North Country Matters Presents: NY State Budget Impacts on Child Care

North Country Matters host Donna Seymour talks with Shoshana Hershkowitz, the Campaign Manager for the Empire State Campaign for Child Care and the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, about the results of the just completed NYS Legislative session’s impact on child care. While there were some partial wins for child care, overall the session did not move the state very far toward the goal of universal child care. They talk about NY’s rank of 30 out of 50 states in the just released Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT 2026 Data Book and the very poor showing in the area of economic wellbeing for children. With the deepening cuts by the federal government, the state failed to budget the money needed to make NY’s children whole in many areas. There was additional money for CCAP (Child Care Assistance Program) and three pilot programs for Broome, Duchess and Monroe Counties, but nothing for the rural child care deserts that make up the vast majority of the state. There were some protections for immigrant families, but the state did not pass New York For All which would have been a stronger program. The ESCCC is thankful for the many advocates who worked hard this year to champion child care and will continue to make the case going forward for a real investment in the state’s youngest citizens.