The current challenges facing our child care system weigh heavily on our community. In recent years, Gov. Hochul has championed expansions to eligibility for the Child Care Assistance Program, raising income thresholds to help more working families access affordable care. This was a well-intentioned step forward, aimed at supporting parents as they balance careers and raise children. However, the surge in demand has outpaced the available funding, leaving many counties, including those areas across our region, struggling to keep up.

Right now, counties like Warren, Washington, Saratoga, Essex and dozens of others in the state have had to pause accepting new applications for child care assistance because their allocations are running dry. Families who were relying on this support are suddenly facing heartbreaking decisions. I’ve heard from constituents who’ve had to pull their children out of programs mid-year when subsidies end abruptly. One mother in Warren County shared how she had to reduce her work hours, jeopardizing her family’s financial stability, just to care for her child. This story reflects a statewide ripple effect that impacts parents and also child care providers, who face empty spots and financial uncertainty when enrollments drop.

New York already ranks as one of the least affordable states for child care. The average annual cost for center-based care exceeds $20,000, higher than in nearly every other state. For school-aged children, we have the nation’s least affordable center-based options, and 64% of New Yorkers live in “child care deserts” where supply falls far short of need. This goes beyond an economic issue and affects our kids, who we want to have the best start in life. It is so important that we enable parents to contribute to our economy without impossible trade-offs.

To avoid repeating the same cycle of well-meaning expansions followed by shortfalls and disruptions, we must acknowledge how we arrived here. Albany’s persistent tax-and-spend approach and layers of overregulation have made it difficult for providers to operate sustainably, expand capacity or attract and retain qualified staff. High taxes and burdensome rules have driven up costs for families while squeezing providers’ margins, contributing to provider shortages and the persistence of child care deserts.

To truly eliminate child care deserts and lower costs, New York must prioritize both opening new centers and keeping them viable long-term. By creating a clear model for non-traditional hours, care providers would gain the flexibility needed to offer evening, weekend or shift-based programs. This would directly benefit parents in growing sectors with non-standard schedules, such as health care. Additionally, learning pods have surged in popularity since the pandemic as affordable alternatives, yet they often operate in a legal gray area and face shutdowns. Establishing a waiver to authorize and lightly regulate these small-group, home-based options, while setting basic safety requirements and providing parents with clear information, could expand access quickly without compromising standards. These targeted reforms would encourage more providers to enter and stay in the market, reducing deserts and creating reliable options that fit modern work realities.

Meaningful progress requires thoughtful reforms, such as streamlining regulations to encourage more providers and ensuring sustainable and predictable funding that matches demand without constant crises. I will continue advocating for tax incentives such as the ones included in the Minority’s Blueprint for Childcare (ABC) plan to help families offset costs and encourage businesses to support employee child care needs. Increasing the state reimbursement rate for Universal Pre-K students in school districts would further expand access and foster better collaboration between districts and community providers.

New Yorkers are already taking home less and less every year, with real wages for many workers stagnant or declining amid rising living costs. We cannot rush to what we think are easy solutions that simply pour more money into and dilute existing systems without addressing these root causes. Before we introduce more costly programs, let’s fix existing ones that we know work.

Our families deserve a system that works for them, not one that leaves them in limbo. Making child care more accessible and affordable has to be a priority for the Legislature going forward.