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| TEACH THE TODDLERS
By WILLIAM C. THOMPSON Jr. and GAIL B. NAYOWITH
The following article was published in the New York Times on Sunday, August 25. . Gail B. Nayowith is the executive director of the Citizens’ Committee for Children, an advocacy group.
IN 1997, Albany passed legislation that was supposed to make publicly financed prekindergarten classes available to every 4-year-old in the state. A decade later, New York City has fallen far short of that goal. This school year, at least 17,000 city children will not get slots in the high-demand program.
That’s strange, because New York State has offered the city an additional $61.5 million to expand prekindergarten classes. This money would pay for about 18,000 more half-day slots in the program, which currently serves 48,000 children, and it would go a long way toward reaching the 70,000 seats that the city estimates it will need to meet demand.
Unfortunately, the city’s Department of Education plans to use less than half of this new money, and to add only about 5,000 seats. Why? Because the department has publicly complained that the money would cover only half-day programs, implying that only full-day programs will do. Given that over half the existing slots are half-day and parents are using them, this doesn’t seem like a convincing justification for not spending the money. We agree that many parents might prefer full-day programs, but many would say that a half-day of prekindergarten is better than none at all.
New York City needs to take universal prekindergarten programs seriously. Widely embraced by educators and parents alike as excellent preparation for primary school, it is also a good investment. Many psychologists believe that children’s early exposure to structured education is critical for developing cognitive abilities that will allow them to be successful in academics, and ultimately in their careers. By helping children get “on track” early, we reduce the need for expensive tutoring and other supplementary support programs in primary school. A study by the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation shows that for every $1 spent on early education, $7 is saved in other costs associated with child welfare, special education and crime.
Moreover, kindergarten is not what it used to be. Five-year-olds are now expected to enter school with a rudimentary mastery of reading, writing and math. As a result, they need the preparation that prekindergarten can offer. More and more working parents in the city are paying for private preschool in the absence of universal prekindergarten programs, not simply as a day-care option, but to prepare their children for the rigors of kindergarten and for success in school.
Of course, much of the problem with offering prekindergarten classes is a matter of space. Many of the city’s schools simply don’t have room to expand. Indeed, more than half of all universal prekindergarten students are in classrooms at community-based organizations under contract with the Department of Education.
The key to expansion lies in identifying a larger pool of community-based partners and setting up a more accessible and better publicized contracting process that would allow them to come online in the coming months. One place to start might be with the organizations that already work with the city’s Administration for Children’s Services, many of which run Head Start and day-care programs. Those facilities and staffs can easily be adapted to meet the universal prekindergarten standards, allowing at least 4,000 children to quickly be brought into the program (and with no risk to Head Start financing).
At root, what the city needs is a comprehensive plan developed by the Department of Education to expand universal prekindergarten. Such a plan would include an analysis of available seats in school and community-based settings able to absorb more students. It also seems likely that new classrooms might have to be added to accommodate the program. How many? In which neighborhoods? These needs should be factored into the department’s capital program. The expansion also places new administrative and oversight demands on the Department of Education. How will the department meet these demands? These are complicated questions that need to be answered.
We have been firm supporters of mayoral control over the city’s educational system, in part because we believed that it would provide greater agility for meeting complex challenges like these. The expansion of universal prekindergarten is precisely the kind of opportunity that Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Department of Education should act on to show New Yorkers that the solution to this problem is not out of reach. |
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| THOMPSON IDENTIFIES $728 MILLION TO ELIMINATE 2008 AND 2009 FARE HIKES
Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. unveiled a report identifying $728 million in revenue sources to help the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) put the brakes on proposed subway and bus fare hikes.
“We simply must look at any and all sources of revenue that can be applied to eliminate – or at least to minimize – any fare or toll increase in the immediate future,” Thompson said. “Every day, we learn of yet another steep increase – whether it’s housing, fuel, even groceries - that keeps working New Yorkers from making ends meet.”
He added: “The extra cost to New York City and New York State would be recognition of the importance of mass transit as an economic engine and supports a larger vision to shift travel from private vehicles to mass transit.”
The MTA recently unveiled its preliminary financial plan for the coming year. Continued extraordinary growth in transactional real estate taxes and robust receipts from other economically sensitive taxes dedicated to transit funding have eliminated a previously projected 2008 budget gap and greatly reduced the 2009 gap. In its plan, the MTA proposed fare and toll increases next year to begin to reduce out-year gaps.
In the report, “Putting the Brakes on the Bus and Subway Fare: Options for Eliminating Fare Increases in 2008 and 2009,” Thompson called for a series of revenue measures that could close the projected gap for 2009 without near-term fare and toll hikes and still fund proposed service enhancements and maintenance spending increases.
The report is available at www.comptroller.nyc.gov.
All of the recommended additional revenue comes from existing dedicated tax funds or subsidy programs, primarily from restoring revenue transferred from NYCT in previous years or from formula payment programs which the State has capped at levels below what NYCT is eligible to receive. |
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THOMPSON: MODERATE-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS MOST LIKELY TO LEAVE NYC
Twice as many people move out of New York City to other parts of the country than migrate here each year, and those most likely to stay put are households earning $60,000 to $140,000 per year, according to the Comptroller’s review of 2005 population data.
In his new Economic Notes, Comptroller Thompson found that the city lost nearly 300,000 residents in 2005 to other parts of the country, while less than half as many people made the reverse relocation.
The analysis - available at www.comptroller.nyc.gov – found that the region’s population boost has been driven by immigration from abroad and because the number of births exceeded deaths, and that moderate-income families earning between $40,000 and $60,000 annually were the most likely to leave the five boroughs.
“When these moderate-income households do leave the city, they tend to move out of the metropolitan area entirely, indicating they may be seeking better job opportunities as well as more affordable housing,” Thompson said. “Only 28 percent move within New York State, to New Jersey or to Connecticut.”
Additionally, households earning $140,000 or more were disproportionately more likely to leave the city, representing 11 percent of non-elderly city households but 13 percent of households who leave. Thompson noted, however, that 60 percent of them stay in the tri-state region. Further, he noted, middle-income households earning $60,000 to $149,999 were the least likely to leave New York City.
Thompson’s report also assessed New York City’s economic conditions for the first half of 2007. The report noted that despite the risks posed by a slumping national housing market, subprime mortgage delinquencies, high energy prices and restrictive Federal Reserve policy, the city’s economy expanded during this period and its economic growth outpaced the nation’s and is expected to do so during the remainder of 2007. |
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THOMPSON: FAMILY DOLLAR STORES NEEDS TO REVIEW PRODUCT SAFETY
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View Resolution (pdf)
Comptroller Thompson, on behalf of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, has filed a shareholder proposal demanding that Family Dollar Stores thoroughly investigate whether it is stocking its shelves with dangerous goods.
“Recent reports of toxic and hazardous products imported to the U.S. from overseas including toothpaste, toys, tires, pet food, and other products, have led to increased concern among consumers, regulators, and lawmakers about the safety of many products sold by U.S. retailers,” Thompson said. “I am urging Family Dollar Stores to take these concerns seriously, and to make sure that no one is placed in danger by purchasing an unsafe product. Consumers have a right to expect that what they spend their hard-earned dollars on will not harm them in any way.”
The proposal asks Family Dollar Stores to “publish a report (by July 1, 2008) evaluating Company policies and procedures for systematically minimizing customers’ exposure to toxic substances and hazardous components in its marketed products.”
Family Dollar Stores annually markets millions of dollars worth of imported products at its more than 6,300 stores in the United States. Over the last several years the company has had to recall a number of dangerous imported products, including children's bracelets containing high levels of lead, dangerously flammable Halloween costumes and Christmas tree ornaments, and faulty electronic extension cords and home appliances.
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