New York’s pre-kindergarten program was enacted in 1997, making the state the second in the U.S. to establish a program aimed at offering publicly funded pre-kindergarten to four-year-olds.[6] The program, however, was not universal. School districts were given the option to establish pre-kindergarten programs, initially open only to four-year-olds.

Districts that opted to establish programs were provided pre-kindergarten allocations, phased in over four years. These initial allocations ranged between $2,700 and $4,000 per-pupil, determined by a formula that factored in districts’ wealth, measured by income and property values, and student need, measured by poverty rates, English language proficiency, and special education enrollment. As the program was phased in, districts were required to prioritize students with greater economic need.

In its first year, school year 1999, the State allocated $56.9 million to districts. While the State initially planned to spend $500 million annually on UPK by school year 2002, limited adoption by school districts restrained the program. Actual spending in school year 2002 was just $201.9 million, a level at which it would remain for the next five years. Just one-third of the State’s school districts participated in UPK.[7]

Early uptake in UPK was limited to the big five school districts and low-income suburbs, which received higher per-pupil grants. Three-quarters of the State’s initial UPK allocation ($42.4 million) went to New York City. As the State’s largest school district and early adopter of pre-kindergarten, New York City continued to receive more than half of State UPK funding until school year 2025. The City accounts for 40 percent of the state’s kindergarteners. Even in these large city districts, however, UPK programs were not actually universal. Grant levels were inadequate to offer seats to every four-year-old, leading districts to prioritize high-need students and neighborhoods.

Importantly, New York City has both the administrative and fiscal capacity to launch a new service, two features lacking in smaller districts. Unlike other districts, the city supplemented State funds with its own funding to create more expensive full-day seats in public schools. Other districts relied far more heavily on contracted seats, which were largely half-day early in the program.

In 2007, concurrent with Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE)-led education reforms that established the Foundation Aid formula for school aid, the State committed an additional $146 million to UPK, adoption of which had been stagnant since 2002. The State reworked the UPK formula, granting districts half their Foundation aid per-pupil allocation or their prior-year UPK grant, whichever was larger. Grants were half of Foundation aid because UPK seats were still half-day and largely offered by contracted providers, which are less expensive than public schools.

By school year 2008, UPK funding had doubled to $437.9 million, and nearly two-thirds of school districts were participating in UPK.

This new funding push was short-lived. The 2008 recession and result fiscal crisis prompted the State to freeze UPK funding. No new districts were allowed to enter the program and its funding level remained consistent for the next six years. The districts left out of the program were generally relatively wealthy suburban districts, which stood to receive low UPK formula funding, had little spare fiscal capacity, and had no benefited from expansion grants that prioritized high-need districts.[8]

Districts that opted to establish programs were provided pre-kindergarten allocations, phased in over four years. These initial allocations ranged between $2,700 and $4,000 per-pupil, determined by a formula that factored in districts’ wealth, measured by income and property values, and student need, measured by poverty rates, English language proficiency, and special education enrollment. As the program was phased in, districts were required to prioritize students with greater economic need.

In its first year, school year 1999, the State allocated $56.9 million to districts. While the State initially planned to spend $500 million annually on UPK by school year 2002, limited adoption by school districts restrained the program. Actual spending in school year 2002 was just $201.9 million, a level at which it would remain for the next five years. Just one-third of the State’s school districts participated in UPK.[7]

Early uptake in UPK was limited to the big five school districts and low-income suburbs, which received higher per-pupil grants. Three-quarters of the State’s initial UPK allocation ($42.4 million) went to New York City. As the State’s largest school district and early adopter of pre-kindergarten, New York City continued to receive more than half of State UPK funding until school year 2025. The City accounts for 40 percent of the state’s kindergarteners. Even in these large city districts, however, UPK programs were not actually universal. Grant levels were inadequate to offer seats to every four-year-old, leading districts to prioritize high-need students and neighborhoods.

Importantly, New York City has both the administrative and fiscal capacity to launch a new service, two features lacking in smaller districts. Unlike other districts, the city supplemented State funds with its own funding to create more expensive full-day seats in public schools. Other districts relied far more heavily on contracted seats, which were largely half-day early in the program.

The next major investment in UPK came in 2014, when New York City launched a push to fully fund its UPK program and make the program truly universal. At the time, the program served only about one-third of eligible four-year-olds, with State grants (which had been frozen since 2007) inadequate to provide a seat to all four-year-olds.[9]

Following negotiations between the City and State, the State committed to allocating the City an additional $300 million in annual UPK funding from the State, while districts in the rest of the state received a collective $40 million. (The City had initially sought $340 million funded by higher local taxes on high-income earners. This was rejected, and as part of the deal with the State, the City was obligated to pay rent for charter schools, a $75 million annual cost).[10] The City’s UPK enrollment more than tripled, from 19,000 in 2013 to 68,000 in 2015, offering seats to all four-year-olds whose families applied.[11]

Separately, in 2017, the City launched its 3K program funded exclusively by city funds. The program launched initially in two of the city’s 32 school districts with a commitment from the Mayor to grow the program over time, particularly as state and federal funding became available.

Outside New York City, UPK expansion in the 2010s was limited. By school year 2021, 69 percent of districts in the State offered UPK programs—only slightly more than the 63 percent offering programs in 2013. Many non-urban districts that were created remained small: In 2021, just 43 percent of four-year-olds outside the city were enrolled in UPK, according to the State benchmark for full coverage.

The Covid pandemic brought a third wave of new investment to New York’s UPK program. Federal Covid relief legislation appropriated billions of dollars for public education systems nationwide. While New York directed most of this funding to K-12 education, finally fully phasing-in Foundation Aid, the State also made considerable investments in UPK. Because New York City’s 2014 allocation was sufficient to achieve universality in the city, State UPK funding increases since 2021 have all been directed to districts outside the City. Funds have been intended to pull in districts that have yet to establish programs and expand program with enrollment below the State’s benchmark for full coverage.

In fiscal year 2022, the State directed $210 million in federal funding to UPK.[12] The State appropriated an additional $125 million in State funds in fiscal year 2023 and $150 million in fiscal year 2024. Actual increases in UPK grants were smaller than these recent appropriations as enrollment in UPK programs outside New York City has remained below targets.

Of the fiscal year 2024 grants, $100 million was disbursed by a formula targeting districts with less-than-complete four-year-old UPK coverage and $50 million was awarded competitively by the State Education Department (SED). These expansion grants award districts $10,000 per pupil served by teachers holding the same certification required of public school teachers and $7,000 for non-certified teachers.[13] These per-pupil funding levels for new seats are higher than most districts’ existing per-pupil allocations. Higher funding is meant to draw in remaining districts without programs.

In fiscal year 2025, the State committed to taking over temporary federal UPK funding, bringing total annual State UPK allocations to $1.2 billion.

New York’s UPK system faces three further constraints: its high portion of seats offering only half-day education; a lack of centralized administration outside New York City; and per-pupil funding that is inadequate to support seats in public schools, especially in higher-cost districts.

Outside New York City, districts lag in providing full-day UPK instruction. In New York City, 99 percent of UPK seats provide full-day instruction, which follow the same hours as K-12 schools. While districts outside New York City have used recent years’ funding influx to improve, their UPK program provided full-day instruction to just 77 percent of pupils in school year 2023, up from 51 percent three years prior.

New York’s UPK program has always been designed to rely in part on independent providers, including daycare centers and non-public schools, to provide some UPK instruction. The State’s education law requires that districts use at least 10 percent of their UPK funding to contract seats from independent providers. In practice, reliance on these providers is far higher. In New York City, 59 percent of UPK seats are provided by non-school providers, while the City’s public schools provide the remaining seats.[14] Outside the City, by contrast, nearly all – 96 percent – of UPK seats are provided by independent providers. Of these independent providers, daycare centers and nonpublic schools provide more than three-quarters (79 percent) of seats. The remaining seats are provided by special education schools, Head Start programs, and BOCES, which provide vocational training.

UPK seats supported by independent providers are generally less expensive than those provided by public schools, which tend to pay higher wages. New York City funds its unusually high reliance on public schools by supplementing state funds with local funds. Other districts generally lack New York City’s fiscal capacity – larger cities have lower property values while non-urban districts have little ability to raise additional tax revenue.

Outside major cities, UPK uptake is low even in districts with programs. This may be a function of these non-urban districts’ lack of central school district outreach and near-total reliance on independent providers. While districts manage UPK enrollment centrally, most users’ primary point of contact is with providers, not central school districts. As such, contracted providers often enroll pupils already enrolled at younger ages, shifting pupils from private pay to UPK’s per-pupil funding once they become eligible at age three or four. For families not already using contracted providers, awareness of UPK opportunities may be limited.

While more than half of New York City’s seats are provided outside its public schools, the City government’s greater capacity and the consolidation of its school district as a city agency afford a significant advantage in conducting outreach and enrolling new three- and four-year-olds. This feature of the rest of the State’s UPK programs, together with their limited ability to use local resources to fund programs is a significant barrier to the establishment of truly universal pre-kindergarten in New York State.