After threatening to allow nearly $200 million in early childhood spending to expire, Mayor Eric Adams announced plans Wednesday to keep most of it in the budget for next year and beyond for early childhood education funding.

The move will restore $112 million for 3-K, the city’s free preschool program for 3-year-olds, and $55 million to help address a chronic shortage of seats for preschool children with disabilities.

Education Department officials also committed to temporarily using city money to sustain some federally funded Head Start programs amid the Trump administration’s efforts to slash the program.

In a press conference Wednesday alongside his predecessor Bill de Blasio, who launched the city’s free universal preschool program, Adams touted the restoration as a historic investment in the early childhood education system.

“This is a Herculean task that we are able to accomplish,” Adams said.

Adams, who faces an uphill battle for reelection this year, promised to make the funding a permanent part of the budget.

The announcement was welcome news for many early childhood education providers who have been deeply concerned about budget threats at both the state and federal level next year.

“Against the backdrop of simultaneous challenges facing early childhood education programs and providers in NYC, including significant funding shortfalls in the State’s child care assistance program and looming threats to Head Start funding at the Federal level, today’s announcement provides much-needed relief,” said Tara Gardner, the executive director of the Daycare Council, which represents dozens of childcare providers.

The move to restore the early childhood funding now instead of at the last minute after negotiations with City Council, as Adams did last year, could also ease political pressure on the mayor.

But leaders of the City Council, none of whom were present at Wednesday’s announcement, were not so quick to praise Adams, noting that he did not restore all of the expiring funding and that he could have avoided the cuts in the first place.

Read the full article about early childhood education funding by Michael Elsen-Rooney and Alex Zimmerman at Chalkbeat.