Albany Unites on Universal Child Care, Splits Over Education Funding

The legislature wants to revisit some of those recommendations this year. In their budget proposals released Monday night, the state Senate and Assembly both proposed amending the formula to increase allocations for students experiencing homelessness, those in foster care, and English language learners, while also ensuring that all school districts receive at least a 2 percent funding boost.

Hochul’s executive budget had left the formula unchanged. The governor proposed $27.1 billion in Foundation Aid, with a 1 percent minimum increase for school districts. The Senate proposal would add $285.3 million to that figure, and the Assembly’s would add $630.6 million. Legislators accepted the governor’s $4 million Back to Basics math initiative and proposed a host of additional school programs.

The Assembly wants to invest $600 million in helping schools comply with New York City’s class size mandate, which requires them to limit classes to between 20 and 25 students by September 2028. In November, Chalkbeat found that 60 percent of city classrooms were in compliance with the law, while over 10,000 exemptions had been approved for space, staff, or budget constraints.

The Senate proposal allocated $159.2 million to make New York City eligible for charter school transitional aid, established in 2007 to partially reimburse districts for the financial impact caused by shifting enrollment to charter schools. The city was the only part of the state to be excluded from the program, due to then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s support for charter school growth, and has since missed out on billions of dollars.

Neither the Senate, nor the Assembly accepted the governor’s proposal to extend mayoral control of New York City schools. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani had pledged to end mayoral control on the campaign trail in response to concerns about transparency and lack of parent input, but in December, he reversed course and asked the state to extend the governance model, which is set to expire in June.

Child care proved to be a less divisive part of the budget.

In January, Hochul unveiled a $2.7 billion plan to set New York on a path toward achieving universal child care for all families. The plan includes boosting funding for child care vouchers, fully funding the first two years of free child care for 2-year-olds and shoring up funding for 3-K in New York City, piloting affordable daycare programs for children under 3 in three counties, and requiring school districts to offer universal pre-K to all interested 4-year-olds.

Legislators included all of Hochul’s main proposals, and offered some modifications to the governor’s universal pre-K plan. The Assembly, for instance, wants to increase the state’s per-pupil funding for 3-year-olds to $10,000; Hochul’s plan included that increase only for 4-year-olds. And a Senate proposed allowing school districts to receive transportation aid for pre-K.

Both one-house budgets would boost funding for child care subsidies and programs. The Senate budget added $34 million to the governor’s pilot programs for children under 3 in cities under 1 million people. The Assembly budgeted $18.7 million to eliminate the minimum wage eligibility requirements to qualify for the state’s Child Care Assistance Program.