Taxpayers will shell out greater than $36,000 per tot for Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s free 2-Ok pilot program – roughly $13,000 greater than the common price of personal little one care, metropolis officers acknowledged Tuesday.
Gov. Kathy Hochul allotted $73 million in state funding for the two,000-seat pilot launching within the fall — or about $36,500 per tot — because the pair transfer towards fulfilling Mamdani’s promise of common little one take care of all metropolis children from 6 weeks to five years outdated.
The 2 Democrats joined forces in Harlem Tuesday to announce the 5 faculty districts, largely decrease earnings and various neighborhoods, that may get the primary shot at signing their little ones up for the freebie, beforehand dubbed “2-Care.”
“We’ve accomplished such a superb job managing our price range that we’re capable of present this new program in an enhanced method to have 2-year-old care within the metropolis of New York, along with all the opposite investments we made all through the state with present revenues,” Hochul stated, standing subsequent to Mamdani on the Sugar Hill Youngsters’s Museum of Artwork & Storytelling.
The state will solely foot the invoice that may balloon to $425 million by 2027 when 12,000 2-Ok seats grow to be out there throughout town — with Hochul saying that funding will come from present tax revenues.
A transparent funding plan has not been laid out for future years, however Hochul, who faces re-election in November, stated the initiative can be an ongoing precedence for her so long as she’s in workplace.
This system’s price ticket is significantly increased than what households fork over on common annually to ship their 18 month-to-2 yr olds to little one care facilities throughout the 5 boroughs, based on a metropolis comptroller’s workplace report citing 2024 figures.
Households pay about $23,400 for market-rate day care facilities, the report launched final yr states.
Total, center-based take care of infants and toddlers price households a mean of $26,000 per yr, a 43% improve from 2019, the 2025 metropolis comptroller report stated.
A Metropolis Corridor rep stated that the quantity that households pay for care didn’t essentially equate what it prices to manage this system, however provided up no particulars about why the one run by town would apparently be 55% costlier per little one. The spokesperson additionally couldn’t present a breakdown of how the $73 million can be spent.
Mamdani and Hochul unveiled the brand new initiative for metropolis 2-year-olds — together with a buildup of current free pre-Ok and 3-Ok applications — inside days of the Democratic socialist mayor beginning his four-year time period after his common little one care pitch helped gasoline his astronomical political ascension.
In all, the enlargement in early childhood applications will in the end present take care of 100,000 extra children throughout the Empire State, officers have stated. There are about 80,000 youngsters aged 2 within the Large Apple presently, based on metropolis well being division knowledge and the comptroller’s workplace
Mamdani lauded Hochul on Tuesday for fronting up the funds for the brand new handout at the same time as he pleads with state lawmakers to boost taxes on millionaires to assist plug a $5.4 billion hole within the metropolis price range.
“We now have lengthy identified that little one care is a precedence for the governor,” Mamdani stated.
“It’s a precedence for fogeys right here in our metropolis, and now it’s a precedence in what we’re delivering.”
Mother and father who reside within the chosen 5 districts — representing every borough save for Staten Island — could have entry to the first-of-its-kind program no matter earnings or immigration standing, Mamdani stated.
These areas embody:
- College District 6: Washington Heights, Inwood, Hamilton Heights and elements of Manhattanville in Manhattan.
- College District 10: Fordham, Belmont, Norwood, Marble Hill, Morris Heights, Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil, Van Cortlandt Village, Kingsbridge, and elements of Kingsbridge Heights, Bedford Park, Mount Hope, Claremont- Bathgate and East Tremont in The Bronx.
- College Districts 18 and 23: Canarsie, Rugby-Remsen Village, Brownsville, Ocean Hill and elements of East Flatbush- Farragut and Prospect Lefferts Backyard-Wingate in Brooklyn.
- College District 27: Ozone Park, South Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Woodhaven, Howard Seaside, Rockaways and elements Lindenwood and Springfield Gardens North in Queens.
The applying course of is anticipated to open over the summer time.
Emmy Liss, the chief director of the Mayor’s Workplace of Youngster Care, stated at a Metropolis Council listening to Monday that officers have been partnering with present little one care suppliers to assist construct this system up.
“We can be working with them this fall to ensure they’re able to function,” she stated.
