Mayor de Blasio says he would give up his tax-the-rich proposal to fund pre-K expansion if Gov. Cuomo promises to provide $530 million a year for five years.
“I’m absolutely open to an alternative that gets the job done,” he said Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
But he said the money would have to be a guaranteed and dedicated funding stream that the year-to-year uncertainty in Albany is unlikely to offer.
The mayor also said he could have done “better public relations” to explain his recent actions on charter schools, including booting three charters in Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academies chain from public building space come September.
But he insisted the moves weren’t personal, and that he would find classroom space for the nearly 200 kids in her Harlem middle school that won’t have space in a public school building as of this summer.
View video“It’s not about Eva,” he said. “It’s about the kids.”
Hizzoner also took the high road in response to actor Liam Neeson, who said the mayor should have “manned up” and toured a midtown horse stable on Sunday.
The actor is a strong supporter of the Central Park horse-drawn carriages that de Blasio intends to ban, and had offered him a look at the way they’re treated.
“I am a Liam Neeson fan. I am,” de Blasio said when asked about Neeson’s jab. “I will spend time with Liam — he’s quite a great actor.”