New York has the second-highest child care costs in the country, while 60 percent of our state is a child care desert. Kathy Hochul’s most recent budget proposal would have kicked thousands of low-income families out of child care programs. Instead of covering more kids, she proposed creating another task force. New York families don’t need more reports – they need results.

As governor, Antonio will:

• Deliver on Child Care for All. While child care costs are New York families’ top expense, the Governor vetoed legislation increasing access for our state’s Child Care Assistance Program. Antonio knows this is a crisis and will treat it as such – providing child care assistance for all and eliminating arbitrary limits based on parents’ job status, schedules, and pay.
• Invest in our child care workforce.  1 in 4 early childhood educators can’t afford basic necessities, while more than 1 in 10 in New York live in poverty. Antonio understands that if we want quality child care for every family, we must start by valuing the people who provide it. He will establish a child care worker fund to guarantee workers are paid what they deserve.
• Finish the job on Universal Pre-K (UPK). New York has UPK on paper, but we’re falling well short of that goal. Only 36 percent of eligible three- and four-year-olds are enrolled in state-funded Pre-K. Despite these shortcomings, Kathy Hochul didn’t request a single dollar in new funding for UPK in her most recent budget. Investing in our young people isn’t just a moral imperative, it’s good public policy. Studies show that every dollar invested in pre-kindergarten education can return up to $10 in benefits.