Members of the New York City Council slammed Mayor Eric Adams’ proposed budget cuts to early education on Wednesday, pointing to some 2,500 families who did not receive offers to the city’s free 3-K program last week.

Multiple parents have told Gothamist they didn’t get any of their choices and were put on waitlists stretching into the triple digits.

“Despite the administration’s repeated promise that every child who wants a seat will get one, we are far from fulfilling this reality,” Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said. “Families across our city are feeling deceived and without options.”

As the lawmakers head into the final stretch of budget negotiations before a July 1 deadline, councilmembers rallied on the steps of City Hall and emphasized that child care was among their top priorities. They said free early childhood education helps alleviate the city’s affordability crisis, aligning themselves with working parents on an issue that is becoming a sharp thorn in the mayor’s side ahead of next year’s election.

The mayor’s office was quick to respond with a defense of his policies, including billions of dollars secured from the state to support child care and efforts to link low-income families with vouchers that dramatically reduce costs.

On 3-K, the mayor insists every family who wants a spot will get one. Officials said there were 43,000 applicants for 52,000 seats, and the administration will now be working to connect families to open slots.

Speaking on New York 1 earlier this week, Mayor Adams said “nothing went wrong” with 3-K this year. “I was clear from day one,” he said. “I’m going to continue to say and I want to be very clear. Every child that wants a seat is going to have a seat.”

But it’s not clear how close those seats will be to where families live.

Speaker Adams said the mayor’s $170 million in proposed budget cuts to early childhood programs “directly contradicts” his promises to parents, and pointed to the thousands of waitlisted families as evidence.

Meanwhile, she said, multiple early childhood programs will lose federal stimulus funds this year. While Mayor Adams has pledged $500 million in city funds to save some education initiatives that depended on federal dollars, some money for day care vouchers for undocumented families and special education seats for preschoolers will dry up without new investments. According to city statistics, approximately 700 students who are legally entitled to those preschool special education seats haven’t been able to get them.

Councilmember Lincoln Restler of Brooklyn assailed Mayor Adams for his proposed cuts, which come after the mayor paused expansion plans for 3-K.

Councilmember Rita Joseph, who leads the education committee, said that as the budget deadline approaches, lawmakers will be in “lockstep and focused in standing strong against any efforts to take resources away from early childhood education.”