New York City has roughly 100,000 four-year-olds. Newly-inaugurated mayor Bill de Blasio is leading the charge to provide universal pre-kindergarten services for 68 percent of them in an ambitious plan that seeks to ride the coattails of his recent victory in the polls.
The preschool plan calls for the New York State Legislature to raise income taxes on city residents making more than $500,000 per year, which he calls "a negligable sacrifice for a transformative social good." Proponents of expanded preschool -- both in local municipalities and nationwide, as President Obama called on nearly a year ago in his 2013 State of the Union Address -- argue that full-day prekindergarten is a smart investment in growing minds, readying children to be prepared learners when they are best equipped to start learning. It's better to fix any potential learning problems at age 4 than later.
Specifically, the proposal would generate $530 million over five years by raising taxes on income above $500,000 a year to 4.4 percent from almost 3.9 percent. For the 27,300 city taxpayers earning $500,000 to $1 million, the average increase would be $973 a year, according to the Independent Budget Office.
"That's less than three bucks a day -- about the cost of a small soy latte at your local Starbucks," de Blasio said of the plan on New Year's Day when he was sworn into office by former President Bill Clinton. "We do not ask more of the wealthy to punish success; we do it to create more success stories."
Opponents cite a lack of physical space for such an expansion, as well as having to embark on a hiring spree of able teachers to handle the influx. A vocal critic of charter schools, the Democratic mayor admits that he may have to embrace them to meet the need. In the statehouse, fellow Democrat Andrew Cuomo supports the initiative but is concerned that convincing Republicans to raise taxes will be a non-starter. Republican senator Dean Skelos of Long Island likes the idea of universal pre-k, but insists that there is room in the Empire State's $70 billion budget without the tax hike.
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