Ms. Rachel Is Not Happy About New York’s Child-Care Budget Cuts
To New York parents’ horror, Mayor Eric Adams continues to slash funding for the city’s early-childhood-education initiatives, including its free 3-K and prekindergarten programs. New Yorkers United for Child Care told CBS last month that the Adams administration has cut almost $400 million from such programs since 2022, leaving families desperate for affordable child care. In 2025, the city reportedly plans to cut another 14 percent of the budget. That is, until Ms. Rachel has something to say about it.
Rachel Accurso, or Ms. Rachel as she is known to her 9.2 million YouTube subscribers, rose to popularity with her Songs for Littles series, in which she and her Broadway-composer husband sing and teach lessons to toddlers. Now, the New York–based former preschool teacher is wading into politics, using her platform to criticize the Adams-approved budget cuts.
“Parents are really struggling to find affordable, high-quality child care,” Accurso said in a TikTok on Tuesday. “Here in New York City, our mayor cut $400 million from early-childhood-education programs and is proposing more cuts.”
“All children having access to the option of high-quality early-childhood education is going to help the children for their whole lives and is literally going to create a better world for all of us and for future generations,” she added.
In the video’s caption, Accurso noted that she would be headed to Washington, D.C., to advocate for families directly affected by the concurrent child-care crisis. She then prompted her followers to hop hop hop over to the New Yorkers United for Child Care website to sign its petition demanding Adams put a stop to the cuts. Not since Ms. Rachel x Blippi has there been such a headline-grabbing collaboration.
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