Mayor de Blasio on Monday doubled down on one of his administration’s signature issues — universal pre-k for 4-year-olds – announcing plans to expand the full-day program to 3-year-olds by September 2021.
The program will be piloted in two districts in the coming school year — one in the south Bronx and one in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn — at a cost of $36 million.
When fully implemented, the program will cost $877 million a year.
Officials said the city is committing to $177 million and counting on the state and federal governments to pitch in with the remaining $700 million.
“It’s time to reach children earlier…because we know if we reach them even earlier we will have a much greater impact,” de Blasio said at PS 1 in The Bronx.
“We have proven through the growth of pre-k that it can be done and it can be done quickly.”