The head of New York City’s public education is calling the city’s universal 3-K and pre-kindergarten system a mess and says, right now, it is not available to all New Yorkers, like the name implies.

There are 40,000 empty seats at some 3-K and pre-K providers around the city, Department of Education Chancellor David Banks said at a press conference Thursday morning. On the other hand, he noted, other providers have waiting lists for kids to get in.

“We literally have providers who got contracts for 50 students, 100 students but have no students,” he said. “They have no students!”

What You Need To Know

  • DOE says there are 40,000 empty slots for early childhood education, yet other providers have waiting lists

  • Chancellor David Banks says that is because the child care centers are not where all the demand is centered

  • The city admits there has been a delay in getting providers paid what they are owed

  • Some providers have had to take out loans, pull from personal savings or even close down because they were waiting on payments from the city

Banks said they will be analyzing how to better meet the demand with answers in the spring.

That’s just one part of what Banks called a “dysfunctional” system.

There have been delays in providers getting paid, something city leaders say they’re working to fix.

“There has been a crisis in late payments in early childhood programs,” said Gregory Brender, the head of policy at Day Care Council of New York, a nonprofit that assists more than 200 child care sites in the city.

Brender said providers are having to take out loans and even close down because the city has not paid them what they’re owed.

“People go into early childhood education because they love children and they care about their communities,” he said. “And so to hear that people are actually not getting paid for the work they have done is really shocking and is not where we should be as a city.”

Sasha Maslouski was one of those providers in financial trouble. She runs Snapdragon Place, a child care center in Brooklyn.

She said she had to dip into her savings because the city hadn’t paid her anything since school started two months ago.

“It’s just very very stressful,” she said.

She spoke with NY1 a few weeks ago. The same day the story aired, she said the city approved her contract.

The city said it now has a rapid-response team to help make sure payments happen faster.

Maslouski said she is not convinced the city has done enough to make sure she will get paid on time next time.

“I do not see it happening already, so if anything, this should have already been happening over the summer to prepare for September, so September hits we are operating efficiently,” she said.

Banks places the blame on the de Blasio administration for the current state of universal 3-K and pre-K, saying providers and parents need to know these problems can’t be fixed overnight.

But he said these issues need to be fixed as soon as possible.

Banks said a lot of the ramp up we’ve seen for universal pre-k and 3-K was funded from federal COVID-19 relief stimulus.

The chancellor added there’s concern about funding long term and are looking to the City Council and the state legislature for help down the road.