13 achievement as this program is
1:14 saving New York City families
1:15 enrolled in the program up to
1:19 $26000 per year per child in
1:20 child care costs when two k
1:22 applications open this spring
1:23 over 5700 families applied
1:27 that overwhelming demand tells
1:28 it clear and urgent truth New
1:30 yorkers need affordable child
1:31 care and they need it now.
1:33 Unfortunately, we can't
1:34 achieve a universal to k
1:35 program overnight and there
1:37 are longstanding standing
1:38 issues with our current early
1:40 childhood education system
1:40 that need addressing. For
1:43 starters, the inequities in
1:44 early childhood educator
1:45 salaries have persisted for
1:47 far too long since the very
1:48 first hearing of the
1:49 subcommittee and that every
1:50 hearing since I've heard from
1:52 early childhood education
1:53 providers about the pain
1:55 inequities between educators
1:56 and community based programs
1:57 compared to those in New York
2:00 City public schools or about
2:01 the right the challenges o
2:03 frising costs of operating
2:04 their business while salary
2:05 raises have to take a back
2:08 seat
2:09 . These inequities need to be
2:09 addressed as we look towards
2:11 creating a stable and
2:13 sustainable universal child
2:14 care system, early childhood
2:16 educators are the heart of the
2:18 early childhood education
2:20 system and deserve to receive
2:21 dignified wages for the
2:22 important work that they d
2:24 oearly childhood education
2:25 providers also need on time
2:27 reliable payments from the
2:27 City for a contracted work
2:29 payment delays are
2:31 unacceptable. Our payment
2:32 systems need to be transparent
2:33 , easy to navigate an
2:35 accessible providers shouldn't
2:36 have to take out a loan to
2:37 sustain their business month
2:40 to month. Finally, as we think
2:41 about expanding k. We must
2:43 also think about expanding
2:44 pathways for home based
2:46 providers to participate in
2:46 the program too many home
2:48 based providers are left out
2:49 of the current deal system as
2:51 only those associated with
2:52 family child care networks can
2:54 participate in providing we
2:57 contracted care as the
2:58 educionat system ages down the
2:59 City needs to be more
3:00 inclusive of home based
3:01 providers so today we we'd
3:03 like to look at what lessons
3:04 the administration has learned
3:05 so far from implementing to k
3:07 for this first school year and
3:09 how the administration is
3:10 planning to address
3:12 longstanding issues and the
3:13 early childhood education
3:14 system. I want to thank
3:15 members of the early childhood
3:17 education subcommittee who
3:18 joined. We've been joined by
3:19 council members, kayla's santa
3:22 . Also, I should have started
3:23 with council members of
3:24 compelled her. He was here
3:25 right before the council
3:27 members. I'm sorry,
3:29 councilmember Gale Brewer. Oh,
3:30 I'll make it up, I'll make it
3:31 up
3:32 . Council members Brewer and
3:34 education chair Council Member
3:35 inuits, I would also like t
3:36 othank the staff of the early
3:39 childhood education
3:39 subcommittee julia goldsmith,
3:41 pinkham, katie, selena, grace
3:42 amato tomato and lawless, and
3:46 margaret barnsley as well as
3:46 my own staff, franco polka and
3:49 helicopter alone and madeleine
3:50 , who just joined this week
3:52 and finally think you to
3:53 everyone who has signed up to
3:55 testify. We look forward to
3:56 hearing from you as much. Okay
4:01 . I would like to remind
4:02 everyone who wishes to testify
4:03 in person today that you must
4:04 fill out a witness slipped
4:07 what you can find on the desk
4:08 at the sergeant at arms near
4:09 the entrance of the room,
4:11 please fill out the sleep,
4:12 sleep even if you have already
4:14 registered in advance that you
4:15 will be testifying in person
4:16 today. If you wish to testify
4:18 on any of the legislation,
4:19 please indicate on the witness
4:20 slip whether you are here to
4:21 testify in favor of or in
4:24 opposition to the ledge. I
4:24 also want to point out that we
4:26 will not be voting on any
4:27 legislation today to allow as
4:28 many people as possible to
4:30 testify. Testimony will b
4:31 elimited to two minutes per
4:32 person, whether you are
4:33 justifying your or on I'm also
4:35 going to ask my colleagues to
4:37 keep their questions and
4:38 comments to five minutes
4:39 .please note that witnesses who
4:40 are here in person will
4:42 testify before those who are
4:43 signed into the zoom webinar
4:46 .I will now turn it over to sub
4:47 committee counsel t
4:47 oadminister the oath. Ah, good
4:53 morning and occurrence wit
4:54 hthe rules of the council
4:56 administer the affirmation to
4:57 the witnesses from the mayoral
4:59 administration. I'll call on
5:00 you each individually for
5:01 response. Please raise your
5:04 right hands. Do you affirm t
5:05 otell the truth, the whole
5:06 truth and nothing but the
5:06 truth before his committee and
5:08 respond honestly to counsel
5:10 member questions. Thank you
5:11 .you be good.
5:16 Good afternoon chair
5:17 ,Gutiérrez education shared
5:18 inuits, members of the
5:19 subcommittee on early
5:21 childhood education and other
5:22 council members. My name is
5:23 emily list and I'm the
5:24 executive director of the
5:25 mayor's office of child care
5:26 and early childhood education.
5:29 I'm joined today by m
5:30 ycolleagues from New York City
5:31 public schools. Thank you for
5:32 giving us the opportunity to
5:33 testify about the city's New
5:35 to k program, a critical
5:36 component of our vision for
5:37 universal child care. Mayor
5:40 mamdani ran for office on a
5:41 vision of universal child car
5:42 e, a City in which every child
5:43 under five has access to free
5:45 full day, high quality early
5:47 care and education in a range
5:49 of culturally competent
5:50 settings with caregivers and
5:51 educators who are trained
5:53 ,respected and fairly
5:56 compensated on just day eight
5:56 of this administration the
5:57 Mayor stood with the governor
5:58 as she committed over $1.
6:00 2Billion to New York City, so
6:01 put us on a path to universal
6:04 child care within that $1.2
6:06 billion commitment was the
6:07 funding to launch two k the
6:09 cities first universal early
6:10 care and education program for
6:13 two year olds, the governo
6:14 rcommitted $73 million for the
6:15 program for the first year
6:16 with a goal of serving at
6:17 least 2000 children this fall
6:19 and 425 million for the second
6:21 year with a goal of expanding
6:23 by 10000 seats to serve a
6:24 total of 12000 children in
6:25 fall 20 27. The Mayor and
6:29 governor have made the shared
6:30 commitment that we will reach
6:31 every two year old in New York
6:32 City that wants to participate
6:34 by the end of the mayor's
6:35 first term in the fall of 2
6:38 029. We are committed to
6:39 delivering to k two all New
6:40 yorkers because of the
6:40 tremendous benefit it will
6:42 bring to children, families,
6:43 educators in our City.
6:45 Children experience 90% of
6:46 brain development before h
6:48 five and a majority of it in
6:49 there first few years of life,
6:52 providing more children with
6:52 high quality early learning
6:54 opportunities will set them up
6:55 for a lifetime of academic and
6:56 social emotional success.
7:00 Parents currently spend an
7:00 average of $26000 for full
7:02 time child care for a two year
7:03 old many families pay even
7:05 more for parents. This can
7:07 make it impossible to stay at
7:07 a job they love and need t
7:09 oprovide for their family
7:10 because the math simply does
7:12 not work for many, this leads
7:14 to debt tough tradeoffs are
7:15 ultimately the decision t
7:16 oleave New York City free t
7:18 okay will make it easier for
7:19 families to stay and raise
7:19 their children here because
7:23 they will be offered in
7:24 partnership with community
7:25 based childcare care programs
7:26 and home based providers. Th
7:27 eprogram will bring resources
7:28 to the work our educators and
7:31 caregivers are already doing
7:32 .we have an opportunity if we
7:33 roll this program out in the
7:35 right way to support early
7:36 childhood programs and
7:37 educators as we do. Ultimatel
7:40 y, we believe two k will bring
7:41 significant economic return to
7:43 our City with more parents
7:43 able to join the workforce,
7:46 more families able to use
7:46 their hard earned resources in
7:48 our local economy and more
7:49 households with children able
7:50 to stay in the City. Despite
7:53 the good return on investment.
7:54 We are not doing this just for
7:55 economic reasons, but more so
7:56 because we believe that child
7:57 dis our first step toward
8:02 delivering on that vision, we
8:05 made the decision to expand t
8:06 ok geographically so that when
8:07 we bring to k to a New area we
8:09 can work to meet full demand
8:10 from the outset. This two
8:13 lines to our value that care
8:14 should be universal in
8:16 selecting where to place the
8:17 first 2000 seats for fall 2
8:18 026. We looked at a multitude
8:21 of factors including economic
8:22 need among families and areas
8:24 where lower income families
8:25 have less access to free or
8:26 subsidized care already. We
8:29 also considered licensed child
8:31 care provider capacity given
8:32 the short timeline for
8:34 implementation. We wanted to
8:35 ensure that whichever
8:36 neighborhoods we selected
8:37 would have the capacity to
8:38 serve in children. Lastly, we
8:41 considered geography to spread
8:42 k across as many boroughs as
8:46 possible the areas we selected
8:46 for two k for fall 20 26
8:49 included district schoo
8:49 ldistrict six in manhattan,
8:51 which includes washington
8:52 heights, hamilton heights in
8:54 inwood school district 10 in
8:55 the bronx, which includes
8:57 fordham, belmont, norwood,
8:58 north morris heights, van
8:59 cortland village in
9:01 kingsbridge districts 1823 I
9:02 nbrooklyn, which includes
9:03 kennard, remsen village,
9:05 brownsville and ocean hill and
9:07 district 27 in queens, which
9:08 includes ozone park, south
9:10 park, richmond hill, woodhaven
9:11 howard beach on the rockaways
9:15 . While we have not finalized
9:15 yet where to k will be offered
9:17 and fall 20 27. We have
9:18 committed that the 10000 seat
9:20 expansion will include school
9:21 district 31, which encompasses
9:23 all of staten island.
9:26 After the first fiv
9:27 edistricts were announced in
9:28 the team in New York City
9:29 public schools worked
9:30 tirelessly to bring early care
9:32 and education providers into
9:32 the two k program is offered
9:35 in community based child care
9:36 centers and licensed family
9:38 child care programs. There is
9:39 no. Two k in public school
9:41 buildings. The two k sites are
9:43 inclusive of providers who
9:44 already contracted with the
9:45 City to offer three can pre k
9:47 services as well as New
9:49 providers who applied to a
9:50 request for information and
9:51 were awarded New contracts t
9:52 ooffer to kay, the default
9:55 model for two k is full day
9:57 full year recognizing that
9:59 working families need ful
9:59 ltime childcare that maps to
10:02 their schedules. We also
10:02 recognize that not all
10:03 families have the same
10:04 schedules or care needs and so
10:05 there are some two k programs
10:07 that operate on a school day
10:08 in your calendar. Families
10:12 were able to apply for the
10:13 first 2002 k seats and we
10:14 mounted in all of government
10:16 effort to ensure that families
10:18 knew about how to apply and
10:19 have the support to do so if
10:22 needed. The City and community
10:23 partners were on the ground in
10:25 communities providing
10:26 application assistance t
10:27 ofamilies we advertised in
10:28 local and ethnic media
10:29 leverage social and New media
10:30 posted ads in multiple
10:32 languages on Lincoln terminals
10:33 and in high traffic small
10:35 businesses we hosted a two k
10:37 jingle contests with celebrity
10:39 judges party and Linda manuel
10:40 miranda to bring attention t
10:42 othe program and we ran a to k
10:43 for two k race in inwood.
10:44 We are grateful to the many
10:46 council members who partnered
10:47 with us on events and helped
10:48 spread the word to their
10:51 communities.
10:52 In total, we received more
10:53 than 5700 applications for the
10:55 first 2002 k seats this
10:57 overwhelming demands
10:58 demonstrates why we need t
10:59 omove with urgency to continue
11:00 expanding access to care. In
11:03 we made just over 2002 k
11:04 offers too. Families who had
11:07 applied the majority of
11:08 families who received a two k
11:09 offer were given an offer to
11:10 one of their top choices 99%
11:13 of families received an offer
11:14 to a program choicehat t they
11:15 had listed on their
11:16 application and among
11:17 applicants who received offers
11:19 82% received an offer to their
11:20 one of their top three choices
11:22 and 59% received an offer to
11:24 their top choice families who
11:27 did not receive an offer were
11:28 automatically placed on wait
11:29 lists for any programs they
11:30 applied to and we're also
11:32 encouraged to explore other
11:33 program options and add
11:34 themselves to those weightless
11:35 as well since we have also
11:37 seen hundreds of additional
11:38 families who did not
11:39 originally applied to k add
11:41 themselves to program wait
11:44 lists.
11:45 On September 10, the whole
11:45 City was washing as our first