Last week, Governor Hochul and the Legislature passed the Fiscal Year 2026 State Budget. 

CCC applauds Governor Hochul and the Legislature for making substantial enhancements to the Empire State Child Tax Credit, as well as for funding universal school meals across the state. These investments are critical at a time when in 20 NYS counties, more than 20% of children live in households below the poverty level, according to CCC’s most recent New York State Child and Family Well-Being Index. 

Moreover, the FY26 Budget takes an important first step towards addressing family homelessness by including $50 million for a Housing Access Voucher Program Pilot. We are eager to work with state leaders to ensure this program is implemented rapidly and funding is secured long-term.

Though this budget includes a handful of important investments for children and families, it largely fails the youngest New Yorkers and their families. In the face of widespread federal threats, this budget misses critical opportunities for the state to make long-term investments in anti-poverty programs, youth mental health, Early Intervention, and education equity, among other issues. Unfortunately, the FY26 budget falls short of the investments needed to help New York families thrive.

We are deeply disappointed that the budget fails to invest in several critical priority areas including:

• Children’s mental health and substance use disorder services. Families in our state continue to face a behavioral health waitlist crisis, forcing children into emergency rooms, hospitals, and intensive inpatient placements.
• Rate-enhancement for Early Intervention services. New York State ranks 50th in the nation for on-time delivery of Early Intervention services due to provider shortages, forcing children to continue to wait for their legally-mandated services.
• Investments to stabilize the child care workforce through a state compensation fund.
  • While we appreciate the inclusion of $400 million to address the funding cliff facing child care vouchers, this amount falls short of the need and puts thousands of families at risk of losing vouchers in New York City, unless the city and state work together to ensure families can continue to access care without interruptions.
• The Foundation Aid formula resulting in the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars for New York City public-school students, especially students with the greatest needs.
• The Youth Justice Innovation Fund which would have directly funded CBOs working with young people 12-25 offering prevention, alternatives to incarceration, and reentry support. This would have been a critical investment in community safety and in the futures of our young adults.