City Council Speaker Christine Quinn wants to make sure that New York City school children have a leg up when they enter first grade by making kindergarten mandatory.
In her 2012 State of the City address, Quinn pointed out, “Every year, nearly 3,000 5-year-olds in New York City don’t enroll in kindergarten. Not pre-K–kindergarten. You may be as surprised as I was to learn that kindergarten isn’t mandatory. That means thousands of kids enter first grade every year having never set foot in a classroom. Most of them are kids who need kindergarten the most,” she said.
Quinn cites children for whom English is not a first language, children with special needs, foster children and those in transitional housing as being the ones least likely to be enrolled in kindergarten while being the ones most in need of the preparation kindergarten provides before they enter first grade. The city currently has more than 500 preschool and kindergarten classes.
“We’re working with the state to pass a bill allowing New York City to make kindergarten mandatory,” Quinn said in her address.
But it won’t be cheap. Mayor Michael Bloomberg responded to Quinn’s proposal on WOAR-AM’s “The John Gambling Show” saying, “City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s proposal to get more kids into kindergarten could cost about $30 million a year. More education for kids is something that we all should be in favor of. The question, really, is where the money comes from.”
Additionally, extra classroom time, though much needed, still might not be enough, according to the mayor.
“The requirements in the marketplace keep getting tougher every day, so even if we improve the schools and give the kids more time in the classroom every day, we have to run very hard just to stay even, and even is not enough,” he said. “You know a lot of people can’t get work.”
However, getting the city’s nearly 3,000 5-year-olds into kindergarten is a crucial step in helping students get the best start to their education. The Department of Education, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott and Council Member Steve Levin fully support Quinn’s proposal for mandatory kindergarten.
Levin told the AmNews, “Early learning is extraordinarily important because we know that the sooner kids start learning, the better their chances of long-term academic success. Having the support of Speaker Quinn is always important, and thousands of New York City children are going to benefit from our advocacy and her leadership. We can’t leave more than 3,000 children out of school. We just can’t do it, and I am proud to be a part of the solution.”
As good as this proposal sounds, it comes down to dollars. It will have to be approved by state lawmakers who, in the past, have opposed the measure due to costs.
Levin and Quinn are currently considering a number of legislative strategies.