NEW YORK, NY November 20, 2008 —The city's Administration for Children's Services faces a $62 million deficit and it says it has no choice but to begin cutting subsidized child care slots. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports.

REPORTER: ACS says over the past eight years child care costs have risen, while state and federal funding has decreased. And agency head John Mattingly says there's no city money to fill that gap. So starting next year, ACS plans to stop paying for 540 child care slots at 21 day care centers. The agency says the slots are vacant and in some cases have remained unused for years. Next summer, it plans to redirect 3,300 5-year-olds from its programs to neighborhood public schools. ACS says no children currently enrolled in day care will be left without a place to go. But some elected officials say the cutbacks will undermine the funding of many centers causing them to close. Across the city, more than 100,000 low income children receive publicly funded child care. For WNYC, I'm Cindy Rodriguez.