Res. No. 1440
Resolution calling on New York State to require that New York City provide full time pre-kindergarten seats to all eligible New York City children.
By Council Members Rodriguez, Chin, Eugene, James, Mendez, Rose, Williams, Wills and Gonzalez
Whereas, Every child should have the right to a full time, high quality early intervention educational program; and
Whereas, Children who participate in early intervention programs, such as pre-kindergarten, enter kindergarten with the skill sets they need to be academically successful; and
Whereas, In a New York Times article published on December 16, 2011, one mother expressed her struggle to get her child into a City public pre-kindergarten program; and
Whereas, According to the Times article, the mother was one of 28,817 applicants to apply for the 19,834 seats available in the public pre-kindergarten programs; and
Whereas, That mother's child did not get a seat, and instead of paying the exorbitant tuition of a private preschool, she turned to a co-op preschool, which are generally run, financed, staffed, and administered by a group of parents, usually in one of their homes; and
Whereas, Co-op preschools are sometimes difficult to run because parents may be in conflict as to how the school should be run, and furthermore, co-op preschools that do not file for a permit with the City or run background checks on their staff may be in violation of the New York City Health Code; and
Whereas, Parents should not have to resort to desperate measures to get their children prepared for kindergarten, yet they are willing to take such drastic measures because early intervention is a crucial asset to their children; and
Whereas, The National Institute for Early Education Research, NIEER, performed a study of New Mexico's Pre-K Initiative during the 2007-2008 school year; and
Whereas, The study found that children who attended pre-kindergarten scored higher on assessments of their early math and literacy skills, which included telling time, knowledge of letters, familiarity with words and book concepts compared to children who did not attend pre-kindergarten; and
Whereas, Not only does an early educational program give students an advantage in kindergarten, but also for the rest of their academic career; and
Whereas, In 1986, The National Institutes of Health funded a longitudinal study with the Chicago Child-Parent Center Program (CPC), concerning educational, health and nutritional services to children ages 3 to 9 years; and
Whereas, The study showed students who participated in CPC for a year or two had significant statistical advantage of 5.5 and 4.2 points in standard scores for reading achievements for the age group of 14 and 15 year olds; and
Whereas, Students who participated in the CPC program for five or six years performed at or above the Chicago average in reading and mathematics; and
Whereas, Early intervention programs are also cost-effective and provide a public benefit; and
Whereas, In 2005, the RAND Corporation found that early childhood interventions can generate a return to society ranging from $1.80 to $17.07 for each dollar spent on early childhood intervention because money is not spend on future costs such as remedial classes; and
Whereas, Pre-kindergarten is beneficial to all and children should not be denied access to quality early education intervention because they cannot afford it or because the City cannot provide enough seats; and
Whereas, If New York State requires high quality pre-kindergarten education, then all children will have a better chance to become successful academically and in their adult lives and careers; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon New York State to require that New York City provide full time pre-kindergarten seats to all eligible New York City children.
LS# 3371
JA/JHU
3/9/12