Every child in New York deserves a quality education, beginning in pre-kindergarten, to be the basis for their future success. Providing such an education requires adequate, equitable, and sustainable funding. The existing Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) funding mechanism, however, is complicated to administer, has several structural flaws, and provides inadequate per-pupil funding. Under the current system, districts receiving the minimum per-pupil amount or those already serving nearly all eligible families face years of flat funding, with few options to increase their allocations.

New York must reimagine the way early education is funded to ensure this critical program is accessible to all children statewide. To achieve this, New York should index state-funded prekindergarten allocations to the district’s K-12 Foundation Aid per-pupil amount for all enrolled students and raise the $5,400 minimum per-pupil rate. Better integrating UPK funding with the existing Foundation Aid formula will ease administrative burdens and provide districts with the sustainable funding required to maintain high-quality education.