ALBANY, N.Y. (March 14, 2022) — The public education advocacy organization Alliance for Quality Education released the following reaction to the New York State State Senate and Assembly 2022-23 budget proposals:
“We applaud the New York State Senate and Assembly for proposing bold investments in child care and maintaining their commitment to fully fund the Campaign for Fiscal Equity to invest in our children and their future. The proposed expansion of eligibility for free or affordable child care to many more families and strategic investment in compensation for child care educators are essential to addressing the current child care crisis,” said Jasmine Gripper, Executive Director of the Alliance for Quality Education.
“The budget resolutions each house put forth this weekend are responsive to the urgent needs of parents and child care providers in expanding early childhood education and care. There is still room for improvement on both proposals, but this initial step toward universal child care is critical for New York’s families. We thank Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie for listening to families and child care educators, and recognizing that New York State needs far stronger investment in child care than that proposed by Governor Hochul. We hope the Governor will follow their lead and work with Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Heastie to ensure that their robust investment in children and families is the baseline for negotiations in the enacted state budget.
“Both the Senate and Assembly proposals also show their strong commitment to New York’s public schools and students. In addition to committing to the second year of the phase-in of the Foundation Aid formula, expansions to pre-K, community schools, and student mental health supports, among other investments, would help alleviate some of the most pressing needs and inequities facing our public schools.
“As we look to the future, it is clear that prioritizing our children is essential at this moment. Investments in public schools and in creating a universal child care system for New York are both popular and necessary. The Senate and Assembly have shown that they are ready to get us there, but these resolutions will change nothing if these proposals get whittled down in the enacted budget. We need our state leaders to ensure that every dollar for child care in the one house budgets will remain in the final budget. We are committed to continuing to work with Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, Speaker Heastie, Senator Jabari Brisport and all the champions in the legislature to ensure that the enacted budget includes these major investments for our children and families as well as the workforce.”