NYC mayor calls for pre-K for all 3-year-olds

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - Mayor Bill de Blasio is proposing free, full-day pre-kindergarten for all 3-year-old children in New York by the fall of 2021. The new plan is referred to 3-K for All. It will get youngsters into an environment that supports their academic and social development a year earlier when they are young, impressionable and ready to grow.

The program will roll out in fall 2017 in the South Bronx and Brownsville, Brooklyn, with 11,000 free, full-day, high-quality seats. It will then expand citywide. It is part of a larger effort by the city to try to increase high school graduation rates.

The pilot program would cost $36 million. That cost would rise to $177 million when it expands. The state and the federal government would have to contribute to making it a reality.