Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s drive to expand “free” (city-run, taxpayer-funded) preschool programs is already squeezing private-sector providers, suggesting this “transformation” is more about a government takeover of the sector than anything else. Consider the private Manhattan day care preparing to hike prices 20% to cover higher costs for qualified workers, as city pre-K competitors push up wages. “The teachers who are working for DOE, their salaries are much higher, so we are competing with them,”