Mayor de Blasio on Monday called a meeting of more than a dozen city agencies that will work together on the roll-out of his ambitious universal prekindergarten program, in a signal that officials are feeling confident about likelihood of funding for the program from Albany.
Our Ben Chapman reports:
The meeting, convened under the leadership of
, focused on how to coordinate diverse elements of city government ranging from the Fire Department to the Administration for Children’s Services in the implementation of universal pre-K.
“We’re really ramping up planning,” said Buery, a former president of The Children’s Aid Society, who was tapped by de Blasio to manage the roll-out of the pre-K program in February.
“We really feel like the wind is at our backs.”
Under de Blasio’s plan, the city will to more than double the number of available full-day prekindergarten seats for city kids to 53,000 slots by September. By 2016, the city will offer free pre-K seats for all 73,000 eligible four-year-olds.
De Blasio struggled to build support in Albany for his plan to fund the $340 million program though a tax increase on wealthy city residents.
But last week, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle joined together in putting forward plans that would fully the $530 million in programs sought by the mayor.
(Updated)
A spokesman for the mayor said Monday’s gathering held at City Hall is the first of an ongoing series of biweekly meetings with representatives of 14 city agencies that will work together on the pre-K project.
City officials would not reveal the details of the meeting, but said topics ranging from site selection to staffing and safety were discussed.
Mayor de Blasio attended the pow-wow to boost morale, but will necessarily not attend all future meetings of the group, a city spokesman said.
