3-K Expanded To All School Districts! 

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chancellor Porter announced this morning that, starting this fall, the City will expand the free 3-K For All to as many families as possible in the remaining sixteen school districts.

According to de Blasio, there are currently about 25,000 children in 3-K now, and this latest push will add another 16,500 seats starting in September of 2021, while there is a need for about 60,000 total seats.

The additional 15,000 seats will be distributed as follows:

• In school districts 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 16, 19, 23, 27, 31, and 32, there is a 3-K seat for every three-year-old that needs it.
• In school districts 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29 and 30, DOE will offer 3-K seats to as many families as possible.

Families across the city can still apply to programs in any district, while children will have priority to attend 3-K for All programs in the district where they live. All districts will also offer extended day programs to families who qualify based on income and needs. The application deadline has been extended to May 28, 2021, and you can also make changes to already submitted applications by that date.

“I am thrilled to hear that President Biden is thinking of including Pre-K for All, as part of his next recovery plan,” de Blasio said,” because this is something that would have a huge impact for this country if all over America, every child could start at the same starting line, if every working parent knew they didn’t have to stress over where their child would be and how they’d pay for it, if their child could get a good start life. This has worked in New York City, and it worked because we made it something for everyone.”

The city estimates this program is saving families about $10,000 a year, Chancellor Porter informed, and that’s money “we can put that in the college savings plan. You know, this is important to so many communities.”

“I always say, when you take the two together, 3-K and pre-K, two full years of high-quality free, early childhood education, you change the life of a child, you change the trajectory of a family forever,” Mayor remarked. “And we saw that this morning, incredible, in East Flatbush, Brooklyn at Phyl’s Daycare Center.”

“Early childhood programs are where it all begins,” said Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter this morning, before thanking Deputy Chancellor Wallack and Stephanie Crane and their team for making this happen.

“This exciting time for expansion aligns with our plan to achieve pay parity for early childhood education teachers by fall 2021, a goal we are on track to reach. And as we look ahead to next year, I encourage families who are interested to apply for 3-K or pre-K at myschools.nyc or over the phone at 718-935-2009. These new programs will be coming online in the coming weeks. So, you can learn more also nyc.gov/3K.”

The 3-K for All expansion was possible thanks to the federal stimulus allocating resources to education.

“So, we’re so thankful to President Biden, to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, our entire delegation in the Congress for fighting for a stimulus that had a lot of focus on education. That’s tremendously important,” Mayor explained, noting that both 3-K and pre-K would not have happened without state and city support.

“For us to achieve it, we needed the help of the City Council not just in terms of the City budget alone,” de Blasio said, “We needed a lot of help community by community, identifying the locations, getting organizations, grassroots organizations to join in the effort, and the City Council played a central role from the beginning. So, this expansion also has been something that the City Council has been pushing for and has made very clear to the administration that they thought should be a priority as we plan ahead. And I’m very thankful for the City Council for that support and that firm commitment to 3-K.”