The New York City Council is urging the Adams administration to reverse $1 billion in planned budget cuts, including $170 million in funding for early childhood education that lawmakers say is crucial for young families.

Lawmakers warn that any rollbacks to the city’s 3-K and pre-K program, which provides free education for 3- and 4-year-olds, will worsen the city’s child care crisis and drive more middle-class New Yorkers to leave as housing and food prices also skyrocket.

Child care is already unaffordable for 80% of New York City families, according to child care experts.

The 80th percentile of families pay between $14,000 and $20,000 a year for care for a child 5 years old or younger, reports show. A family earning $86,000 could spend a quarter of their salary on care for an infant or toddler, which blows past federal standards that say child care should not cost more than 7% of a household's income. Meanwhile, about a quarter of child care workers live in poverty, reports show, and some neighborhoods have fewer child care options since many closed after the pandemic.

WNYC spoke to child care experts across the state and six early childhood education providers across the five boroughs to understand why families are paying so much for care. They said the long-term fix is to move toward universal child care, which is why fighting to keep 3-K expansion is crucial.

Read the full story on Gothamist.com