Dear Friends,
Yesterday, I laid out a new vision for how New York can
create one of the best-trained, best-educated workforces in the
world. That goal may
sound ambitious - it is. Yet it is also within our reach - and it is
essential to the economic future of our city and our middle class.
New York is facing a dramatically different economic landscape than the one we faced even a decade ago. The competition for jobs is coming from all corners - from smaller business hubs like Salt Lake City to major financial centers like Singapore, London, Shanghai and Hong Kong. "Business as usual" will not take us where we need to go - we need to start aggressively investing in the future today.
Education must be the cornerstone of our strategy for economic growth and restoring the middle class.
We cannot succeed as a city if students are not prepared to learn on their first day of school and spend years playing catch-up. We cannot succeed when thousands of kids stop learning every day when the 3pm bell rings. Our children need a deeper education that starts sooner and runs longer.
- Under my plan, all four-year olds would be eligible for Early Education for the first time in New York City's history, closing a gap of nearly 50,000 children who currently receive inadequate part-time Pre-K, or no Pre-K at all.
- In addition, we can aggressively expand learning time for two-thirds of middle school students with rigorous academic, cultural and athletic programs from 3pm to 6pm. These after-school programs keep our kids off the streets and out of harm's way while their parents are working.
These new programs carry costs - $532 million to be precise - and I've outlined the funding mechanisms to accomplish this. Leveraging existing resources will help, but we will also need to ask New Yorkers who are doing well and earning more than $500,000 per year to pay a little more to help ensure every child in the five boroughs has an opportunity to succeed. To learn more, visit http://advocate.nyc.gov/our-future
According to the
US Department of Education, 60% of the jobs in the 21st Century will
require skills held by only 20% of the current workforce. Let's not wait
to see if New York can fill this void, let's begin investing in our
future and rebuilding our middle class today.
Thanks,
Bill de Blasio
NYC Public Advocate
P.S. I would love your feedback on this plan. You can email
me at ideas@pubadvocate.nyc.gov or
send me a note on Facebook or Twitter .d