New York City childcare providers are scrambling to keep classrooms staffed and ready for the new school year as long-awaited city payments remain tied up, threatening the rollout of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s ambitious expansion of free childcare, including his new 2-K initiative, the New York Post reports.
With the school year set to begin Sept. 10, operators contracted to run 2-K, 3-K and pre-K programs say they have yet to receive advance payments normally distributed in August. Some providers are owed hundreds of thousands of dollars and say they have been forced to use personal savings, retirement funds and credit to cover payroll, supplies and other expenses needed to open their doors.
Adrienne Bond, director of Quick Start Daycare Center in Queens, said her center is still waiting for approximately $400,000 from the city and warned that the delay could leave her without enough employees when children arrive.
“If we do open up on the first day of school, I won’t have staff,” Bond said.
“Mamdani promised positive change in early childhood education, and many trusted him by electing him to office, so when is that coming? We are anxiously waiting.”
Bond said she has already put $400 of her own money into the center and exhausted $35,000 from a private after-school program to keep expenses covered.
Despite those measures, she was forced to postpone two staff paychecks and still faces unpaid bills from food suppliers. She has also sought an interest-free bridge loan, but that money has been delayed amid a backlog at the city Department of Education.
“I’m pleading with them for the bridge loan,” she told The Post.
The mounting financial problems are affecting providers involved in Mamdani’s new 2-K pilot as well as operators of the city’s established free 3-K and pre-K programs, raising concerns about whether some centers will be financially prepared to open when the academic year begins.
Universal free childcare was a centerpiece of Mamdani’s successful 2025 mayoral campaign. With support from Gov. Kathy Hochul, his administration subsequently announced the “2-Care” pilot for 2-year-olds, with plans to make the program available citywide over the next four years while expanding the existing 3-K and pre-K systems.
Mamdani and Hochul promoted the childcare initiative at a joint appearance earlier this month, highlighting $1.2 billion in state funding committed to the effort.
But much of the expansion depends upon private childcare operators that contract with the city. Many of those providers have worked with the city for years and depend heavily on advance payments to hire employees, purchase supplies and prepare their facilities before children return in September.
Reports of the growing financial crisis surfaced earlier this week, with City & State and The New York Times describing providers contemplating extraordinary measures to remain afloat. Some were considering putting up $90,000 of their own money, taking reverse mortgages on their homes or telling employees to file for unemployment benefits while they waited for city funding.
Five childcare providers who spoke with The Post described similar financial pressures and delays.
A Queens childcare operator who requested anonymity said she was awarded a new 2-K class but was told she would not receive the money needed to operate it until November. She also applied for a loan but received less than half of the five-figure amount she had requested.
“I’m done — somebody needs to shine a light on what’s going on in this place because it’s an absolute disaster,” she said. “I have gone into my personal bank accounts, went into my 401(k), and I’m not doing it again.”
On Staten Island, The Play Group Experience is waiting for a $160,000 advance payment, according to director Lori Cangiolose. She said she personally spent $800 preparing the center for its September opening.
“We received zero funding that we usually receive in August to get us through to open,” Cangiolose said.
“One of my colleagues, she just had to foot $1,800 out of her own pocket to do some repairs and fix the toilet just to prepare for September, and this money should’ve been coming from the DOE.”
The situation is similarly difficult at Let’s Play & Learn Park, where director Olena Olson said the center has not received a $300,000 advance for its 3-K and pre-K programs.
Olson, whose center is in Park Slope, said she is using a $60,000 credit line and revenue from privately paid 2-K tuition while also giving up her own salary in order to meet payroll and building expenses.
“I will be OK for September if it takes that long,” Olson said. “But come October, if I don’t have either the loan or the advanced payment, then I don’t even want to think about it.”
Providers say another potential lifeline — interest-free bridge loans offered through the DOE — has itself become bogged down by delays.
“It’s such a Catch-22,” Bond said.
“Whatever the amount is on the bridge loan, when you get your advancement, they’re going to take it back from you. It’s always as if you’re penny-pinching because they’re always taking back what they appear to give you.”
As providers struggle to keep their programs financially viable, city agencies have also been pointing fingers over responsibility for the holdup.
DOE officials have blamed the city comptroller’s office, contending that contracts had not yet been registered, a required step before payments can be processed.
Officials in Comptroller Mark Levine’s office disputed that explanation, saying the DOE had not yet provided the contracts that needed to be registered. As of Friday, the comptroller’s office had not received any of the 2-K contracts, according to officials.
“The start of the school year is not an unexpected event,” Levine said in a statement.
“The city knew these contracts needed to be approved by now, and failing to get them done on time risks setting back our affordability agenda,” Levine said.
“These are small providers with little financial cushion. Forcing them to begin caring for children without contracts or payment puts enormous strain on these organizations.”
The breakdown has fueled broader questions about whether the Mamdani administration has the administrative infrastructure necessary to carry out the enormous childcare expansion it has promised.
One DOE insider said universal childcare was “too important to fail” and argued that the city cannot expect providers to personally finance a government initiative.
“New York City cannot build universal childcare on the backs and bank accounts of the people already holding the system together,” the source said.
“The administration continues to make ambitious promises about expanding 2-K, 3-K and pre-K. But universal child care cannot be built through press conferences and promises alone,” the insider added.
“It requires a government with the capacity, staffing and resources to deliver and right now, City Hall is demonstrating that it is in over its head.”
Mamdani was questioned earlier this week about the mounting difficulties facing childcare providers, including concerns from some operators that they may be unable to open next month. The mayor responded by reiterating the importance his administration has placed on resolving the situation, saying, “we have made this very clear that this is a top priority internally.”
Mamdani spokeswoman Jenna Lyle acknowledged that the payment delays were “unacceptable,” while placing part of the blame on the administration of Mayor Eric Adams, saying it had eliminated 600 employees involved in building and administering the city’s childcare system.
Questions remain, however, over why those staffing shortcomings were not resolved before the Mamdani administration moved ahead with its large-scale universal childcare expansion.
City Hall says it is now taking emergency measures to get money to providers before classes begin. Officials said overtime has been approved to accelerate loan processing and that providers should receive approvals within five business days.
“We are expediting the processing and disbursement of loans for providers,” Lyle said. “And we are pulling additional staff from across city government, including every available contracting staffer at New York City Public Schools, to finalize outstanding contracts and quickly get them to the comptroller for payment.”
{Matzav.com}
