Stringer Unveils Child Care Plan to Kick Off His Mayoral Campaign
Scott Stringer, a former New York City comptroller running for mayor, has an idea to help struggling parents — even if their children may not like it.
Mr. Stringer on Thursday will propose extending the public school day to 4:30 p.m. as part of a major plan to bring down the costs of child care.
He is also proposing a new fund to split the costs of child care for young children among the city, employers and families. Working-class New Yorkers would pay less for child care, and no family would pay more than 7 percent of their household income.
“For most New Yorkers, child care is out of reach,” Mr. Stringer, a Democrat, said. “I wanted to look at what can we do that can be a game changer but also something is realistic and doable.”
But Mr. Adams has also received criticism for cuts to free preschool and libraries, leaving an opening for a crowded field of challengers to run on a platform of improving quality of life for families. His predecessor, Bill de Blasio, made enacting universal prekindergarten his signature policy.
Mr. Adams is facing federal corruption charges and will go on trial in April. At least eight candidates are running against him, and former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is considering joining the race.
Mr. Adams, Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Stringer have all faced allegations of sexual misconduct, which they have denied, and they are hoping that voters are less concerned about potential #MeToo issues. Mr. Cuomo performed well in one recent poll at 32 percent, followed by Mr. Stringer at 10 percent.
Several candidates have focused on improving child and after-school care. Zellnor Myrie, a state senator from Brooklyn, has pushed for years for universal after-school programs. Jessica Ramos, a state senator from Queens, has made universal child care a key issue in Albany. Brad Lander, the current city comptroller, has called on Mr. Adams to reverse his cuts to preschool and to make the program universal for 3- and 4-year-olds.
Mr. Stringer has been one of the strongest fund-raisers in the field and announced on Wednesday that he had raised more than $4 million, including public matching funds.
Mr. Stringer, who lives in Lower Manhattan with his wife and two sons who are 11 and 13, said in an interview that his family had navigated paying for the high costs of child care and juggling after-school schedules. He often talked about his sons during the 2021 campaign, weighing whether to send them back to school during the pandemic and hitting the trail on Father’s Day.
The child care fund, which has been successful in Michigan and gained national attention, would cost about $300 million per year to reach 100,000 families in the first phase; extending the school day would cost about $500 million annually. Mr. Stringer said that about 60 percent of the funding for a longer school day would come from federal and state grants.
The child care fund would focus on children younger than 3 years old, who are not yet eligible for city-funded preschool. Montessori preschool programs can cost more than $4,000 a month in affluent neighborhoods, and working-class families are stretching their budgets to pay at least $2,000 a month for day care.
Some schools have experimented with longer school days, including a charter school in Brooklyn that is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The high costs of rent and child care have pushed many working-class families out of the city, with Black families in particular leaving in droves.
Families often scramble to fill the gap between school dismissal, around 3 p.m., and the end of the work day, several hours later. Under Mr. Stringer’s proposal, schools would offer academic instruction and enrichment activities, including tutoring and sports. They would hire additional staffers, and teachers could decide whether to stay later for extra pay.
Mr. Stringer said that Mr. Adams’s budget cuts had hurt families and made it harder for them to stay in the city.
“He basically told working parents to get out,” he said.
Allison Maser, a spokeswoman for Mr. Adams, said in a statement that the mayor did not listen to criticism from the sidelines and that he had a strong record on child care.
“We will continue to tune out those desperately searching for headlines and focus on what really matters: fighting for the future of every single child in New York City,” she said.
