Mayor Bloomberg yesterday proposed doubling the number of slots for children in pre-kindergarten programs and fostering cooperation among the agencies that provide early childhood education, as part of a broad plan for improving and expanding opportunities for New York City’s youngest students.

In delivering the second in a series of policy addresses he is using to lay out his agenda for a possible second term, the mayor was joined at the Queensbridge Astoria Day Care Center by actress Rosie O’Donnell, president of Rosie’s For All Kids Foundation.

Last week, the mayor proposed a plan for protecting New Yorkers from terrorists. Like that proposal, the plan he announced yesterday would not require new taxes, but Mr. Bloomberg said doubling the number of prekindergarten seats – at a cost of almost $600 million – would have to be put off until Albany fulfills the court order in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case and provides more than $5 billion in extra education aid to the city.

In April 2004, when Mr. Bloomberg released his CFE spending priorities, he proposed spending the same amount of CFE money on early-childhood programs, which many education experts say are crucial to early development. His aides said yesterday’s plan was an extension of that proposal.

Although a substantial part of the mayor’s plan would be contingent on funding from Albany, which Governor Pataki is reluctant to relinquish, the mayor said he would be “derelict” in his duty if he didn’t have a plan ready when lawmakers authorize the money.

He also said the city can take some steps immediately.

For example, he said, three agencies – the Department of Education, the Administration for Children Services, and the Human Resources Administration – provide services to 3- and 4-year-olds that “overlap.” Mr. Bloomberg said, “The city would be much better off if we could combine them or get them to work together.”

Advocates and lawmakers gave the plan positive initial reviews.

The executive director of the Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York, Gail Nayowith, said, “He’s the first mayor, city mayor, who’s made child care a priority. We’ve been waiting for many, many years for a champion for the youngest children in the city of New York, and we’re happy that Mayor Bloomberg is going to step up and take that challenge.”

She said “efficiencies” created by the program could improve service before new money is injected into the system.

The chairwoman of the City Council’s Committee on Education, Eva Moskowitz, also was positive.

“As I have said from my first day on the Education Committee six years ago, there is no hope of fixing our public schools without providing early childhood education to all children,” she said in a statement. “It must be the cornerstone of reform. Obviously I am glad that the Bloomberg Administration is proposing just such an investment.”

The mayor’s Democratic rival, Fernando Ferrer, was critical.

Although Mr. Bloomberg said he has done everything in his power to lobby Albany, Mr. Ferrer’s spokeswoman, Christy Setzer, accused Mr. Bloomberg of “playing a shell game with our children’s education” and said, “He says he wants to expand early education programs, but suggests using the Campaign for Fiscal Equity money to pay for it – money he’s not even tried to negotiate for.”