If you're ever thought about having children in New York City, then this will make you seriously consider moving to Hipsturbia: The demand to get into the Department of Education's pre-kindergarten program is so high that in some neighborhoods, the ratios of students to seats is eight to one.
The Daily News reports that today "is the first day to apply for a slot — but the city is struggling to meet demand, particularly in Manhattan and Queens, according to Education Department data. The city invested $20 million this year to add 4,000 full-day pre-K seats in needy neighborhoods, a department spokeswoman said." Spokeswoman Erin Hughes emphasized, "We have more pre-K now than ever in the city's history." But NYC also has lots of kids—and parents who are interested in free pre-K!
The 8:1 student:seat ratio is from Bay Ridge, and the News adds, "Public School 89 in Battery Park City had a pre-K admission rate of 7%, making it tougher to get into than some Ivy League colleges." (Harvard's acceptance rate was 5.9% last year.) If you further want to depress yourselves, look at the pre-K admissions stats DNAinfo gathered—at P.S. 87 on the Upper West Side, the acceptance rate is 3%!
Obviously the various mayoral hopefuls have stuff to say—Public Advocate Bill de Blasio argues that the rich should pay higher taxes to fund more pre-K seats, while City Comptroller John Liu says the city leaves lots of state pre-K funding unused. John Catsimatidis, a Republican candidate, told the News, "The professional politicians say, 'Damn, just raise the taxes,' but that's wrong. There is so much waste in the Department of Education that as a businessperson I want to puke." Well, some parents just want to puke because they have to shell out four-to-five figures a year on private pre-K!
