Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to get essential news about NYC’s public schools delivered to your inbox.As her 2-year-old son bounded into his brightly colored Brooklyn preschool classroom on Thursday morning, Mirlene Casimir lingered on the outskirts of the room with other parents.It was a bittersweet moment for Casimir, a nurse and the daughter of Haitian immigrants. Her son was part of the inaugural class of New York City’s new childcare program for 2-year-olds. The free 2-K program at the Friends of Crown Heights center in East Flatbush, which runs from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. year-round, would save her money she could spend on her mortgage and student loans, she said. It would allow her to cut back on overtime shifts. She hoped it would also help her son, who doesn’t speak much English at home, with his language skills. Mirlene Casimir after dropping her son off at 2-K.Across four boroughs, roughly 2,000 toddlers began the school year Thursday as part of the 2-K program that Mayor Zohran Mamdani has made a centerpiece of his affordability agenda. Mamdani is betting big that the program, which opened in every borough except Staten Island, can make a dent in the often crushing costs of childcare for city families and keep some from leaving the city. He plans to expand the program to 12,000 kids by next fall, and bring it citywide by the end of his first term. “While this morning has brought a new kind of stress to thousands of young families across the city, it is the stress of excitement and new beginnings, not the stress of wondering whether they can afford to be here at all,” Mamdani said Thursday morning at a press conference in Washington Heights with Gov. Kathy Hochul and schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels.Hochul, who has pledged state funding for the program next year, but not after that, said she was optimistic that the state would find a way to continue supporting it.“We’ll keep it going,” she said. “You don’t start something this incredible and stop it.”Casimir had previously relied on her parents to watch her son, so Thursday was the first time sending him outside of the house for childcare. She was having a hard time saying goodbye. “I’m very nervous, but I’m trusting the teachers here,” she said.Soon, a staffer announced it was time for caregivers to depart. “Detach, detach — come on, mommies, daddies!” family worker Lisa Joseph-Mayers bellowed.Payment delay problems loomReminders of the challenges still dogging the 2-K program weren’t far away. The Dominican Women’s Development Center, the organization that runs the 2-K program Mamdani and Hochul visited Thursday morning, is still waiting for contracts with the city Education Department to be finalized and for a city-issued loan to arrive, Executive Director Marielys Divanne said.“Community-based organizations simply cannot deliver without the payments necessary to pay our staff and keep our doors open,” she said.Typically, programs contracting with the city Education Department get a chunk of their funding in advance of the school year to help with startup costs. But many providers were still waiting for their contracts to be approved by the Education Department in the weeks leading up to the school year, pushing some to the brink of closure, the New York Times found.Providers were still waiting for payments on Thursday, with some even delaying opening their programs because of a lack of funds, according to reports Thursday.Delays in the Education Department’s system for approving early childhood education contracts are longstanding, and grew worse because of steep staffing cuts in the Division of Early Childhood Education, officials said. That office shrunk from nearly 1,200 staffers at the beginning of 2022 to fewer than 500 in August, 2024, according to the Education Department.Mamdani announced a new effort last week to speed up contract reviews and loan applications and bolster the staff in the Education Department’s Division of Early Childhood Education. Officials also announced earlier this week a new deputy chancellor to oversee that division. The Education Department has approved more than 500 contracts and issued more than 300 loans, Mamdani said. Programs applying for a new loan will receive their funds within five business days, he added.Divanne said that the recent efforts to speed up the contract and loan process seem to be bearing fruit. “We are beginning to see movement and greater intentionality around contracting, and that is encouraging,” she said.Triana Nuñez, a staffer at one of the programs run by the Dominican Women’s Development Center, said she was excited to welcome a new group of 2-year-olds, including her younger sister, Jayilani.“It’s going to help us a lot financially,” she said, allowing their dad to get to work earlier and their stepmom to resume working full time at a daycare.Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.
