The East Greenbush Central School District is moving forward with a new Pre-K Program for four year olds that will start this coming fall. The program can accommodate 36 students who will be selected through a random lottery following an application process.
Pre-K Program Details:
- Two sections of 18 students (a total of 36 students)
- Each class would have one teacher and one teaching assistant
- Located at Red Mill Elementary School and operated by Questar III BOCES
- Students must be 4 years old as of December 1, 2021 and be district residents
- Students will be selected randomly through a lottery process
- Program start date is TBD
- No cost to families
“The district looks forward to expanding instruction to 4 year olds in our community,” said Superintendent of Schools Jeff Simons. “We will work collaboratively with Questar to ensure a high quality, age-appropriate program to address the social-emotional, cognitive and psychomotor development of young children, enhancing readiness for Kindergarten.”
District administrators intend on starting the program as soon as possible this fall. Next steps include filing an application with the state, creating an enrollment application, student registration and Questar hiring a staff.
There will be no tax impact for this program. It is being funded by a state grant ($5,400/student) with the balance being funded by the American Rescue Plan ($4,437/student).
Mr. Simons noted in the Board of Education meeting on Wednesday evening that while the funding for this program is only available for the next two years, there are discussions at the state and federal levels for increasing availability of pre-k to more school districts in the future.
“I think there is a direction both at the state level and the federal level to expand available funding for 3 and 4 year olds which hopefully will enable schools to sustain Pre-K in future years,” said Superintendent Simons.
More information including an application process for parents will be communicated once it becomes available.