Subcommittee on Early Childhood Education meeting
April 15, 2026, 1:00 PM
Jointly with the Committee on Workforce Development and the Committee on Higher Education.
The Subcommittee on Early Childhood Education held a joint oversight hearing on workforce development and pipeline programs for early childhood educators, and considered a preconsidered bill (Int 0820) to establish a child care workforce grant and services program. No votes were taken.
What was discussed
- Three committees convene jointly and witnesses are sworn in The Sergeant-at-Arms opened the joint hearing of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood Education, the Committee on Workforce Development, and the Committee on Higher Education, and Subcommittee Counsel administered the affirmation to the administration panel.
- Opening statements from the three committee chairs Chairperson Jennifer Gutiérrez framed the hearing around a looming shortage of early childhood educators — citing a need for at least 5,000 new educators a year as the city moves toward universal child care — and introduced her Child Care Workforce Grant and Services Program bill. Chairperson Rita
- Administration testimony on building the child care workforce Executive Director Emmy Liss (Mayor's Office of Child Care and Early Childhood Education) said there is no universal child care without the workforce, that child care workers earn less than 96% of city professions, and that the office is building the city's first comprehensive workforce plan; she
- How many new early childhood educators must the city recruit each year? Chairperson Jennifer Gutiérrez pressed the panel on annual recruitment needs and vacancy tracking. Executive Director Emmy Liss said the city lacks a consolidated count because most providers are independent businesses, and Deputy Chancellor Simone Hawkins said New York City Public Schools relies on
- What recruitment pathways exist for young people, and what would scaling the apprenticeship cost? Chairperson Jennifer Gutiérrez asked about high school and college recruitment. Executive Director Emmy Liss pointed to the New York City Public Schools Pathways Office, and CUNY's Dona Anderson described a credit-bearing CDA offered to high school juniors and said CUNY's ask before the Council is
- How can the city retain educators and improve program climate? Chairperson Jennifer Gutiérrez asked what would keep educators from leaving within five years. Executive Director Emmy Liss said wages and benefits are where the conversation starts but pointed also to workplace quality and career ladders, and CUNY's Dona Anderson stressed that program leadership
- How is CUNY expanding certification, bilingual, and special-education pathways? Chairperson Rita Joseph questioned CUNY at length on enrollment and credentialing. University Dean Ashleigh Thompson reported about 3,613 education students in early childhood programs and described certification-exam vouchers made financial-aid eligible, while Dona Anderson detailed bilingual CDA
- How is the city calculating and placing 3K and pre-K seats amid neighborhood shortages? Chairperson Julie Won challenged the administration over families in Long Island City unable to find nearby seats. Deputy Chancellor Simone Hawkins said seat placement uses application and enrollment data and the mayor's priority zip codes, and Executive Director Emmy Liss said the city is adding at
- Why do CBO teachers earn less than DOE teachers, and what is the pay-parity plan? Chairperson Julie Won pressed on pay parity and delayed back pay. Executive Director Emmy Liss acknowledged gaps between community-based and public-school teachers that widen with experience, calling it a system built on an inequitable foundation, and Deputy Chancellor Simone Hawkins said most DC 37
- What do home-based providers need, from broadband to after-school? Council Member Gale Brewer asked how the city supports home-based providers with technology and after-school gaps. Executive Director Emmy Liss said the office is looking at business and administrative supports and cited NYCHA and HPD broadband efforts, and confirmed the default 2K model will be a
- How will the city gather data to place 2K seats and gauge family demand? Chairperson Rita Joseph questioned the city's data collection, recalling past spending that never yielded usable seat data. Executive Director Emmy Liss described a live representative-sample family survey run with Robinhood and New America — with postcards targeted using American Community Survey
- Does free tuition require a commitment to stay in the profession? Council Member Simcha Felder asked whether free-tuition programs come with a commitment to remain in the field. CUNY's Dona Anderson said the Excelsior Scholarship carries a state-residency requirement and offered to follow up on whether CUNY Reconnect requires staying in the profession.
- How is the city recruiting men into early childhood education? Chairperson Rita Joseph asked about recruiting male educators. University Dean Ashleigh Thompson said the NYC Men Teach program supports about 600 men a year across 16 campuses but its budget is flat, and Deputy Chancellor Simone Hawkins said her team works to counter the myth that men cannot be
- What is New York City Talent doing to build the early childhood pipeline? Chairpersons Rita Joseph and Julie Won questioned New York City Talent. Doug Lipari said the office funds two apprenticeship programs — at the Professional Development Institute and the Kennedy Children's Center — through a three-person Apprenticeship Accelerator team, calling apprenticeship the
- How will special-education staffing shortages shape the expansion? Chairpersons Julie Won and Rita Joseph warned that shortages of special-education teachers and therapists are worse than the data implies because some children never reach the waitlist. Deputy Chancellor Simone Hawkins said CPSE teams completed over 13,000 IEPs this year with about 3,400 more
- How will community- and home-based providers be included in the birth-to-five system? Chairperson Rita Joseph asked how nonprofit and home-based providers fit into the infant-and-toddler system. Executive Director Emmy Liss said the administration's goal is care for every child beginning at six weeks by the end of the mayor's first term, built in deep partnership with community-based
- Advocates for Children on special-education access Betty Baez Melo, Director of Early Childhood Education at Advocates for Children of New York, testified that only about 63% of preschoolers with disabilities receive all their related services and urged that Int 0820 and other pipeline programs extend to educators serving young children with
- Montessori alliance on recognizing MACTE credentials Anna Rita Pergolizzi-Wentworth, President of the New York State Montessori Alliance, urged the city to recognize MACTE-accredited Montessori credentials as a lead-teacher qualification and to include Montessori as an eligible universal child care model.
- Grand Street Settlement on free tuition for educators Robert Cordero, CEO of Grand Street Settlement, backed the bill and argued universal child care will only succeed if it works for community-based providers, calling for free CUNY and SUNY tuition rather than selective scholarships for early childhood degrees.
- Labor economist on a wage subsidy fund Labor economist Lauren Melodia urged the city to prioritize retaining the existing workforce, establish a wage-subsidy fund, and adopt a sector-wide career ladder and salary scale, noting the median family child care provider earns about $6 an hour after expenses.
Agenda
2 items
- T2026-1516 Oversight - Early Childhood Educator Workforce Development and Pipeline. Hearing Held by Committee
- Int 0820-2026 A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to establishing a child care workforce grant and services program Hearing on P-C Item by Comm