No matter what end of the political spectrum you fall on, almost all scholars agree that education is crucial for our society’s children. Studies have also shown that the earlier a child is exposed to education and learning, the better they will be in the long run. However, funding for schools, much less funding for any early childhood or pre-k programs has decreased drastically.

That is why the fact that New York City introducing free, public universal pre-k for all of the city’s children is groundbreaking. What is even more shocking is the fact that it happened fairly quietly, with little national fanfare.

To give you an idea of the scope of New York City and it’s universal pre-k program, we will need to compare it to other states. The population of New York City alone (not the state) is around 8,500,000.

If you were ranking that amongst the state populations of every state in the Union, New York City would rank #12. Only California, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York State (still at 11.5 million even without the city), Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, and New Jersey would rank in front of New York City for population.

Within that population, New York City is home to 1.1 million public school students. When the New York City Department of Education added universal pre-k to their public schools, the total enrollment for the pre-k alone was over 68,500.

Again, to give you perspective, the number of pre-k students alone enrolled in public school in New York City is close to the same number of all public school students enrolled in Washington, D.C. or Vermont.

The fact that the Mayor of New York City was able to provide public school education and funding for all of these pre-k students is to be highly commended. While the outcome has not been perfect (as with any large scale plan), this universal pre-k program differs from many states in the fact that it is also a full-day program. Many other states do offer half-day pre-k programs. However, those programs may not reach many of the children who are likely to benefit from them the most. As a parent or guardian would need to come pick up the child or drop them off during the day, those parents or guardians with full-time jobs are often unable to do this.

With providing all-day universal pre-k, the city of New York allows parents to go to work for the full day and allow their children to learn. Even better, the learning is free of charge, unlike a day care facility.

As this program continues to grow and succeed, it will be very important for other education leaders to take up the standard to provide these services to more children. One of the most important things that we can do as a country is to ensure the next generation is well educated – and that begins with universal pre-k.

Featured image via WikiCommons. This image is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here