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In a reversal, Mayor Adams agrees to fund NYC's 3-K program over the long term
By
Jessica Gould
Published Apr 16, 2025
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Jessica Gould
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Jessica Gould
Published Apr 16, 2025
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Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday pledged to increase and extend New York City's investment in free preschool, after tussling with parents over funding for early-childhood education for his first years in office.
Adams announced a proposal to include $167 million for seats for 3-year-olds and students with disabilities in the city’s next fiscal budget, which is due at the end of June. Flanked by former Mayor Bill de Blasio, who dramatically expanded the popular 3-K program over a decade ago, Adams said the funding would be “baselined” for the first time, meaning it will be part of the city budget going forward rather than expiring at the end of the year.
“Our investment in early childhood education not only takes the bold steps to ensure our young students have the tools they need to succeed but also ensures that parents don’t have to make the difficult choice between losing income and childcare,” Adams said.
The $167 million investment includes $112 million for free pre-K for 3-year-olds and $55 million for preschool special education seats. Adams said he would also seek to protect and expand federally funded Head Start seats, which are under threat from the Trump administration.
The fight over 3-K funding has become an annual rite of budget negotiations during the Adams administration. The mayor's concession comes during a mayoral election year where cost of living and child care have emerged as central issues.
And while multiple members of the City Council called the move “positive,” they said the funding still falls far short of meeting families’ needs.
In a joint statement, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Councilmembers Rita Joseph and Justin Brannan argued the mayor should allocate significantly more for critical child care programs, including more funding to extend hours for day care seats that serve working families as well as vouchers and services for young children with disabilities.
Advocates said hundreds of preschool children with disabilities remain on a waitlist for child care and thousands aren’t getting legally mandated services like evaluations, occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech training.
The city’s handling of the issue has become a political albatross for Adams, as families have lobbied hard for free child care in an unaffordable city. Adams has promised that every child who wants a seat in the free preschool program will get one, but year after year parents find themselves waitlisted and say the seats they’re eventually offered are too far from home.
“New York families will continue to hold the mayor’s feet to the fire,” said Rebecca Bailin, executive director of the advocacy group New Yorkers United for Child Care. “Maintaining the status quo isn’t enough. Mayor Adams must listen to the voices of New Yorkers who are being priced out of the city by child care costs and commit to a path towards the universal access to child care that New Yorkers need.”
Adams has long criticized the way de Blasio rolled out 3-K when he was in office. The former mayor relied on federal stimulus dollars during the pandemic to expand the program, leaving it up to his successor to plug the hole when that funding expired. Adams has also accused de Blasio officials of mismanaging the program by failing to match supply with demand, leading to a glut of vacant seats in some neighborhoods and too few seats in others.
But on Wednesday, the pair publicly buried the hatchet and congratulated each other for their efforts to support kids.
Adams complimented de Blasio for being a “visionary” by expanding the city’s pre-K program, while de Blasio acknowledged his implementation may have been “less than optimal" in certain instances.
“ I'm not sweating the past,” de Blasio said. “What I care about here is this moment where this mayor had a choice and he chose to baseline, and it's an uncertain time.”
That uncertainty includes threats by the Trump administration to cut off all federal education funding for states and cities that don’t ban diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in schools, as well as the potential elimination of Head Start, a decades-old federal program that provides free preschool and childcare to low-income families. The federal government has already made cuts to regional Head Start offices.
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new york city
education
Politics
Jessica Gould
Jessica is the education reporter for WNYC and Gothamist. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Jessica reported on the shutdown and reopening of the nation’s largest school system, highlighting the unprecedented impacts on learning, health and mental health for students, staff and families. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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