NYC mayoral candidate Brad Lander proposes sweeping $1.3 billion preschool plan for 2-year-olds

Cayla Bamberger, New York Daily News on Mar 21, 2025

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NEW YORK — Comptroller Brad Lander wants to extend New York City’s universal preschool program to 2-year-old children if elected mayor — and is looking to Albany to help cover the $1.3 billion price tag.

In an interview with the Daily News, Lander threw his support behind a statewide campaign launched this year for “2-K.” As part of a plan being released Friday, the comptroller said he would partner with child care centers and home-based providers, and use available space in city-operated sites to make a seat available to any family that wants one. Programs would run for the full day, and start rolling out in poorer districts before expanding citywide.

“This is a point in time at which families are figuring out if they can afford to stay here,” Lander said. “So, it’s critical for kids and critical for families.”

The comptroller pitched 2-K as the next logical step toward eventually providing universal child care, with his plan hinging on help from state lawmakers to pitch in some cash. He did not specify how many years it would take to expand citywide, or say exactly how much money he would need from the state.

Lander’s proposal dedicates resources to family outreach, so parents know about the availability of free child care and how to apply through a centralized portal, ready as soon as next year. He also expects to add 16,000 seats to 3-K — with or without Albany’s help — which he said would increase participation by connecting families with programs closer to home.

The comptroller’s broader agenda also prioritizes universal afterschool programs in elementary and middle school, and improvements and the expansion of summer programs, such as Summer Rising and the Summer Youth Employment Program.

Lander has been among Mayor Eric Adams’ loudest critics as City Hall reneged on a planned expansion of 3-K, citing a dropoff in federal funding and thousands of empty seats citywide. The incumbent mayor, insists that continuing to fund those vacancies is a misuse of taxpayer dollars as every family who applied on time for this school year was admitted to a program, even if they could not ultimately take the city up on its offer.

The controversy has left a wide opening for mayoral hopefuls to challenge Adams on his early childhood education record, and the race’s front-runners have seized on it as part of their agendas to make New York City more affordable.

Over the weekend, Andrew Cuomo, the ex-governor who resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations, announced a plan to create over 60,000 new 3-K seats, increase existing child care subsidies for infants and toddlers, and give businesses incentives to provide on-site child care. Experts have raised serious concerns over tying child care to employment.

Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist Assemblyman who has emerged as a formidable fundraiser, is running on a platform of raising corporate taxes for universal care for children ages 6 weeks and up, which he estimated would cost at least $5 billion each year.

While candidates hope to expand child care, the sector is facing headwinds. The Trump administration has put federal Head Start programs for low-income families in jeopardy. On the state level, funding for subsidized child care has not kept pace with the local growth in vouchers, and now, thousands of children could start losing assistance as soon as next month.

Pressed on those challenges, Lander told The News he remains “optimistic” about securing resources from the state, saying Albany was in a position to provide them.

“Adding that amount to the state budget is very reasonable, and child care is something that New Yorkers — and folks more broadly — are seeing as critical,” the comptroller said. “One way of responding to Donald Trump is to meet the needs of working families and show you can deliver, and child care is such an excellent way to do that.”

Rebecca Bailin, executive director of New Yorkers United for Child Care, a group that organizes parents to push lawmakers for universal programs, stressed how every major candidate was running on a platform that includes child care, saying it demonstrates the political popularity and feasibility of such programs.

“We can start now. We can use the existing child care 2’s programs across the city, in the same way as 3-K,” Bailin said. “In order to fully scale up, they should go to the state, talk to partners. But we don’t need to wait for the state to step in.”