NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6583
SPONSOR: Solages TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to the allocation of
prekindergarten funding to prioritize students eligible for free or
reduced-price lunch and multilingual learners
PURPOSE:
This bill sets the allocation for 4-year-old prekindergarten slots at
$17,500 and requires that priority for the available slots from this
funding go to families that are eligible for free or reduced price lunch
or are emergent multilingual language learners.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill sets the per-pupil rate for 4-year old prekin-
dergarten funding for school districts at $17,500 per eligible pupil for
the 2025-26 school year. The total allocation for each school district
shall not be more than what the district received in the 2024-25 school
year, unless there is an additional appropriation. If the funding allo-
cation does not meet the needs of all students at $17,500 per 4-year-old
pre-k student, then the district must prioritize these slots to go to
families that qualify for free or reduced-price lunch or are emergent
multilingual language learners.
Section 2 changes the method of selection for how school districts
assign pre-k slots to eligible families by requiring that priority be
given to students from families that qualify for free or reduced-price
lunch or are emergent multilingual language learners.
Section 3 includes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Currently, some school districts only receive $5,400 per pupil per year
in state funding under the "universal" pre-kindergarten program. While
some school districts opt to provide Pre-K in-house, a vast majority
contract with community-based Pre-K providers. The $5,400 allocation
that some school districts pay to community-based providers is not near-
ly enough to meet basic costs for providers and to comply with strict
staffing requirements (student/teacher ratios). While there are some
competitive Pre-K expansion grants which pay a higher per-pupil amount,
this level of funding is still not enough to meet the basic requirements
of the program including required staff, facility requirements, insur-
ance, instructional costs and administrative costs.
Because of the limited funding available in the current Pre-K system,
many school districts have a higher need for Pre-K slots than what fund-
ing allows. This leads many districts to utilize a lottery system to
fill the limited Pre-K slots available. Unfortunately, this often
results in families that have already secured Pre-K from private provid-
ers in the community taking free Pre-K slots, while other families, who
are unable to pay for private Pre-K are shut out from access to any
Pre-K program.
Current Pre-K funding is woefully inadequate and has resulted in the
closure of community-based programs. This bill sets a per-pupil
reimbursement rate at a level that is sustainable for community-based
providers and school districts. Instead of awarding funding to higher-
wealth families who already have access to high quality Pre-K programs,
state funds should be prioritized for those families that do not have
the access or resources to access Pre-K services in their communities.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None additional to the state, unless additional funds are appropriated
for the program.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6583
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 6, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SOLAGES -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to the allocation of
prekindergarten funding to prioritize students eligible for free or
reduced-price lunch and multilingual learners
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1 Subparagraph (ix) of the opening paragraph of subdivision 10
2 of section 3602-e of the education law, as amended by section 17-c of
3 part A of chapter 56 of the laws of 2022, is amended and a new subpara-
4 graph (x) is added to read as follows:
5 (ix) for the two thousand twenty-two--two thousand twenty-three school
6 year and thereafter, each school district shall be eligible to receive a
7 grant amount equal to the sum of (A) the amount set forth for such
8 school district as "UNIVERSAL PREKINDERGARTEN ALLOCATION" on the comput-
9 er file produced by the commissioner in support of the enacted budget
10 for the prior year excluding amounts subject to section thirty-six
11 hundred two-ee of this part and further excluding amounts paid pursuant
12 to subdivision nineteen of this section plus (B) the Full-day 4-Year-Old
13 Universal Prekindergarten Expansion added pursuant to paragraph e of
14 subdivision nineteen of this section, provided that such school district
15 has met all requirements pursuant to this section and such grants shall
16 be added into a four-year-old grant amount based on the amount each
17 district was eligible to receive in the base year to serve four-year-old
18 prekindergarten pupils, plus (C) funds allocated pursuant to a universal
19 prekindergarten expansion under subdivision twenty of this section as of
20 the school aid computer listing produced by the commissioner in support
21 of the enacted budget for the current year, provided that such grant
22 amounts shall be divided into a four-year-old grant amount based on the
23 amount each district was eligible to receive in the base year to serve
24 four-year-old prekindergarten pupils, if any, and a three-year-old grant
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09284-01-5
A. 6583 2
1 amount based on the amount each district was eligible to receive in the
2 base year to serve three-year-old pupils, if any, and provided further
3 that the maximum grant shall not exceed the total actual grant expendi-
4 tures incurred by the school district in the current school year as
5 approved by the commissioner[.], and
6 (x) for the two thousand twenty-five--two thousand twenty-six school
7 year and thereafter and subject to available appropriation, each school
8 district shall be eligible to receive a grant amount equal to seventeen
9 thousand five hundred dollars for eligible full-day four-year-old prek-
10 indergarten pupils. The total allocations for each school district shall
11 not exceed the amounts they received in the two thousand twenty-four--
12 two thousand twenty-five school year, unless additional funds are appro-
13 priated. If such allocation is not sufficient to cover all eligible
14 full-day four-year-old pre-kindergarten pupils in the district, such
15 grants shall first be utilized by each school district to serve four-
16 year-old prekindergarten pupils that are eligible to receive free or
17 reduced-price lunch or are emergent multilingual language learners. The
18 dollar amount set forth in this subparagraph shall be adjusted annually
19 to reflect the percentage increase in the consumer price index.
20 § 2. Subparagraph (i) of subdivision 7 of section 3602-e of the educa-
21 tion law, as amended by section 19 of part B of chapter 57 of the laws
22 of 2007, is amended to read as follows:
23 i. [establishes] for districts that receive funding under paragraph
24 (x) of subdivision ten of this section, a method for selection of eligi-
25 ble children to receive prekindergarten program services [on a random
26 selection basis where there are more eligible children than can be
27 served in a given school year] that must include a priority for students
28 from families who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch or emer-
29 gent multilingual language learners, provided, however, that a school
30 district that operated a targeted prekindergarten program in the base
31 year may use the selection process established for such program.
32 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately, and apply to funding
33 allocations and selection criteria for the 2025-2026 school year.
