City Begins Hiring Teachers For New Pre-Kindergarten Programs
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- School may be out for kids, but it remained in session Monday for city education officials now in the process of hiring pre-kindergarten teachers.
"We want parents to know that we're going now to make sure that whatever classroom they find for their child, there will be a fantastic pre-K teacher in that classroom for them," said Deputy Mayor Rich Buery.
Buery explained that more than 2,000 teachers applied for 1,000 slots. But parents also have an assignment in finding the right pre-K program for their child.
"Parents have to do their homework, and we may for them, though," he said.
A website has been set up, and parents can also text 877877 or call 311.
Mayor Bill de Blasio's signature campaign pledge was to fund universal pre-kindergarten and expanded after-school programs for middle-schoolers with a tax hike on the city's wealthy.
When that idea died in Albany, the state government stepped in with $300 million for pre-K but little for the after-school programs, prompting the mayor to proposing spending $145 million in the next fiscal year to expand programs for nearly 100,000 children.
The city budget released this month set a goal of 53,000 pre-K seats by September.
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