August 15, 2025 • 12 mins
Aug. 15, 2025- The state budget included an additional $400 million to ensure access to child care vouchers, but the increased investment isn't necessarily trickling down to families who need help, according to reporting by New York Focus reporter Julia Rock.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
One of the issues to be added late in the
game during negotiations over the state budget in Albany was
funding for a childcare voucher program at risk of becoming
inaccessible to thousands of families in New York City and
around the state. The final budget deal included an additional
four hundred million dollars for the initiative. But the problems
aren't going away, and my next guest, New York focused
reporter Julia Rock, has highlighted some of the ongoing concerns.
(00:27):
Thanks making the time.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Julia, Yeah, thanks so much for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Well, for starters, can you explain what the state's childcare
assistance program is? For example, how is it designed to
help families? And I guess who is it designed to help?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
So this is right now, the state's biggest childcare affordability program.
The state will spend more money on it this year
than on Universal pre K programs. And basically the way
it works is that the state covers the entire cost
of private childcare for kids aged six weeks old up
to thirteen years old. So for the older kids it's
(01:02):
often for after school programs, and it is a means
tested program, meaning that it's only for families who earn
up to a certain income limit. For families who are
receiving public assistance or cash assistance, they're guaranteed to get
the bouchers to pay for childcare if they apply for them.
For slightly higher low and middle income families, Counties sometimes
(01:24):
have to put up wait lists to control how many
families are receiving them. But right now, the eligibility cut
off is that a family of three earning up to
ninety five thousand dollars a year can get the bouchers.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Well, you highlight this idea of eligibility, and during budget
negotiations as the fact that there was a shortfall in
this program sort of came to light in part due
to some excellent reporting by New York Focus. The Hope administration,
in trying to figure out the best way to move forward,
(01:57):
sort of pointed the finger at some of the municipalities
around the state, including New York City, and argued, well,
you've expanded the eligibility beyond maybe what was originally intended.
How should we actually think about that eligibility question? Because
I've also heard that the state was the one championing
efforts to make this more broadly accessible, So you're correct.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
That it was really the state that expanded eligibility for
the program. In recent years, the state has put more
money into the program. It's sort of split funded between
the federal government, the state, and some localities put in
a little bit more money than others, but it really
is sort of a state program, and the state sets
the eligibility rules and the income cut off and things
(02:41):
like this. So what we saw earlier this year was
that sort of under those expanded eligibility rules, which basically meant,
you know, a hot you could be earning a little
bit of a higher income and still get the vouchers.
Then in previous years, way more parents had signed up
for the program. In New York City, there was just
huge demand for it. And so in about February, the
(03:03):
city realized, like, at the pace we're going of giving
people these vouchers in addition to some other things that
I think we're going to cause demand to go up
in future months, Like we are not going to be
able to keep all of these parents in the program
at current funding levels. We're really going to need more
money from the state. I think you know, what the
state probably would have said was the city should have
been tracking a little bit, you know, more closely or
(03:25):
more carefully how many parents were signing up and realized
much sooner that at that rate they were going to
you know, hit a funding shortfall and done something like
started turning parents down or putting up waitlists. But I think,
you know, the city would have said, look, you know,
we were enrolling parents who were eligible under the state rules.
You know, they knew how much money we had and
how many parents were signed up. This was sort of
(03:47):
the state's problem.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
And that problem in New York City was also replicated
to a much smaller degree in some upstate counties. And
in response, the final state included, as you've reported, three
hundred and fifty million dollars from New York City and
fifty million dollars for the rest of the state. What
should we know about the distribution of that money? For example,
(04:13):
has it gone out the door in say New York City?
And if not, what seems to be the challenges? Are
there strings attached to it that make this problematic totally?
Speaker 2 (04:23):
So you're right that, you know, it wasn't just New
York City that realized it was going to need more
money to sort of keep the program going at the
current rate, it was you know, a problem that extended
further around the state. The extra money for the program
is structured in like some slightly unusual ways, and it's
different between New York City than the rest of the state.
(04:45):
But you know, the rest of the state gets fifty
million dollars in additional funds to you know, sustain the
program and ensure that there aren't waitless But those those
other counties can't access the funds until next March. So
the way the state has set it up is the
counties have to sort of spend down all their current
money through March and then they'll get paid back basically
(05:08):
with the lump sum next March.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
What's the practical effective something like that? Is that present
some boundaries or is that reasonable?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
So I think the practical effect of it is that
it makes it a little bit difficult for counties to plan.
They don't know, you know, exactly how much money they're
going to get. They don't want to be in a
position where they spend all of the money they have
for this program and then realize, you know a few
months later, even with the extra money for the state,
they really don't have enough to keep it going. So
I think they really see the requirements the state has
(05:39):
put on the money as sort of unworkable. My understanding
is that there are only a couple of counties at
this point that think they're going to be able to
meet the requirements to get the additional funds, and so
sort of the upshot is that a lot of these
counties have stopped accepting applications for the vouchers. They're trying
to sort of limit the number of parents who are
getting them in order to manage their funds rather than
(06:03):
continuing to spend a bunch on it and expect that
they're going to get reimbursed from the state next March.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Well, before we move on, let me reintroduce you for
listeners just joining us. This is the Capital press room,
and we're speaking with New York focused reporter Julia Rock
And what about the money for New York City. One
of the things that we heard here at the Capital
was that the increased state funding was contingent on New
York City ponying up some additional dollars. Is that how
(06:31):
the dynamic ultimately played out, and if so, is the
Adams administration with the support of the city Council taking
the state up up on that challenge.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, so there are a lot of requirements flying around,
but the state did require that New York City massively
increase its investment in the program if it wanted to
keep getting the existing state money it was getting. So
the state required the city to spend an additional two
hundred and seventy five million this year on the program.
The Adams administration did, you know, put in the money
(07:01):
that was required to get the state fund. So there's
been a big funding boost from New York City for
the program this year. The city is still not accepting
new parents for the program, which I think sort of
speaks to just how significant the shortfall was there and
how much more money the city needed. And you know,
in my conversations with them, it doesn't seem like they
(07:22):
know yet when they're going to be able to start
enrolling new parents, even though there has been a pretty
significant funding boost.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
So childcare costs are not getting any cheaper. So is
there any reason to expect we're not going to have
the same conversation play out in a few months when
we're trying to craft a budget for the next state
fiscal year that begins April one of twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
It just seems inevitable that this is going to be
a big budget fight again this year. The state has
sort of said the additional investment in the program is
just a one time investment, but it's not quite clear
how the stake could go back to previous year funding levels,
you know, without having to shut down applications for the
program around the state. Demand has only been growing for
the program, and sort of as you said, I think
(08:08):
the average cost of childcare right now in New York
State is twenty thousand dollars a year, so for middle
income families, that's just not really a viable expense.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
And just to hammer the point home, if this program
was to say disappear, how big of a hole would
that be in terms of support for families that need
help with the cost of childcare? Because I think you
framed it in the beginning that this is the biggest
sort of single investment that the state makes in childcare assistance.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Absolutely. I spoke with a lot of parents who had
gotten the vouchers in previous years and you know, face
the risk of losing them if the budget didn't put
in more money. And you know, a few things I
heard from parents were, I would not be able to
afford to work if I didn't have help paying for childcare.
You know, I'd have to leave work and be taken
(09:00):
care of my kids instead. Some parents said, you know,
they would rely on like more precarious and complicated arrangements
like always finding a neighbor to take care of their kids,
or you know, having to leave work early to pick
up kids, which is obviously not viable long term. So
you know, there are a lot of different, I think
ways parents manage if they can't send their kids to childcare.
(09:23):
But it, you know, certainly was striking to hear parents
saying I can't afford to work without this program.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Well, in the course of reporting this story and just
generally being on top of the childcare space the way
you are, what are you hearing, if anything, about people's
excitement for this new study that the governor is launching
that was part of the budget to figure out how
to fund universal childcare in the future. Is the community
(09:54):
just a buzz about this.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I have heard very little about the Governor's task force
she's set up under the state budget to find a
revenue stream for universal childcare and I've heard from a
lot of folks who work in this space who do
not know what's going on with it. So hopefully I'll
have more from you on that you know, in the future,
But at this point, I'm not really sure what's going
(10:17):
on with it.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
So they're not already just banking on this solving all
of the revenue woes and ensuring that we don't have
tough fights over childcare vouchers in the future. That seems
kind of cynical, Julia, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
I don't want to underestimate the task force. Maybe it's
all going to be solved very soon.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Well, finally, is there anything else in the childcare space
that you're watching for? Because there are so many moving parts,
whether it's the cost, whether it's the vouchers, whether it's workforce.
I have to imagine there are a lot of different
strings you can pull at.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yeah, I mean, I imagine that the state budget talks next
year are going to be shaped by the fact that
zorroon Mom Donnie won the New York City my oral
primary sort of promising free, universal childcare, and that he's
you know, likely to be Mayor of New York City
if things go in the general as folks predicting they are,
(11:11):
So I think that is really going to shape the
dynamic just around how childcare has talked about, if not
how it's funded. And the other thing I'm curious to
see is that, you know, this childcare voucher program has
really grown a lot and you know, supports more. I
think it's about one hundred thousand families right now. The
state has in previous years focus more on Universal pre K,
(11:33):
which is a different system but also a way to
sort of help tackle this problem for families. That's obviously
a program that's been growing a lot in New York City.
So I am curious to see sort of what the
dynamic between you know, this private childcare voucher program and uh,
you know, a state run Universal pre K program looks
like is the state going to decide that it wants
(11:54):
to invest in one one program or the other. Do
they see them as parallel programs? You know? Are there
benefits to investing in one program and the other? I'm
not sure.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Well, we've been speaking with New York focused reporter Julia Rock. Julia,
thank you so much for making the time. I really
appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Yeah, thanks so much for having me on.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
If you're enjoying the Capitol Pressroom, please consider making a
recurring contribution to help make our journalism possible. To show
your support, visit Capitolpressroom dot org, slash donate
One of the issues to be added late in the
game during negotiations over the state budget in Albany was
funding for a childcare voucher program at risk of becoming
inaccessible to thousands of families in New York City and
around the state. The final budget deal included an additional
four hundred million dollars for the initiative. But the problems
aren't going away, and my next guest, New York focused
reporter Julia Rock, has highlighted some of the ongoing concerns.
(00:27):
Thanks making the time.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Julia, Yeah, thanks so much for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Well, for starters, can you explain what the state's childcare
assistance program is? For example, how is it designed to
help families? And I guess who is it designed to help?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
So this is right now, the state's biggest childcare affordability program.
The state will spend more money on it this year
than on Universal pre K programs. And basically the way
it works is that the state covers the entire cost
of private childcare for kids aged six weeks old up
to thirteen years old. So for the older kids it's
(01:02):
often for after school programs, and it is a means
tested program, meaning that it's only for families who earn
up to a certain income limit. For families who are
receiving public assistance or cash assistance, they're guaranteed to get
the bouchers to pay for childcare if they apply for them.
For slightly higher low and middle income families, Counties sometimes
(01:24):
have to put up wait lists to control how many
families are receiving them. But right now, the eligibility cut
off is that a family of three earning up to
ninety five thousand dollars a year can get the bouchers.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Well, you highlight this idea of eligibility, and during budget
negotiations as the fact that there was a shortfall in
this program sort of came to light in part due
to some excellent reporting by New York Focus. The Hope administration,
in trying to figure out the best way to move forward,
(01:57):
sort of pointed the finger at some of the municipalities
around the state, including New York City, and argued, well,
you've expanded the eligibility beyond maybe what was originally intended.
How should we actually think about that eligibility question? Because
I've also heard that the state was the one championing
efforts to make this more broadly accessible, So you're correct.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
That it was really the state that expanded eligibility for
the program. In recent years, the state has put more
money into the program. It's sort of split funded between
the federal government, the state, and some localities put in
a little bit more money than others, but it really
is sort of a state program, and the state sets
the eligibility rules and the income cut off and things
(02:41):
like this. So what we saw earlier this year was
that sort of under those expanded eligibility rules, which basically meant,
you know, a hot you could be earning a little
bit of a higher income and still get the vouchers.
Then in previous years, way more parents had signed up
for the program. In New York City, there was just
huge demand for it. And so in about February, the
(03:03):
city realized, like, at the pace we're going of giving
people these vouchers in addition to some other things that
I think we're going to cause demand to go up
in future months, Like we are not going to be
able to keep all of these parents in the program
at current funding levels. We're really going to need more
money from the state. I think you know, what the
state probably would have said was the city should have
been tracking a little bit, you know, more closely or
(03:25):
more carefully how many parents were signing up and realized
much sooner that at that rate they were going to
you know, hit a funding shortfall and done something like
started turning parents down or putting up waitlists. But I think,
you know, the city would have said, look, you know,
we were enrolling parents who were eligible under the state rules.
You know, they knew how much money we had and
how many parents were signed up. This was sort of
(03:47):
the state's problem.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
And that problem in New York City was also replicated
to a much smaller degree in some upstate counties. And
in response, the final state included, as you've reported, three
hundred and fifty million dollars from New York City and
fifty million dollars for the rest of the state. What
should we know about the distribution of that money? For example,
(04:13):
has it gone out the door in say New York City?
And if not, what seems to be the challenges? Are
there strings attached to it that make this problematic totally?
Speaker 2 (04:23):
So you're right that, you know, it wasn't just New
York City that realized it was going to need more
money to sort of keep the program going at the
current rate, it was you know, a problem that extended
further around the state. The extra money for the program
is structured in like some slightly unusual ways, and it's
different between New York City than the rest of the state.
(04:45):
But you know, the rest of the state gets fifty
million dollars in additional funds to you know, sustain the
program and ensure that there aren't waitless But those those
other counties can't access the funds until next March. So
the way the state has set it up is the
counties have to sort of spend down all their current
money through March and then they'll get paid back basically
(05:08):
with the lump sum next March.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
What's the practical effective something like that? Is that present
some boundaries or is that reasonable?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
So I think the practical effect of it is that
it makes it a little bit difficult for counties to plan.
They don't know, you know, exactly how much money they're
going to get. They don't want to be in a
position where they spend all of the money they have
for this program and then realize, you know a few
months later, even with the extra money for the state,
they really don't have enough to keep it going. So
I think they really see the requirements the state has
(05:39):
put on the money as sort of unworkable. My understanding
is that there are only a couple of counties at
this point that think they're going to be able to
meet the requirements to get the additional funds, and so
sort of the upshot is that a lot of these
counties have stopped accepting applications for the vouchers. They're trying
to sort of limit the number of parents who are
getting them in order to manage their funds rather than
(06:03):
continuing to spend a bunch on it and expect that
they're going to get reimbursed from the state next March.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Well, before we move on, let me reintroduce you for
listeners just joining us. This is the Capital press room,
and we're speaking with New York focused reporter Julia Rock
And what about the money for New York City. One
of the things that we heard here at the Capital
was that the increased state funding was contingent on New
York City ponying up some additional dollars. Is that how
(06:31):
the dynamic ultimately played out, and if so, is the
Adams administration with the support of the city Council taking
the state up up on that challenge.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, so there are a lot of requirements flying around,
but the state did require that New York City massively
increase its investment in the program if it wanted to
keep getting the existing state money it was getting. So
the state required the city to spend an additional two
hundred and seventy five million this year on the program.
The Adams administration did, you know, put in the money
(07:01):
that was required to get the state fund. So there's
been a big funding boost from New York City for
the program this year. The city is still not accepting
new parents for the program, which I think sort of
speaks to just how significant the shortfall was there and
how much more money the city needed. And you know,
in my conversations with them, it doesn't seem like they
(07:22):
know yet when they're going to be able to start
enrolling new parents, even though there has been a pretty
significant funding boost.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
So childcare costs are not getting any cheaper. So is
there any reason to expect we're not going to have
the same conversation play out in a few months when
we're trying to craft a budget for the next state
fiscal year that begins April one of twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
It just seems inevitable that this is going to be
a big budget fight again this year. The state has
sort of said the additional investment in the program is
just a one time investment, but it's not quite clear
how the stake could go back to previous year funding levels,
you know, without having to shut down applications for the
program around the state. Demand has only been growing for
the program, and sort of as you said, I think
(08:08):
the average cost of childcare right now in New York
State is twenty thousand dollars a year, so for middle
income families, that's just not really a viable expense.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
And just to hammer the point home, if this program
was to say disappear, how big of a hole would
that be in terms of support for families that need
help with the cost of childcare? Because I think you
framed it in the beginning that this is the biggest
sort of single investment that the state makes in childcare assistance.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Absolutely. I spoke with a lot of parents who had
gotten the vouchers in previous years and you know, face
the risk of losing them if the budget didn't put
in more money. And you know, a few things I
heard from parents were, I would not be able to
afford to work if I didn't have help paying for childcare.
You know, I'd have to leave work and be taken
(09:00):
care of my kids instead. Some parents said, you know,
they would rely on like more precarious and complicated arrangements
like always finding a neighbor to take care of their kids,
or you know, having to leave work early to pick
up kids, which is obviously not viable long term. So
you know, there are a lot of different, I think
ways parents manage if they can't send their kids to childcare.
(09:23):
But it, you know, certainly was striking to hear parents
saying I can't afford to work without this program.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Well, in the course of reporting this story and just
generally being on top of the childcare space the way
you are, what are you hearing, if anything, about people's
excitement for this new study that the governor is launching
that was part of the budget to figure out how
to fund universal childcare in the future. Is the community
(09:54):
just a buzz about this.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I have heard very little about the Governor's task force
she's set up under the state budget to find a
revenue stream for universal childcare and I've heard from a
lot of folks who work in this space who do
not know what's going on with it. So hopefully I'll
have more from you on that you know, in the future,
But at this point, I'm not really sure what's going
(10:17):
on with it.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
So they're not already just banking on this solving all
of the revenue woes and ensuring that we don't have
tough fights over childcare vouchers in the future. That seems
kind of cynical, Julia, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
I don't want to underestimate the task force. Maybe it's
all going to be solved very soon.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Well, finally, is there anything else in the childcare space
that you're watching for? Because there are so many moving parts,
whether it's the cost, whether it's the vouchers, whether it's workforce.
I have to imagine there are a lot of different
strings you can pull at.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yeah, I mean, I imagine that the state budget talks next
year are going to be shaped by the fact that
zorroon Mom Donnie won the New York City my oral
primary sort of promising free, universal childcare, and that he's
you know, likely to be Mayor of New York City
if things go in the general as folks predicting they are,
(11:11):
So I think that is really going to shape the
dynamic just around how childcare has talked about, if not
how it's funded. And the other thing I'm curious to
see is that, you know, this childcare voucher program has
really grown a lot and you know, supports more. I
think it's about one hundred thousand families right now. The
state has in previous years focus more on Universal pre K,
(11:33):
which is a different system but also a way to
sort of help tackle this problem for families. That's obviously
a program that's been growing a lot in New York City.
So I am curious to see sort of what the
dynamic between you know, this private childcare voucher program and uh,
you know, a state run Universal pre K program looks
like is the state going to decide that it wants
(11:54):
to invest in one one program or the other. Do
they see them as parallel programs? You know? Are there
benefits to investing in one program and the other? I'm
not sure.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Well, we've been speaking with New York focused reporter Julia Rock. Julia,
thank you so much for making the time. I really
appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Yeah, thanks so much for having me on.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
If you're enjoying the Capitol Pressroom, please consider making a
recurring contribution to help make our journalism possible. To show
your support, visit Capitolpressroom dot org, slash donate
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.