NYC Council head calls for mandatory kindergarten

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is proposing making kindergarten mandatory for the city's 5-year-olds and instituting a loan program to help middle-income families pay for child care.

Quinn's office provided a preview of parts of her State of the City speech scheduled for Thursday.

Quinn says she's working with the state Legislature to get a law passed that would allow New York City to make kindergarten mandatory. She says that would place an extra 3,000 5-year-olds in school each year.

The City Council speaker is also proposing a low-coast loan program that would cover as much as half the cost of child care. The program would target families making between $40,000 and $112,000 per year.