As the start of the school year nears, parents will soon have a new hotline to call for school problems.

Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum said she is launching the number after discovering many questions were going unanswered from the city. In fact, Gotbaum's office found two-thirds of the 100 calls her staff placed to the city's 32 community school district call centers were not answered.

Gotbaum said parents will be able to contact her hotline with concerns about registration, transportation, after-school programs and other issues. The public advocate said her hotline was started with private funding.

The number is 212-669-7250. Gotbaum said it should be up and running by the first week of school.