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If you’ve ever written a rent check and paid a daycare bill in the same month, you already know: something’s gotta give. Now, you might be in luck. City and state leaders are floating a plan that could finally take a major expense off of parents’ plates, starting with free child care for 2-year-olds.
Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani are planning to unveil the proposal this week, the New York Times has reported, kicking off what they’re calling the next phase of New York’s slow march toward universal child care. Here’s what that actually means for families:
What’s being proposed?
The proposal's headline is a new “2-Care” program that would make child care free for New York City kids starting at age 2. Right now, there’s a missing link between the city’s existing 3-K and pre-K programs, leaving parents scrambling (and paying) during one of the most expensive years of early childhood.
Hochul has committed to funding the first two years of the program, with the city rolling it out first in high-need neighborhoods before expanding citywide over several years.
How fast would this happen?
It won’t happen overnight, but it will be faster than most big NYC promises. Year one would focus on neighborhoods with the greatest child care shortages and financial need. By year four, the program aims to be available across all five boroughs.
Hochul says she’ll also push to make universal pre-K truly universal statewide by the 2028-29 school year, so the city plan would be part of a much bigger child care overhaul.
Why now?
Child care has quietly become one of the biggest reasons families leave New York. City officials estimate that nearly 375,000 parents in New York cut back work or left jobs during the pandemic because they couldn’t find or afford child care. For many families, the math when it comes to basic expenses like rent and child care is brutal.
Mamdani ran on making child care free for kids under 5 and Hochul, with a reelection bid in mind, has framed affordability as her top issue.
How does this fit with what already exists?
New York City already has free 3-K and pre-K, plus a newer Birth-to-2 Child Care Initiative that created a limited number of free seats for infants and toddlers in high-need areas. The new proposal would scale that idea up significantly, transforming the existing patchwork of pilot programs into an actual system.
Sounds great, but who’s paying?
Universal child care is expensive; experts estimate billions per year once fully built out. For now, the plan focuses on phased expansion and early funding commitments, with the bigger price tag to be hammered out in upcoming budget negotiations.
Still, for parents staring down another year of daycare invoices, the idea of “free at 2” already feels like a small miracle in the making.