Where does Upstate New York fit in Governor Hochul’s Universal Childcare proposal?

Albany, NY (WRGB) — A new NYS Comptroller report dove into the Universal Childcare numbers on Tuesday, saying that providing coverafge for all children under five could cost more than $8 billion dollars...and that’s just for New York City.

Universal Childcare is one of Governor Kathy Hochul’s major initiatives in her FY2027 Executive Budget Proposal, proposing to fully fund the first two years of child care for 2-year-olds.

The majority of Democrats have expressed support of the proposal, but not every Upstate Democrat is on board...

"I can’t vote to give it all to New York City," Democratic Assemblyman Phil Steck (D-Colonie), told CBS6. "We went through this with Governor Cuomo, yeah, and I’m not doing it again."

Within the initiative, $470 million dollars is also included to strengthen Universal Pre-K throughout the State. That piece an important one for others.

"I saw the increase in investment for childcare and the childcare investment is yes, New York City, but it’s also the rest of the state, particularly upstate New York. Um making sure that all four-year-olds have UPK in upstate. That’s good. That’s a very good start. Expand to three-year-olds, particularly in demonstration projects. I think it’s smart to just work with counties that really want to expand child care. Some counties do, some counties don’t. So, I think it’s important to work with those to try to expand it because we know that’s a great economic development tool. It really addresses affordability in the households because child care is outrageously expensive and it could make a very big difference in households income and quality of life for individuals," Asm. John McDonald (D-Cohoes) says.

Stay tuned for more on this story.