New York City Schools Chancellor Says He’s ‘fighting Like Heck’ To Undo Cuts To Pre-kindergarten

NEW YORK — In an unexpected announcement, New York City schools Chancellor David Banks on Monday revealed he’s “fighting like heck” to reverse cuts to the city’s preschool program — a sign political opposition to Mayor Eric Adams’ rollbacks is gaining ground.

Calling the administration’s own cuts “extremely hurtful to the entire enterprise of early childhood,” Banks told City Council members during a preliminary budget hearing that City Hall shares his view. “This is a major priority for us. I have personally been in deep conversation with the mayor and the mayor’s office around early childhood. … I am fighting like heck to make sure that those cuts are restored.”

The city Department of Education is awaiting a report expected in early April from consulting firm Accenture on how many seats should be in each neighborhood. But he expressed confidence that the city will have “really good news” in the coming weeks.

Banks also acknowledged the growing demand among parents. “This notion that we are going to have these cuts remain in place to the detriment of our community and our parents who need it so desperately — this is a priority for me,” he added.

Amaris Cockfield, a City Hall spokesperson, defended the administration’s work, including delivering “billions of dollars” in investments in early child care. Cockfield also said the administration navigated a $7 billion budget gap without layoffs, tax hikes or significant service disruptions.

“We will continue to work with the Council as we go through the budget process,” Cockfield said in a statement.

The about-face comes months after Banks and Adams’ long-standing position that former Mayor Bill de Blasio — the architect of the popular pre-kindergarten program — mismanaged the system. Officials have pointed to an oversaturation of seats in some districts and a dearth in others.

As of December, 25,000 preschool seats were unfilled — 10,000 in the city’s 3K program for 3-year-olds and 15,000 traditional pre-K seats — according to figures previously provided by the DOE. That has been the city’s rationale for $170 million in reductions to 3K and prekindergarten. (There’s also $93 million in sunsetting federal stimulus dollars supporting 3K).

“It is a complex issue in terms of that,” the chancellor argued. “It has in fact been a misallocation of seats. So we still stand very firmly by that. And when the report from Accenture comes out, we’ll have a much greater degree of clarity around that.”

The potential budget reversal is the latest indication the mayor is worried about the direction in which political winds are blowing — and could further empower the Council, which has blasted the cuts as unnecessary, in upcoming budget negotiations.

Adams previously restored $10 million in funding for community schools — schools that work with local groups to provide services such as health care, mentoring and adult education — following a lawsuit from the city’s teachers union. Additionally, he announced an allocation of $80 million in city funding for a summer learning and enrichment program. He also reversed cuts to the police, fire and sanitation departments as well as a job training program after the city’s largest municipal union sued him.

Adams has been facing political fallout from those proposed cuts. Current and would-be parents and left-leaning political opponents have seized on the backlash as the mayor gears up for reelection next year. Council Speaker Adrienne Adams has also made it clear that 3K and early childhood education are chief among her budget priorities.

But even as lawmakers seemed encouraged by the news, they weren’t celebrating just yet.

Council Member Lincoln Restler pointed to under-enrollment in 3K and pre-K, citing data he received from the DOE last week. Restler, along with Council Members Rita Joseph and Jennifer Gutiérrez, sent a letter to Banks in January requesting the data.

There were also more applicants for 3K than students enrolled in 19 of the city’s 32 school districts, he said. And just 40 percent of extended day and year 3K seats — additional hours and summer sessions — were filled.

"We are doing a terrible job at actually reaching out to families … and connecting them to full-day, free child care, an educational opportunity that they desperately need,” Restler said. “We are under-enrolling in every single district in New York City.”

The heads of the city’s principal and teachers unions also sounded the alarm.

"New York City has the money to invest in its school system, but this administration right now is choosing not to invest at the appropriate level," United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew said.

First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg said the goal is to provide every child with a seat, but there’s no guarantee families will receive their top choice. But he also said it’s “ultimately a budget question.”

Kara Ahmed, the DOE’s deputy chancellor of early childhood education, for her part, said the DOE has transferred more than 7,000 unused seats to match parent demand. More than 270 children have benefited from extended day hours following an agreement between the mayor and the Council.

"Our team has continued to do the work to shift unused seats,” Ahmed said. “There was a misallocation of seats, that's what we inherited and we've been shifting them for about a year and a half.”