NY State Senate Bill 2025-S6328

Senate Bill S6328

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Relates to the allocation of prekindergarten funding to prioritize students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch and multilingual learners

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Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Education Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Mar 10, 2025	referred to education

co-Sponsors

2025-S6328 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A6583
Current Committee:: Senate Education
Law Section:: Education Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §3602-e, Ed L

2025-S6328 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to the allocation of prekindergarten funding to prioritize students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch and multilingual learners.

2025-S6328 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S6328

SPONSOR: MARTINEZ
 
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 prekinder-
garten 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.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None additional to the state, unless additional funds are appropriated
for the program.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.

2025-S6328 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   6328
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              March 10, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens. MARTINEZ, BYNOE -- read twice and ordered printed,
   and when printed to be committed to the Committee 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:
 
   Section 1 Subparagraph (ix) of the opening paragraph of subdivision 10
 of  section  3602-e of the education law, as amended by section 17-c  of
 part A of chapter 56 of the laws of 2022, is amended and a new  subpara-
 graph (x) is added to read as follows:
   (ix) for the two thousand twenty-two--two thousand twenty-three school
 year and thereafter, each school district shall be eligible to receive a
 grant  amount  equal  to  the  sum  of (A) the amount set forth for such
 school district as "UNIVERSAL PREKINDERGARTEN ALLOCATION" on the comput-
 er file produced by the commissioner in support of  the  enacted  budget
 for  the  prior  year  excluding  amounts  subject to section thirty-six
 hundred two-ee of this part and further excluding amounts paid  pursuant
 to subdivision nineteen of this section plus (B) the Full-day 4-Year-Old
 Universal  Prekindergarten  Expansion  added  pursuant to paragraph e of
 subdivision nineteen of this section, provided that such school district
 has met all requirements pursuant to this section and such grants  shall
 be  added  into  a  four-year-old  grant amount based on the amount each
 district was eligible to receive in the base year to serve four-year-old
 prekindergarten pupils, plus (C) funds allocated pursuant to a universal
 prekindergarten expansion under subdivision twenty of this section as of
 the school aid computer listing produced by the commissioner in  support
 of  the  enacted  budget  for the current year, provided that such grant
 amounts shall be divided into a four-year-old grant amount based on  the
 amount  each  district was eligible to receive in the base year to serve
 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

 S. 6328                             2
 
 amount based on the amount each district was eligible to receive in  the
 base  year  to serve three-year-old pupils, if any, and provided further
 that the maximum grant shall not exceed the total actual grant  expendi-
 tures  incurred  by  the  school  district in the current school year as
 approved by the commissioner[.], AND
   (X) FOR THE TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-FIVE--TWO THOUSAND  TWENTY-SIX  SCHOOL
 YEAR  AND THEREAFTER AND SUBJECT TO AVAILABLE APPROPRIATION, EACH SCHOOL
 DISTRICT SHALL BE ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE A GRANT AMOUNT EQUAL TO  SEVENTEEN
 THOUSAND  FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR ELIGIBLE FULL-DAY FOUR-YEAR-OLD PREK-
 INDERGARTEN PUPILS. THE TOTAL ALLOCATIONS FOR EACH SCHOOL DISTRICT SHALL
 NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNTS THEY RECEIVED IN THE TWO  THOUSAND  TWENTY-FOUR--
 TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-FIVE SCHOOL YEAR, UNLESS ADDITIONAL FUNDS ARE APPRO-
 PRIATED.  IF  SUCH  ALLOCATION  IS  NOT SUFFICIENT TO COVER ALL ELIGIBLE
 FULL-DAY FOUR-YEAR-OLD PRE-KINDERGARTEN PUPILS  IN  THE  DISTRICT,  SUCH
 GRANTS  SHALL  FIRST  BE UTILIZED BY EACH SCHOOL DISTRICT TO SERVE FOUR-
 YEAR-OLD PREKINDERGARTEN PUPILS THAT ARE ELIGIBLE  TO  RECEIVE  FREE  OR
 REDUCED-PRICE  LUNCH OR ARE EMERGENT MULTILINGUAL LANGUAGE LEARNERS. THE
 DOLLAR AMOUNT SET FORTH IN THIS SUBPARAGRAPH SHALL BE ADJUSTED  ANNUALLY
 TO REFLECT THE PERCENTAGE INCREASE IN THE CONSUMER PRICE INDEX.
   § 2. Subparagraph (i) of subdivision 7 of section 3602-e of the educa-
 tion  law,  as amended by section 19 of part B of chapter 57 of the laws
 of 2007, is amended  to read as follows:
   i. [establishes] FOR DISTRICTS THAT RECEIVE  FUNDING  UNDER  PARAGRAPH
 (X) OF SUBDIVISION TEN OF THIS SECTION, a method for selection of eligi-
 ble  children  to  receive prekindergarten program services [on a random
 selection basis where there are  more  eligible  children  than  can  be
 served in a given school year] THAT MUST INCLUDE A PRIORITY FOR STUDENTS
 FROM  FAMILIES WHO ARE ELIGIBLE FOR FREE OR REDUCED-PRICE LUNCH OR EMER-
 GENT MULTILINGUAL LANGUAGE LEARNERS, provided, however,  that  a  school
 district  that  operated  a targeted prekindergarten program in the base
 year may use the selection process established for such program.
   § 3. This act shall take effect  immediately,  and  apply  to  funding
 allocations and selection criteria for the 2025-2026  school year.

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Senate Bill S6328

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Sponsored By

Monica R. Martinez