Children’s advocates urge Eric Adams to fund universal 3-K, summer school, despite federal dollars running out

A coalition of advocacy organizations is urging New York City Mayor Eric Adams to protect at-risk education initiatives like summer school and the expansion of free preschool for 3-year-olds in his upcoming budget. With one-time funding set to expire this year, advocates fear once again that these and other critical public school programs that families rely on could come to an end. 

The coalition of more than 120 organizations, recently renamed the Coalition for Equitable Education Funding, formed in 2023 to urge the city’s elected officials to find new funding sources for a slew of education programs, staff positions and services that were supported by temporary stimulus dollars. That funding, allocated by the federal government during the COVID-19 pandemic, expired in June. But in the wake of a sweeping effort from advocates, educators and the City Council, the Adams administration ended up committing more than $500 million to save a host of the impacted programs. Some of those programs were baselined with long-term commitments – like the hiring of 500 school-based social workers and psychologists, roughly 100 shelter-based community coordinators, literary and dyslexia programs, and career pathways programs for high schoolers. Others were not. Hence the coalition’s concern. 

With Adams set to unveil his preliminary budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 this month, the coalition is eyeing at-risk programs, hoping to persuade the mayor to not only fund these programs next fiscal year – but also to baseline them to ensure their longevity in future years. Those at-risk programs include arts programs, restorative justice programming, expanding universal 3-K, outreach to immigrant families, and the Learn to Work program, which supports students who are at risk of dropping out. 

“We urge Mayor Adams to baseline these programs …  so that students, families, educators, and providers will have assurance that they can continue relying on these programs in future years,” the coalition said in a statement.