Governor Hochul Maintains $5 Million Funding for QUALITYstarsNY in the NYS Budget for FY 2023

On January 18, Governor Kathy Hochul released the New York State Executive Budget for fiscal year 2022-2023 (FY 2023). We are pleased to share that the Governor maintained the state’s $5 million funding for QUALITYstarsNY in the proposed budget for the next fiscal year. QUALITYstarsNY thanks the Governor for continuing to demonstrate her strong commitment to young children and families as a champion of New York’s early childhood education system.

Sustaining QUALITYstarsNY’s Expansion

In April 2021, in addition to the $5 million funding from New York State, lawmakers allocated QUALITYstarsNY a historic $35 million funding over several years from The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA). Since this investment was announced, QUALITYstarsNY has made significant progress to build its capacity to support an additional 1000 early childhood programs—more than doubling current enrollment—by the end of 2023 when this funding ends.

The $5 million NYS funding for FY 2023 will allow QUALITYstarsNY to continue to move full steam ahead with rapid expansion across the state; however, we cannot stop there. The ARPA funding. aimed at ensuring a healthy recovery from the damage of the pandemic, provides the opportunity for the state to proactively position QUALITYstarsNY to have the most profound impact on early childhood quality in New York in the years to come. Building the state’s base of funding for QUALITYstarsNY now, before the ARPA funding ends in 2023, will guarantee a strong and successful project into the future.

Increasing the state’s investment annually over the next 5 years will enable QUALITYstarsNY to grow and serve more children and families. We will work together to increase the state investment to $20 million next year and trust the early childhood community will help us make the case!

Help Spread the Word about the Impact of QUALITYstarsNY

We offer our sincere thank you to everyone who has helped spread the word about QUALITYstarsNY’s work and impact on early childhood providers, children, and families. QUALITYstarsNY encourages the early childhood community to reach out to their NYS legislators to ask them to protect and increase the proposed funding for QUALITYstarsNY as they debate and amend the Governor’s Executive Budget for FY 2023.

Download QUALITYstarsNY’s Investing in Quality handout to share with your NYS Senator and Assembly Member. Find your State Senator and State Assembly Member.