Mamdani’s city-run preschool expansion will leave parents with no other choice

But costs for every stage run to more than $36,000 per kid — about $13,000 more than the city average cost for private child care — with a final budget now projected at $6 billion a year.

And that’ll likely wind up even higher, once the expansion pushes private and nonprofit operators out of the preschool market entirely, so that the city program has to care for even more tots.

Except for the very wealthy, parents who need day care will have to accept whatever the city offers — or move away.