NEW YORK — The city’s education department promises pre-K for all. But it wasn’t a promise kept for Comfort Mensah’s son Gabriel, who has autism.

“The goal was to find a placement for him in a special school. And that was a struggle with the Department of Education, they were not helping me, they were not calling me back, emailing me back. I was very frustrated, very overwhelmed,” Mensah said.

She isn’t alone. City data shows about 1,200 special needs students went without pre-kindergarten last school year, a shortage that has persisted for years, in part because many special education pre-K teachers are paid less than other teachers.

“The special education teachers, who serve some of the city’s most vulnerable children, students with the most intensive needs, are going to be some of the lowest paid teachers in the city. And what’s likely is that they’re going to leave their jobs at the preschools special education programs for higher paying jobs elsewhere,” said Betty Baez Melo, director of the Early Childhood Education Project at Advocates for Children.

Gabriel is one of the victims of this system.

Mensah says first, she struggled to get him connected to early intervention services. He aged out of that program when he turned three, and was eligible for pre-K this school year. But the city couldn’t find him a seat that offered the small class sizes and services he needs, like occupational therapy.

“They told me you have to just do remote, and the remote wasn't working. And we tried the OT on Zoom, he wouldn't sit still behind the computer screen,” she said.

Finally, she found out about the organization Advocates for Children, and they helped secure her a placement for Garbiel in April.

“He went from non-verbal to non-stop talking,” she said.

He’s also become more social -- at the park, he plays and shares with two little girls he’s never met before.

“Before he wouldn't even like, you know, sitting next to other kids,” Mensah said.

Mensah says she did the best she could in the time she waited for pre-K.

“At home I had to do what I can do, which is read to him every single day, every single night,” she said.

But she wonders what would be different if the city had delivered on its promises.

One reason the pre-K special education teachers are so underpaid is that they were left out of a salary parity agreement the city struck two years ago, which put other pre-K teachers at community-based organizations on the same pay scale as those working at Education Department pre-K programs.

Advocates for Children, along with dozens of other organizations, have penned a letter to City Hall asking them to extend the pay parity agreement to the special needs teachers, too.

The Education Department points to new seats it’s adding for special needs students, including integrated seats that allow them to learn alongside general education peers, though advocates say it’s the students who need more specialized settings that are the most in need.

An education department spokeswoman said, “Every child deserves access to a strong start and the services they need, and the city’s investment in preschool special education will create hundreds of new special class seats, hire additional teachers, and more. Our commitment to serving families in this moment has not wavered; we’re adding 345 integrated seats for three-year olds in September and offering interim special education services and programs for any student awaiting a seat."