Why New York’s neediest families aren’t using free pre-K and 3K
NEW YORK — Six years ago, New York City hosted leaders from a dozen cities across the US to share lessons learned from its free early childhood education program for over 70,000 4-year-olds.
The immensely popular universal prekindergarten program was the brainchild of former Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2014. Three years later, he began expanding it to 3-year-olds. The pioneering education policy remains the single biggest achievement from de Blasio’s two terms in office. It was so successful that it became a national model for other major cities like Seattle and Washington.
And yet, in a wildly expensive city