Bill’s kid power
Mayor de Blasio could have called his whiz-bang “3-K for All” education push what it actually is: a worthy expansion of an existing child care program for poor tots, with enrollment limited to the levels funding allows. Who are we kidding? De Blasio is running for a second term after winning the first one in 2013 on a signature promise of free, full-day Pre-K for all 4-year olds. You bet he’s going for a repeat, or make that a 3-peat: On Monday, de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña unveiled a plan to guarantee pre-K seats starting at age 3.
Two years in pre-K classrooms promise a boon for kids’ rapidly developing brains, research suggests (though experts debate the longevity of academic gains). Working parents are sure to bless a godsend. And de Blasio scores major political points even though by his own admission hasn’t the means to actually pay for the whole shebang.
De Blasio’s pre-pre-K program amounts to two proposals, one within reach, if at high cost, and one in the realm of concept and canny dare to his boxing partners in Albany and Washington.
Imminently, he will transfer the 3-year-olds’ slice of the Administration for Children’s Services EarlyLearn program to the Department of Education. Starting in the south Bronx and Brownsville, Brooklyn, and by 2020 in six more school districts, Fariña will add seats for more kids.
They will have to justify the $177 million-ayear price tag with more than the sentiment and moral righteousness shown so far — and at a time of high uncertainty about the federal budget.
And then justify even more. For to get from eight districts to universal two-year pre-K, de Blasio challenges the federal and state governments to supply $700 million more a year.
As if. In Albany, de Blasio can scarcely get support from Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan for a single year of schools control. In Washington, President Trump vows to eliminate a program funding current child care slots.
De Blasio readies to win the contest showing who cares most about the kids, and call it reelection.