The Economic Value of Head Start Programs for Pre-K Education Whenever budget issues are discussed at the federal level, early childhood education and Head Start programs get scrutinized and criticized. Despite the fact that local leaders, like Bill deBlasio, the mayor of New York City, are calling for more funding to be put to use in pre-kindergarten programs, partisan politics can still hurt these important services. Once elected to office, Mayor deBlasio argued with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo about funding for the pre-K program, but they didn’t debate whether or not funding such a program was the right thing to do. Both men, despite their difference in politics, understood...