Letter to Mayor Adams: We Demand the 3K Seats We Were Promised!
Dear Mayor Adams,
We, the undersigned parents of young children in New York City, are writing to ask you to immediately provide the 3K seats you promised our families. Many of us had children and remained in New York City because we thought we could count on universal 3-K. But systemic cuts to these programs and the elimination of the city’s outreach teams has led to a messy and confusing process, leaving many families without placements and others with placements that are impractically far from their homes.
A significant number of us did not receive placements at all, despite applying promptly and following all provided guidelines. This has left us scrambling to find alternative solutions, often at significant personal and financial cost. Additionally, many families who were fortunate enough to secure placements found that the assigned locations were unreasonably far from their homes. For working parents, particularly those with limited transportation options, this distance poses a substantial burden. It is simply not feasible for many families to travel long distances daily for their young children to attend 3K, undermining the program's goal of accessible early childhood education.
Child Care is prohibitively expensive, costing families an average of $20,000 a year per year per child – and often more. The Citizens Committee for Children found that a whopping 80% of families with children under five cannot afford child care in New York City.
Universal child care will help all New Yorkers, from poor New Yorkers to the middle class, stay in New York City and State and thrive as the cost of living expands. Universal child care benefits New Yorkers regardless of parenting status by reducing poverty, supporting health and safety, and building social connectivity.” New York City’s 5Boro Institute recently released a report in support of universal free child care arguing that means testing is harming families the program was intended to support and that the best policy guarantees free or low-cost high-quality child care for all families. The Robin Hood Foundation has found that mothers with access to the city’s free 3-K programs have been able to get into the workforce and stay longer.
We urge you, Mayor Adams, to address these issues promptly and take concrete steps to ensure a fair and transparent process moving forward. Specifically, we demand:
The restoration of the almost $400 million in funding cuts to Pre-K and 3-K and a commitment to prioritizing the full roll out of universal and free 3K, including the reinstatement of outreach teams.
Reevaluation of the placement process to prioritize accessibility and convenience for families, taking into account proximity to home.
A commitment to expanding universal 3K and PreK to include free full day full year seats and to all kids under 5.
We believe in the potential of Universal 3K to provide our children with a strong educational foundation and financial resources we need, but the current implementation falls short of its promise. We hope that under your leadership, the city can rectify these issues and truly deliver on the promise of universal early childhood education.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. We look forward to your prompt response and action.
Sincerely,