By Tom Momberg
The first pre-kindergarten admission period was concluded last week, and the city received 20,670 applications from Queens, where the majority of new seats will be required.
The mayor’s office is taking pride in the fact that almost 69,000 4-year-olds have applied for the free, full-day pre-K seats, just slightly less than Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 70,000-seat goal that he set when he announced the expansion.
About 75,000 seats are currently listed in the city Department of Education’s official pre-K directory.
There are currently 20,421 full-day pre-K seats listed in the directory for Queens. That doesn’t include half-day seats. About 60 percent of the seats in Queens are being offered by public schools. About 40 percent of the seats are being offered by Early Education Centers, or ECCs. A very small fraction of pre-K programs are being offered by charter schools.
School District 24, which currently lists 1,719 seats, and District 30, which lists 1,769 seats in the directory, are the most overcrowded school districts in the city.
City Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights) said the pre-K program has already been a tremendous success, and believes that success will continue, but the rollout will likely be most difficult in his constituency, which includes District 30.
“We just don’t have the organizations or EECs to be able to provide pre-K services,” Dromm said. “We have always had an issue in identifying space for seats in what are traditionally overcrowded school districts.”
Still, the councilman said he is confident the city will be able to offer a pre-K education for every child who wants it. As the chairman of the City Council Committee on Education, Dromm said he, Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña and District 30 schools have been working closely together to identify opportunities for new seats.
“It’s a very lofty goal, but from what I’ve heard, the city is considering this a priority,” Dromm said.
The numbers of seats in Districts 24 and 30 are low in respect to other school districts in Queens, but City Hall is still looking for organizations to house the programs. City Hall Press Secretary Wiley Norvell said many residents who applied in those districts may want to enroll their children elsewhere.
“These numbers are comparing apples and oranges since many families seek out pre-K options closer to their workplace than their home, or closer to the home of a relative,” he said. “We’ve provided seats to meet all those potential scenarios—more than 20,000 in Queens alone. And we expect to bring even more seats online in targeted districts in the weeks ahead to give families even more options.
There will be more opportunities for families to apply for full-day pre-K this summer, but the city may need to create more than 75,000 seats to reach de Blasio’s goal to enroll every child born in 2011 who wants an early education if more than 6,000 kids still wish to register.
“We made Pre-K for All the centerpiece of our fight against inequality,” de Blasio said in a statement. “And come September, our vision of free, full-day, high-quality pre-K for every child will become reality.”Reach reporter Tom Momberg by e-mail at tmomb
