New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio
New York City Mayor
Bill de Blasio's schools chancellor, Carmen Farina, is already making significant changes:
The chancellor, Carmen Fariña, in describing the Education Department’s $12.8 billion capital plan, said she would seek to redirect $210 million that had been reserved for classroom space for charter schools and other nonprofit groups. The money, spread out over five years, would instead be used to create thousands of new prekindergarten seats, helping fulfill Mr. de Blasio’s signature campaign promise.
Not just pre-K, either:
“We have a lot of priorities in education. One of the things I've talked about a lot over the last year is the over-crowded areas of the city. Central Queens, Lower Manhattan, obviously north shore of Staten Island,” [de Blasio] said. “We have a number of areas that are really problematic in terms of schools, overcrowded schools, we even have wait lists in some areas.”
And more: