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Gov. Kathy Hochul is delaying a plan that would have caused major disruptions to tens of thousands of New York City families who receive childcare vouchers.
Under New York regulations, parents who receive the vouchers through a popular state-funded program are only supposed to get the benefit for hours when they’re working or in school. Historically, however, that rule has not been enforced for New York City families. In recent months, officials from the state’s Office of Children and Family Services warned city officials that they would need to begin complying with the regulations — sparking panic from officials, providers, and advocates. They warned the change could send shockwaves through the system, leaving families without care and causing providers to shut down.
On Thursday, Hochul announced that the state is giving the city two more years to comply with the regulations governing the Child Care Assistance Program vouchers, which pays an average $300 a week to cover kids’ childcare expenses.
“This waiver will help ensure that families who are currently receiving support in New York City don’t have their coverage reduced and providers don’t suffer costly disruptions while we work towards full implementation of the program,” Hochul said in a statement.
In New York City more than 100,000 kids currently receive vouchers and another 26,000 are on the waitlist.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has worked with Hochul to make the expansion of free childcare in New York City a major political priority, praised the postponement.
“For a parent picking up an extra shift to make ends meet, or a parent whose work schedule changes week to week, access to flexible child care is truly essential,” Mamdani said in a statement.
Over the past few years, the voucher program has become a critical piece of the city’s childcare landscape.
After Hochul raised the value of the voucher in 2024 and expanded the income eligibility requirements to allow more people to participate, the program exploded in popularity in the five boroughs and hasn’t been able to keep up with the demand, even as funding keeps growing.
Most other counties across the state follow the policy limiting vouchers to work and school hours, known as “coupling,” by submitting data to a state attendance system, a Hochul spokesperson said. But New York City does not use that system, the spokesperson said.
Some advocates, lawmakers, and city officials say the regulations are impractical and disruptive, making it difficult for parents who are working part-time to find consistent care and for childcare operators to count on consistent enrollment and revenue.
“How can a childcare center that has a hundred kids have a different policy of what hours every … kid is coming in?” said Brooklyn Council member Lincoln Restler at a hearing last month. “You can’t hire teachers that way. We will see enormous, enormous disruption to our childcare system.”
Officials from the city’s Administration for Children’s Services, which oversees the voucher program in the city, said they have been lobbying state officials to change the regulations.
It’s unclear how many families in the city would be affected by stricter enforcement of the coupling regulations.
A Hochul spokesperson said the state is asking the city to submit more data in the coming years to give a clearer picture, and said the state is rolling out new technology to improve enforcement of the regulations.
Advocates for kids in other parts of the state are taking notice of the carveout for New York City.
Dede Hill, the vice president of policy at the Schuyler Center, a statewide child advocacy organization, said now that the state officials have found a way to grant New York City a reprieve from enforcement of the coupling regulations without changing state law, her organization will push the state to extend the same benefit to other parts of the state.
Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org
