More than 5,700 families applied for New York City’s inaugural preschool program for 2-year-olds — nearly three times the number of available seats, city officials said.
Just over 2,000 toddlers will receive a 2-K offer on Tuesday, with about half getting their top-ranked program, city officials said. The program, which begins in September across five school districts, is a key part of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s vision for building a universal childcare system and is buoyed by a two-year funding commitment from Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“The overwhelming demand for 2-K shows what families across the city have known for years: New Yorkers need free, universal child care, and they need it now,” Mamdani said in a statement.
Families who have other children in the same programs and live in the school district were prioritized for placement, city officials said. Parents have until the end of August to accept their offers and Mamdani administration officials said they are working to add additional capacity to meet the need.
“2,000 families are going to click on their inbox, and their lives will change forever,” Hochul said at a press conference Tuesday morning at Bedrock Preschool in the Bronx. “All of a sudden, the burden lifted off your chest, and you look at that pile of bills and say, ‘Maybe I actually can make these payments this month.’”
City officials said most of the 2-K seats will run the full day, for 8 or 10 hours, and the full year. That’s unlike the city’s other preschool programs for 3- and 4-year-olds that typically run September through June and offer 6 hours of covered care.
The school districts that will launch 2-K this fall include parts of Upper Manhattan, the Bronx, Southeast Queens, and Central and Eastern Brooklyn. Next year, the city plans to expand seat offerings to 12,000 children and include Staten Island.
Of the families who received a placement, 82% were placed in one of their top three choices, the city said. Families who did not receive an offer can join the waitlist. Families who didn’t apply can also join the waitlist for programs.
“The demand is so high. I know there's been a bit of a narrative lately saying that there's not a demand, and this number clearly refutes that,” said Rebecca Bailin, founder and executive director of New Yorkers United for Child Care.
“It demonstrates that the city and the state need to figure out how to, if possible, speed it up and certainly make sure to fund it for the long run, but it also breaks my heart,” for families who won’t get placements, Bailin added.
Application numbers released by the city for its existing 3-K and pre-K programs showed demand was flat this year despite a marketing blitz by the administration to encourage parents to sign up.
To promote the new 2-K program, city officials said they hosted a 2K for 2-K run, launched a jingle contest with Bronx rapper CardiB and traveled across the city to outreach families during the application period.
The 2-K announcement also comes after Simone Hawkins, deputy chancellor of early childhood education at the New York City Public Schools, announced she will step down in September.
