Mayor Adams and the City Council are expected to restore $514 million in spending to save 3-K and other education programs previously funded by expiring pandemic aid, according to a City Hall source.
Close to $1 billion in federal stimulus is still propping up the public school system this year, including key Adams administration priorities such as dyslexia services, special education preschool programs and school safety partnerships with outside organizations.
Those initiatives and more — including at least some 3-K program slots — will receive additional funds in the executive budget to be released next week. With the aid expiring, the programs were at risk.
“This covers some, but not all” of the programs, said the source.
Adams, Speaker Adams and Schools Chancellor David Banks are expected to announce the partial restorations at P.S. 34 Franklin D. Roosevelt in Alphabet City this afternoon.
The city’s public schools have received $7 billion in temporary funding since the pandemic.
Parents who, in an increasingly unaffordable city, are wondering whether all families who want a free preschool seat will get one, have been rallying for the restoration of 3-K funding.
On Thursday, members of the Council with young kids formed a “New Parents Caucus” to push Adams to reverse the preschool cuts.
The Education Department’s early childhood division faced two rounds of cutbacks for next school year that, combined with the looming fiscal cliff as federal pandemic aid expires, amounted to an almost $263-million funding gap.
