04.07.2014 | Education Week | Early-education proponents in the city said they were thrilled about the new money. “We’ve been waiting more than 15 years for this day,” said Randi Levine, the project director of the Early Childhood Education Project, an initiative of Advocates for Children of New York. In 1997, state lawmakers passed legislation to provide a half-day of pre-K for all 4-year-olds, but the state has never devoted enough funding to achieve that goal. Last year, the state created a $25 million competitive-grant program that districts could access for pre-K, but that money was “woefully insufficient” for the city, Ms. Levine said. Li atik