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State Boosts Childcare Spending
Dutchess, Putnam faced funding shortages
More funding is on the way for families who were turned away for childcare assistance when Putnam and Dutchess counties suspended their programs last summer.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers agreed last month to provide $2.4 billion in the 2026-27 budget for the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), a 40 percent increase. It also includes $630 million in supplemental funds for 2025-26.
Demand for the program, which covers most of a family's childcare costs, skyrocketed when the state began allowing people with higher incomes to qualify. Income limits now range from $79,215 annually for a two-person family to $153,770 for a six-person household. Most families that qualify will pay no more than $15 per week as their share, according to the state.
By September, when Dutchess and Putnam stopped taking applications, there were 1,079 children enrolled in Dutchess, compared to 706 in January 2020, according to the state Office of Children and Family Services. Putnam also experienced a significant increase — from 30 children to 118 — during the period.
Dutchess, which received $12.7 million in base funding for CCAP in 2025-26, resumed taking applications on March 1 (see dub.sh/dutchess-child). Putnam, which was sent $1.1 million, still has a notice on the Department of Social Services webpage about the earlier hold on new applications.
Hochul and state legislators "appear to have fully funded CCAP," said Himali Pandya, executive director of the Child Care Council of Dutchess and Putnam, but "the jury's still out" on whether $2.4 billion will be enough.
Along with more money for CCAP, the budget includes funding for school districts to expand pre-K programs for 4-year-olds and $20 million for a pilot program in Dutchess County to provide childcare for 1,000 infants and children up to age 3.
Dutchess, chosen along with Broome and Monroe counties for pilots, is considered a childcare "desert" — meaning it has more than 3 children under 5 years old for each childcare spot.
In January, Hochul visited the Day One Early Learning Community in Poughkeepsie to announce that the pilot funding would be in her budget proposal. Founded in 2021, the nonprofit's primary initiative is an 11-week paid program for people who want to work at daycares, open their own or apply their credentials toward associate degrees at Dutchess Community College or Columbia-Greene Community College.
Of Day One's 129 graduates, 86 percent are working in childcare, said Madeline Henriquez, its executive director. Day One also operates an 89-seat, five-classroom early-learning center, hosts groups for parents and provides technical assistance to people who want to open childcare centers or home-based programs.
It is partnering with Hudson River Housing and Vassar Brothers Medical Center to renovate two houses that will become the county's first 24/7 childcare programs.
There is one glaring shortfall in New York's childcare spending: funding to supplement the pay of the educators who are often paid only minimum wage, which is $16 in Dutchess, Putnam and the rest of upstate.
The state Senate proposed $500 million in grants to supplement childcare workers' pay, but the proposal failed to make the budget. That leaves the status quo intact for students pursuing degrees in early childhood education at schools like Dutchess Community College, said Pandya.
"Kids go through it, and then they go work at Amazon because they can make more money," she said. "Unless we can pay educators what they deserve, we're just not going to be able to retain them."
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By Highlands CurrentDutchess, Putnam faced funding shortages
More funding is on the way for families who were turned away for childcare assistance when Putnam and Dutchess counties suspended their programs last summer.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers agreed last month to provide $2.4 billion in the 2026-27 budget for the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), a 40 percent increase. It also includes $630 million in supplemental funds for 2025-26.
Demand for the program, which covers most of a family's childcare costs, skyrocketed when the state began allowing people with higher incomes to qualify. Income limits now range from $79,215 annually for a two-person family to $153,770 for a six-person household. Most families that qualify will pay no more than $15 per week as their share, according to the state.
By September, when Dutchess and Putnam stopped taking applications, there were 1,079 children enrolled in Dutchess, compared to 706 in January 2020, according to the state Office of Children and Family Services. Putnam also experienced a significant increase — from 30 children to 118 — during the period.
Dutchess, which received $12.7 million in base funding for CCAP in 2025-26, resumed taking applications on March 1 (see dub.sh/dutchess-child). Putnam, which was sent $1.1 million, still has a notice on the Department of Social Services webpage about the earlier hold on new applications.
Hochul and state legislators "appear to have fully funded CCAP," said Himali Pandya, executive director of the Child Care Council of Dutchess and Putnam, but "the jury's still out" on whether $2.4 billion will be enough.
Along with more money for CCAP, the budget includes funding for school districts to expand pre-K programs for 4-year-olds and $20 million for a pilot program in Dutchess County to provide childcare for 1,000 infants and children up to age 3.
Dutchess, chosen along with Broome and Monroe counties for pilots, is considered a childcare "desert" — meaning it has more than 3 children under 5 years old for each childcare spot.
In January, Hochul visited the Day One Early Learning Community in Poughkeepsie to announce that the pilot funding would be in her budget proposal. Founded in 2021, the nonprofit's primary initiative is an 11-week paid program for people who want to work at daycares, open their own or apply their credentials toward associate degrees at Dutchess Community College or Columbia-Greene Community College.
Of Day One's 129 graduates, 86 percent are working in childcare, said Madeline Henriquez, its executive director. Day One also operates an 89-seat, five-classroom early-learning center, hosts groups for parents and provides technical assistance to people who want to open childcare centers or home-based programs.
It is partnering with Hudson River Housing and Vassar Brothers Medical Center to renovate two houses that will become the county's first 24/7 childcare programs.
There is one glaring shortfall in New York's childcare spending: funding to supplement the pay of the educators who are often paid only minimum wage, which is $16 in Dutchess, Putnam and the rest of upstate.
The state Senate proposed $500 million in grants to supplement childcare workers' pay, but the proposal failed to make the budget. That leaves the status quo intact for students pursuing degrees in early childhood education at schools like Dutchess Community College, said Pandya.
"Kids go through it, and then they go work at Amazon because they can make more money," she said. "Unless we can pay educators what they deserve, we're just not going to be able to retain them."