Pre-kindergarten programs received an extension to submit their final enrollment numbers because some pre-k directors said they needed more time to fill their classrooms, officials told WNYC.

The original deadline was Oct. 1 but that's been pushed back indefinitely. 

Moria Cappio, who runs the pre-k program at the Children’s Aid Society, said she’s glad to have more time to recruit four-year-olds.

At the new Children’s Aid center in the Bronx, only 20 out of 60 seats were full. Another center in Harlem also had empty seats — and Cappio said that, according to the Department of Education web site, there were 48 pre-k providers within a mile of the Children’s Aid program in Harlem.

“There aren’t that many four-year-olds in the neighborhood,” she said.

Other pre-k directors said they would have to close classrooms if they did not boost their enrollment numbers; programs receive reimbursement based on occupied seats only. 

Education Department strategist Josh Wallack said outreach workers were still contacting families with four-year-olds in the hopes of helping directors “fill those classes and keep those programs running.”

Meanwhile, city officials acknowledged that access to pre-k programs was uneven, with empty seats in one area and long waiting lists in another. But they said next year they plan to better serve the neighborhoods with the greatest need.

Mayor Bill de Blasio made the expansion of pre-kindergarten the signature initiative of his first year in office. His goal was to enroll 53,000 children in pre-k classes this fall which administration officials said was still within reach.