Mayor Zohran Mamdani has aimed to transform New York City’s preschool system into a free universal child care model. His efforts included extensive promotion through social media, LinkNYC kiosks, and taxi televisions to encourage parental applications for 3-K and pre-K programs.

Despite this promotional campaign, new application data indicate that this year’s parental interest in the programs matches last year’s. Over 94,400 applications were submitted for the fall, slightly less than the previous year and a notable decline from two years ago, which saw around 103,000 applicants. The data highlights challenges in increasing child care enrollment, vital to the mayor’s affordability strategy.

Several factors may contribute to the stagnation in enrollment numbers. These include a consistent decline in births, families leaving the city, and fewer migrants arriving. The number of eligible children for pre-K remained the same compared to the previous year, while there was a reduction of about 1,000 eligible children for 3-K, correlating with the overall application drop.