New York State has enacted substantial expansions to its childcare subsidy program in recent years, supporting more families than ever. Yet the State risks undermining these gains by underfunding the program in fiscal year 2026, forcing New York City and other localities across the state to deny service to eligible families beginning as early as April 2025, putting them on a waitlist.
By the State’s account, it currently provides enough UPK funding to provide a UPK seat to every four-year-old in the State. Nevertheless, the program remains far short of universal, with incomplete coverage of four-year-olds outside of the state’s major cities and limited provision for three-year-olds across the state.
Childcare in New York State is unaffordable for many families, yet inadequately supports its workers. The State’s childcare costs are the third highest in the U.S., putting a strain on family budgets across the income distribution. The Bronx and Brooklyn have the costliest childcare as a share of family income of any county in the U.S.
Public school funding is allocated to local school districts based on formulas specified in state law, primarily through a formula known as Foundation Aid. This brief explains the State’s rules that govern public school funding.
Support for local school districts is New York’s largest single spending program, accounting for more than one-quarter of State spending. After fast spending growth over the last three years, the fiscal year 2025 executive budget aims to curb school aid spending growth. The legislative budget proposals would roll back the executive budget’s proposed cuts to school aid and provide additional support for public higher education. This funding would preserve the current scope of New York’s education system, rather than representing transformative new investments.
The Governor’s executive budget for fiscal year 2024 aims to increase funding for New York State’s public university system, in part through sharp tuition increases. For the State University of New York’s (SUNY) four university centers, the tuition increases could result in a 51 percent tuition increase over five years. Tuition hikes of this size would represent a generational shift in New York State’s higher education landscape, moving its public universities from among the most accessible in the U.S. to among the most expensive. In doing so, these hikes could jeopardize the universities’ role as engines of upward economic mobility.
The Fiscal Policy Institute was honored to be part of the New York State chapter of the National Domestic Workers Alliance celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights on Saturday, December 12th. The NDWA is a strong voice for domestic workers across the nation. Domestic workers provide essential work within our homes, from child-care and caregiving to keeping our homes clean and functioning. The majority of domestic workers are women, mostly immigrants, and women of color. FPI will be releasing [...]
December 2020 What do you call a loan that has been obtained for the purpose of financing the costs of higher education? A student loan. However, considering the fastest-growing age segment of student loan borrowers are over the age of 60 and are not students themselves, perhaps there is a more suitable term that can be used–education debt. Much like auto debt, mortgages, and credit debt, the term education debt places emphasis on what the debt has been used for, instead of who has used [...]
Economic Recovery Depends on Our Ability to Contribute to the Economy Read the report: “The Rising Burden of Education Debt on Older New Yorkers” December 3, 2020 (Albany, NY) The burden of education debt is not limited to students, it includes their parents and grandparents. Currently, the fastest-growing age-segment of the student loan market is age 60 and older. With New York looking for a speedy economic recovery, solving the education debt crisis means a healthier and more productive state. "Higher education has been portrayed as the key to unlock the door to opportunity [...]
October 18, 2017. In a radio interview with Sarah Schweinsberg, David Dyssegaard Kallick, FPI's Deputy Director and Director of Immigration Research, discusses Governor Cuomo's Excelsior Scholarship Program. Governor Cuomo expresses that college is a necessity. While people have praised the program, some have expressed concerns. It has been referred to as a last dollar grant, only covering what state and federal grants do not. This mostly helps middle class students, who do not qualify for programs helping low income families. This does not help with the [...]
August 23, 2017 Brent Kramer, PhD, Senior Economist kramer@fiscalpolicy.org Public Colleges Lift Low-Income Students Into the Middle Class Investing in Public Colleges Essential to Boost Economic Mobility Earning a four-year college degree is now considered essential for achieving a “middle-class” lifestyle, even as many new graduates have trouble landing good, full-time jobs in a weak labor market. Despite the weak labor market, graduates still have better chances of finding good jobs than do their peers without degrees. The Fiscal Policy Institute examined the economic [...]
February 3, 2016. In its 26th annual New York State budget briefing book, the Fiscal Policy Institute analyzes and comments on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s FY 2017 Executive Budget. The Executive Budget advances some bold and progressive proposals that well reflect the values and needs of New Yorkers. In particular, the governor has shown great leadership and vision in forcefully advocating for a first-in-the nation statewide $15 minimum wage. If enacted, the minimum wage increase would lift the incomes of 3.2 million New Yorkers who desperately [...]
March 24, 2015. The governor’s Executive Budget proposal would increase school aid by $1.07 billion. The increase in school aid is contingent on passage of a package of changes to teacher evaluation, tenure, and other procedures called the Education Opportunity Agenda. The budget also includes an Education Tax Credit which would provide a large credit for donations to schools and the Dream Act which would provide tuition assistance to undocumented immigrants who came to the country as children. The Assembly’s proposed budget would increase school [...]
March 17, 2015. The state can improve low-performing schools and help students who face learning barriers by increasing funding for key education programs and poverty-fighting efforts. Proposals by the governor and the legislature are a start, but still fall short of what is needed. In a report issued in February, the state identified 178 schools in 17 school districts as “priority” or “failing” schools. These schools score in the bottom 5 percent in student proficiency tests or have low graduation rates, or both. The school [...]
March 2, 2015. The Executive Budget includes an Education Tax Credit (ETC) that would provide individuals and businesses with a substantial credit against income taxes owed for donations to private and public schools, or scholarship organizations. The governor’s legislation proposes a 75 percent credit rate, with individual credit amounts capped at $1 million. Any unused credit could be carried over to a subsequent year. Both businesses and individuals would be eligible to receive the credit on personal or corporate income tax returns. Total credits would [...]