a pre-k classroom.  | ap photo/ted s. warren by eliza shapiro 10/06/16 05:31 am edt for the last three years, mayor bill de blasio has cast his universal pre-kindergarten program <u+2014> his administration<u+2019>s signature initiative and the largest such program in the country <u+2014> as a potential national model. other cities implementing large-scale pre-k programs should come to new york, he<u+2019>s said, to learn how the city pulled off its massive expansion. now, de blasio's goal of teaching other cities how new york does pre-k is becoming a reality. story continued below on thursday, early childhood education administrators and leaders from 13 cities around the country will be in new york city for a day-long <u+201c>learning lab,<u+201d> part of an attempt to share lessons with other cities. some, like philadelphia and boston, have burgeoning universal pre-k programs while others, like tulsa, oklahoma, have long-established but smaller initiatives. representatives from boston, chicago, philadelphia, dayton, ohio, nashville, san francisco, seattle, tulsa, san antonio, salt lake city, mesa, arizona, and montgomery county, maryland, will attend the conference. boston mayor marty walsh visited new york's pre-k programs in late 2014; boston is planning to implement universal pre-k by 2018. new york<u+2019>s pre-k program launched in the fall of 2014, just nine months after de blasio took office. the city has distinguished itself among the growing number of cities offering pre-k for the scope of the program <u+2014> there is a seat available for every 4-year-old <u+2014> and its dramatic growth from 20,000 full-day seats to 53,000 in a year. the program now has more than 70,000 seats. new york, which also has the largest public school system in the nation with more than 1.1 million children, instantly became a magnet for praise and criticism from both sides of the national debate over the value of universal pre-k. president obama, democratic presidential nominee hillary clinton and house democratic leader nancy pelosi have all held up new york<u+2019>s system as a model. <u+201c>we can all learn from it,<u+201d> pelosi said during a visit to a pre-k program in brooklyn this spring. but the program <u+2014> and de blasio himself <u+2014> have also become punching bags for a number of prominent republicans who have rejected the enormous cost universal pre-k commands. former florida governor jeb bush and u.s. sen. ted cruz of texas have described the city<u+2019>s program as a mere vehicle for the local teachers union to hire more staff and grow its membership. fighting back against the conservative platform on pre-k is a central part of what the new national pre-k hive mind is hoping to accomplish. municipal leaders from tulsa, san antonio and philadelphia all spoke in interviews about the urgent need to create political will for a national early childhood education system. but before policies are adopted by congress or the next president, cities will continue to lead the push, leaders say. de blasio, whose forays into national politics have largely flopped, argued that the pre-k consortium could represent a formidable advocacy group. <u+201c>municipal governments must work together to share best practices and lessons learned, and this summit is an essential step in building a strong network of policymakers who, together, will continue to advocate for expanded access to quality early education for every child nationwide,<u+201d> he said in a statement. anne gemmell, director of pre-k for philadelphia, said in a statement, <u+201c>at the eve of an election, cities are convening to do, frankly, what in other countries federal governments are already doing. but because we haven<u+2019>t build up enough political will in this country to have universal pre-k nationwide, it<u+2019>s the local level, cities are saying this is the best strategy to improve our schools.<u+201d> philadelphia is planning a universal pre-k system of its own, but is phasing in the initiative over five years; gemmell said. the city is focusing on training 50 to 100 new pre-k teachers every year, and is looking to new york<u+2019>s workforce development plan for ideas. new york added about 1,000 new pre-k teachers during the first year of the rollout. <u+201c>new york is a couple of years ahead of us and if we could know three years ahead of time what worked and what didn<u+2019>t for new york, that would be a huge benefit for philadelphia and all the other cities doing this,<u+201d> she said. city leaders can trade political war stories about how their respective programs were greenlit. de blasio<u+2019>s original plan to support pre-k through a tax on wealthy new yorkers failed in albany, but the state ultimately granted the city $300 million annually to fund the program. sarah baray, the ceo of pre-k 4 san antonio, said generating widespread support of the city<u+2019>s pre-k initiative was especially difficult in a conservative state, but that advocacy from the business community and a push from former mayor julian castro helped tip the scales. <u+201c>we don<u+2019>t tend to spend a lot of money on social services or public education, and there was tremendous political maneuvering to make this happen,<u+201d> baray said. san antonio has four <u+201c>model<u+201d> pre-k centers across the city, each with about 500 students. the city has established itself as a model of professional development for early childhood educators and for high-quality instruction, but now city leaders are looking to new york as they consider scaling their program. <u+201c>they focused on access, and i want to find out how they did that,<u+201d> baray said. josh wallack, a doe deputy chancellor who oversaw new york<u+2019>s pre-k rollout, said other cities consistently ask how new york scaled so quickly, how it built an outreach team to recruit families all across the city, and how it established a cadre of new teachers, coaches and social workers for pre-k programs in a matter of months. new york officials acknowledge the city<u+2019>s program still has significant challenges of its own. a recent study found that some of new york<u+2019>s pre-k classrooms are more racially segregated than its kindergarten classes, a direct contradiction to city officials<u+2019> claims that pre-k was helping to integrate the city<u+2019>s deeply segregated schools. and while recent independent studies have shown mostly good signs for academic progress among the city<u+2019>s pre-k students, there are still questions about the level quality across all of the city<u+2019>s programs. tulsa, which created universal pre-k in 1998, has served as a model for new york city since universal pre-k was merely a de blasio campaign slogan. steven dow, executive director of the community action project of tulsa, which runs the city's pre-k sites, said he's been impressed by how well new york's pre-k officials did their homework. "when new york decided to implement pre-k at a scale that was unprecedented, they did really an excellent job of looking at the programs where early childhood had been implemented with successful results, and where the promise of early childhood programs really hadn't been delivered upon," dow said. thursday<u+2019>s conference will include a keynote address from city schools chancellor carmen fari<u+00f1>a, deputy mayor richard buery and wallack. the city will then host presentations on outreach and enrollment, access and readiness, and quality-building. <u+201c>what we did in new york city is testament to the role municipal governments can play in promoting equity and keeping the american dream within reach for the next generation,<u+201d> buery said in a statement. a free synopsis of our pro morning email about new york education policy and politics a free synopsis of our pro morning email about new york energy policy and politics a free synopsis of our pro morning email about new york health care policy and politics a free synopsis of our pro morning email about new york real estate policy and politics our morning email with must-read analysis and breaking news on state news and politics a morning email with must-read analysis and breaking news on city news and politics. a weekly round-up of legislation in city council for politics and policy professionals. a reported briefing on money in politics, executive moves, and trends in communications, lobbying and consulting. our twice-a-week digest of news on courts and the law in new york azi paybarah and jimmy vielkind's must-read briefing informing the daily conversation among knowledgeable new yorkers.
city hall seeks to influence national pre-k policy with new coalition
eliza shapiro