Iowa’s child care assistance system is too stingy in who it covers and structurally broken in how it’s accessed.
Free government-funded childcare beyond public school has long been dismissed as an unattainable goal, but New York City is moving to prove otherwise. Through a new program, Mayor Zohran Mamdani is partnering with Gov. Kathy Hochul to launch free child care for all children under five years old, according to the official New York City website.
According to the same source, the state has more than doubled the number of children served by child care vouchers in four years. They’ve also expanded the number of families who are eligible for vouchers by increasing the maximum income from 200 percent of the federal poverty level — roughly $64,000 for a family of four — to 85 percent of the statewide median income, roughly $114,000 for a family of four…