While Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive budget includes $110 million in capital funding for child care centers as well as a more generous child tax credit, it includes no money to bolster the anemic child care workforce.

• More: Divergent views on getting to universal child care in New York

This is in spite of the Child Care Availability Task Force recommending an investment in work force in order to expand child care in the state.   

The recommendation by the Task Force is underscored by a new report from the Office of the State Comptroller, which shows that 60% of Census tracts in the state were considered child care deserts, and rural areas are the most negatively impacted. 

According to the report, the pandemic had a deeply disruptive effect on the state’s child care industry, accelerating a drop in the number of child care providers in the state. While the state has started recovering from the decline, the recovery hasn’t come to upstate New York. 

Additionally, New York state has the second highest cost of child care in the nation, after Massachusetts, at over $14,600 per year per child.

Comptroller Tom DiNapoli discussed the report with Capital Tonight’s Susan Arbetter.