Overview
- New York State will fully fund the first two years of 2-Care, with Hochul’s team citing a roughly $1.7 billion commitment paid from existing revenues and no new taxes this year.
- The rollout begins September 2026 in high-need neighborhoods serving about 2,000 children, with costs of roughly $75 million in year one and $425 million in year two, expanding citywide by year four and fully phased in by the 2029–30 school year.
- Hochul’s package also moves to expand universal pre-K statewide to all 4-year-olds by the 2028–29 school year and proposes a new Office of Child Care and Early Education to oversee implementation.
- The plan increases child care subsidies for low-income families by about 40% to roughly $1.2 billion and is projected by the governor’s office to reach nearly 100,000 additional children.
- Funding must be enacted in the upcoming state budget due April 1, and a recent federal freeze of roughly $3 billion in child care funds for New York could strain the program’s outlook.