How much will it cost? Does it even matter?
Mayor Zohran Mamdani expressed indifference on Tuesday towards a startling report, revealing that his proposed free childcare initiative might cost taxpayers billions more than originally planned. Despite the financial concerns, Mamdani joined Governor Kathy Hochul in highlighting the widespread enthusiasm surrounding their 2-K pilot program.
During a recent announcement, Mamdani and Hochul proudly shared that they had offered spots to fill 2,000 seats in their pioneering free preschool initiative for 2-year-olds. An impressive number, over 7,500 families, applied to this unique program, set to debut this fall in select areas.
The announcement ceremony at BedRock Preschool in The Bronx followed just one day after a study by the nonpartisan Center for New York City Affairs highlighted the substantial financial implications of expanding universal childcare. The plan, which aims to include all city children from ages 6 weeks to five years, could reach an annual cost of $9 billion, a significant increase from Mamdani’s initial projections.
According to the study, the discrepancy arises from the need to invest in additional infrastructure, including 10,000 more childcare seats and the employment of approximately 23,000 new workers. These requirements highlight the considerable gap between Mamdani’s original $6 billion estimate and the current financial outlook.
Neither Mamdani nor Hochul seemed particularly concerned with the reported cost overrun, nor with explaining how the massive gap would be closed other than levying additional taxes on the wealthy, the mayoral administration’s go-to piggy bank thus far.
Asked about the study, Hizzoner touted the “partnership” with Hochul, reminiscing about the governor allocating an extra $1.2 billion in state funding to fuel the 2-K pilot and build up existing free pre-K and 3-K programs.
After recapping the particulars of the initiatives and sharing a word-salad anecdote about parents being forced to travel miles from their home to find childcare, Mamdani finally offered an oblique answer.
“And what I mean by that is that today we have families across the city spending, as the governor said, between 20 to $40,000 a year to raise their child in the nation’s most expensive city. And this is an initiative that we are working on not just for the short term, for the medium term, but the long term to make it easier to raise that family here in New York City,” he said.
Hochul, meanwhile, downplayed the report, pledging an “independent verification” would be performed to determine the actual costs required, and dismissing the “outside study” as “not how we operate.”
After acknowledging she didn’t know the total cost of Mamdani’s universal childcare proposal, Hochul gushed that she was “excited” about the growth of the 2-K program in its early days.
“This is just the beginning,” she said — even as she admitted the state was only committed to helping the city foot the bill for 2-K through 2027, when the pilot will grow to 12,000 seats at a cost of $425 million.
Asked if the city was partnering with the state on the independent cost analysis mentioned by Hochul, Mamdani again bobbed and weaved his way through a response.
“I think, as you heard from the governor, it’s only right that we do an independent analysis and ensure we commit our full capacity to assessing the cost and scaling,” he said. “I will tell you that our focus right now is on delivering this free childcare to families of 2-year-olds across our city. We’re excited that in just a short time, families will start benefiting from this. It’s going to scale up to 12,000 seats, and we’re going to continue doing the work to ensure it expands so every family can access free childcare for 2-year-olds.”
Mamdani and Hochul said each free 2-K seat, offered across five mostly lower-income and diverse neighborhoods, would save families an average of $26,000.
The city forked over $73 million for the pilot working out to a whopping $36,500 per child — roughly $13,000 more than the average cost of private childcare, city officials have acknowledged.
Among the families who received an initial offer, 99% of all offers were to a program listed on the family’s application; 82% were matched with one of their top three choices; and more than half got their first choice.