Local districts in limbo over pre-K funding

By JEFF MORRIS 

Uncertainty about funding for pre-kindergarten due to the lack of a state budget agreement emerged as a topic at the May 6 Bedford Central Board of Education meeting. It has also come up as a question regarding Katonah-Lewisboro’s proposal for a universal pre-K center at the former Lewisboro Elementary School.

On May 11, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a state budget agreement had been reached. A key component of that budget is a $1.7 billion increase in funding for child care and pre-kindergarten services statewide, bringing the total fiscal year 2027 investment to $4.5 billion. 

Hochul had pledged in her initial budget proposal in February that the state will be providing additional support to ensure universal pre-K for all 4-year-olds by the start of the 2028-29 school year. She reaffirmed that commitment last week.

The only problem is that the budget agreement Hochul announced has still not actually been approved by the state legislature — though the points of contention do not include the pre-K funding.

Assemblymember Chris Burdick (D, AD-93) told The Recorder at press time that, while he did not expect the legislature to vote on the budget this week, the only disagreements remaining were based on policy, not funding, and he would be “absolutely astounded” if funding for universal pre-K was not included in the final budget agreement, as it had wide support from both the governor and legislators.

KLSD

Proposing a plan to meet Pre-K rules

Katonah-Lewisboro’s ballot Proposition 3 authorizes the issuance of $24.5 million in bonds to finance the construction of a universal pre-K and community center at the former Lewisboro Elementary School. 

A foundational reason for the proposal given by the district is that it is needed to prepare for universal pre-K. “New York State is expected to require all districts to provide state-funded universal pre-K (UPK) for all 4-year-olds by 2028,” says the district. “Currently, KLSD does not have the space to meet this requirement within existing schools and renovating those buildings for pre-K would be costly, disruptive, and require moving all fifth graders to the middle school.”

One argument raised by opponents has been that UPK is still not mandatory. The district responds that the state UPK mandate and funding “is in the proposed 2026-27 N.Y. state budget and is not a point of contention among lawmakers.” It says as it is expected to pass, the district is being responsible in planning and taking necessary steps to comply with the anticipated mandate. The district had said the budget was expected to pass the week of May 11, with the UPK mandate and related funding included — but as of now, that still has not happened.

BCSD

District is seeking more Pre-K slots

Amy Fishkin, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, gave a brief update on the district’s pre-K program at the May 6 BOE meeting. She said as of March 25, all 36 of their pre-K slots are filled. They put out a request for proposals for additional pre-K slots to all of the local community-based organizations, or CBOs. 

“We even contacted several of them to let them know that it was out, and expressed an interest in having them apply,” she said. “Unfortunately, we came up with zero applicants for the RFP. We suspect that because the budget from the state has not been approved yet, the level of uncertainty of whether or not we’d be able to award that funding — perhaps the uncertainty was what left pre-school programs not interested in applying to the program at first.”

Fishkin said they are hopeful that there are local CBOs that will be interested. She said she and Assistant Superintendent for Business and Operations Jose Formoso have spoken about it; they anticipated the budget would hopefully be finalized within the next two weeks, and they could put the RFP out again.

Asked by trustee Prasad Krishnan how many spots could open up, Fishkin said they could potentially open an additional 51 spots, because there are currently 51 families on the wait list. 

The revival of Bedford Central’s pre-K program dates back to the fall of 2022, when 46 BCSD students were placed in pre-K classrooms spread out among Mount Kisco Elementary, Bedford Hills Elementary, the Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester and the Country Childrens Center. At that point the district was employing two certified pre-K teachers for the two elementary school locations.

In February of this year, Fishkin reported there were 60 students at the same four locations. She said the program could move forward at three locations, as the Boys & Girls Club did not have the certified teachers required by the state. At that point, Hochul was first proposing about $2 million in pre-K funding, and Fishkin said, “We could see a good chunk of money coming our way for pre-K.” She said a $10,000 per pupil allocation would give the district a lot more flexibility to open up additional spots.

On May 6, trustee Steven Matlin worried that if parents had already made commitments for the fall, the district might not fill all the spots, and wanted to know whether any funds awarded by the state would be lost. Fishkin said the particular pre-K grant from the state is recurring each year. She thought that at this point, because it is so late in the process, they would find CBO spots and identify locations, with each classroom having a maximum of 18 students. 

Matlin said if there are no CBOs due to it being so late, he’d think the district would open up spots in its buildings. Fishkin said it would just be a matter of hiring for at least one additional classroom. 

“What’s tricky is the state hasn’t given us our allocation yet, so we’re sort of budgeting for what we think we’re going to get,” said Fishkin. “We may know more in the next two weeks. We may not get our full allocation until, sometimes it’s June, ’til the state lets us know what our allocations are. But we can be planning and preparing for adding an additional classroom or maybe more than one.”