![A class of pre-schoolers from Bais Yaakov of Bensonhurst](https://media.wnyc.org/i/800/0/c/85/photologue/photos/kidsinsukkah.jpg)
An umbrella group for the modern Orthodox Jewish community is claiming Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration has made it too difficult for Jewish day schools to join in the city’s universal pre-kindergarten expansion.
The Orthodox Union Advocacy Center placed ads in Jewish publications this week stating that the mayor “refuses to make changes that would enable New York City’s Jewish community to fully participate in UPK.” The story was first reported in the New York Daily News.
The beef is that all community groups, including religious organizations, must provide six hours and 20 minutes daily secular instruction in order to qualify for full-day pre-k funding. Jewish schools that wanted to teach religious content would have to tack on extra hours, making the school day too long for young children.
Maury Litwack, Orthodox Union’s Director of State Political Affairs, estimated that 8,000 students attend pre-k at private Jewish day schools in New York City. Most of these are not government funded; tuition runs close to $10,000 a year.
“The full-day program, which is the mayor’s premier program, has less than 11 percent of our kids in it,” he said, citing the required more than six hours of secular instruction as the problem.
The city is unwilling to shrink the number of hours in a full-day program to five, the state's minimum requirement.
This is why Litwack acknowledged his campaign is really aimed at securing more half-day pre-k seats which isn't a new position. Jewish groups have been lobbying for more part-time seats since the fall. They want to use government funds for the secular part of their day while also leaving enough time for privately funded Judaic instruction.
The number of half-day seats has declined. New York City currently offers 16,000 half-day pre-k seats, a reduction from last year’s 24,000. City Hall spokesman Wiley Norvell said these seats will continue to remain in the mix, but full-day seats remain a priority.
“We’re looking very closely at this year’s enrollment patterns and where we still have demand to meet for full-day seats,” he stated.
The city has committed to adding another 20,000 full-day seats next year and is currently taking an inventory of which neighborhoods have the greatest need, and which organizations would like to expand.
Nonetheless, Norvell said there has been “an incredible up-tick in pre-k participation in every community, including among Orthodox Jewish families.”
Norvell said there are now 2,000 children attending pre-K programs run by a variety of Jewish organizations. That compares to more than 4,200 children attending Catholic institutions with full- and half-day programs.
Not all Jewish organizations want to participate in the city's pre-k program. Many of the ultra-religious groups in Brooklyn's Borough Park and Williamsburg would not be willing to change their programming or remove religious objects to qualify for public dollars.
But Litwack, of the Orthodox Union, said many of his members would be willing to make compromises in order to become half-day providers. They just need something to tell their families.
“We’re talking about February now and our schools have to plan,” he said.