With just two days until the start of the new school year and a preschool payment crisis still simmering, Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday named a new leader for the beleaguered office in charge of executing his ambitious childcare agenda.
Erica Phillips, a nonprofit leader with a history of supporting family childcare providers, will take over as deputy chancellor for the Education Department’s Division of Early Childhood Education at a critical juncture.
The inaugural year of Mamdani’s signature free childcare program for 2-year-olds is set to start Thursday, along with city-funded 3-K and pre-K programs for tens of thousands of 3 and 4-year-olds.
But the division is still digging out of a severe contract backlog that pushed some providers to the brink of closure. A Mamdani spokesperson last week called the delays “unacceptable,” and officials launched an “all government” effort to rush payments to providers before the start of school.
Phillips’ appointment will thrust her into a highly visible and challenging position managing the sprawling and disjointed childcare system. How she shepherds the division over the coming months will play a critical role in how effectively Mamdani delivers on perhaps his most high-profile policy pledge. The 2-K program launching this year for 2,000 toddlers is expected to grow sixfold by next fall, enrolling 12,000 kids. Mamdani has promised it will be available to every 2-year-old in the city who wants a spot by the end of his first term, though Gov. Kathy Hochul has only committed funding for the first two years.
A portrait of a woman in a gray shirt in front of fall leaves.
2-K, Contract delays, and pay Parity: Here’s what’s ahead for NYC’s new head of Early Childhood Education
