The hidden danger in New York’s ‘universal’ child care plan— and how it can be fixed |
New York’s child-care debate is being sold as a budget question.
It’s not: It’s a child-outcomes question.
Credit to Mayor Zohran Mamdani for putting this issue front and center. My party — the family-values party — has been slow at advancing solutions.
Child care sits at the intersection of affordability and workforce growth. But the question now is whether Albany will help families, or build another government system that replaces them.
First off, let’s stop calling it “universal.” Gov. Kathy Hochul and the media are selling it as a statewide policy. But this is NYC day care with upstate crumbs, even though there are 8 million New Yorkers in the city and 11 million upstate.
Pre-K isn’t even universal yet.
But geography isn’t the biggest problem. The real issue is what kind of system Albany is building: family care or state care.
When government becomes the default caregiver for toddlers, kids’ development is at stake.
If the system is high-quality, safe and properly staffed, children can thrive.
But if Albany promises big, scales fast and improvises later, kids will suffer.
Look no further than the state’s botched legal-marijuana rollout: big talk, sloppy........