Universal Pre-Kindergarten program funding crisis — inadequate state per-pupil funding threatening provider viability (Children's Space North), board resolution urging full $10,000/pupil funding, and parent advocacy for the district to bridge funding gaps.
2026-01-08
Board of Education
So, I I might be I know I this email not be able to answer this, but I guess it's like what is and maybe you can't say this, but what information do you need to be able to ensure that you can or cannot offer because it seems like it would be optimal …
I mean I I I think it had part of the reason it's confusing is because there are a lot of moving and I think because we've had sort of like the luck of having a couple of consistent providers over the last couple of years it feels like this is vastly…
We've had a lot of conversations with some potential partners, community-based organizations that would be able to supervise, oversee, and support our UPK needs here in Croton. We've scheduled some on-site visits to some other districts that have in-…
And we're thrilled to hear the governor's news and the mayor's news today, understanding [clears throat] that that's the beginning of a process and not the end of it. We hope that it ends at that place. If it does, that's great. We need to be prepare…
What we will plan to do this year which is different from last year we gave about a week of I guess decision making time to families. So I will call Mrs. Jones say your your son's been awarded a seat can you let us know by next Friday. That was a bit…
I believe that everyone here, the board, the school district, and parents believes that UPK is essential. studies show that UPK has direct social and educational benefits for our for our youngest residents. In addition, by serving as an early method …
from your understanding at the end of 2025 fiscal year, which would be June 30th or March 31st or or maybe the state's fiscal year which is March 31st. Yeah, we're in the 26 fiscal year. Yeah, so right. So, I guess really Maybe they did this already …
Recommended action, approves Be it resolved that the board approves It's it's on board on the big screen. the consent agenda as presented. What? I was like, "It's on the big screen." [laughter] No, I know, but So, It's in favor of the consent agenda.…
It's a very collaborative event which a lot of the preschools during COVID were like really like, yearning to have that connection with CET. At that event, we have providers there, sharing some behavioral strategies, some techniques to support fine m…
Okay, let's talk about UPK. So, again, I want to thank everybody who's here tonight and who spoke. I want to thank Mike and Jacob for your time, as well as the other folks that I had the opportunity to interact with between meetings. Many of us were …
Not the slightest hesitation, hand in hand with the best friend that he met in UPK class, and almost without even a kiss goodbye. It's every parent's dream transition for their child. UPK was not just his success there. It started with receiving the …
Pretty clear this program has to continue. There's clearly a demand. There's clearly a need. So, I just want to reiterate everything that's been said tonight. And I really want to thank all the parents that are here tonight representing our kids, rep…
I've been reading this and it says eligible districts will be awarded a number of seats needed to achieve the statutory proxy defined as 85% of the combined public and non-public kindergarten enrollment. So, are they still talking about not 100% fund…
If we get so lucky to have that conversation, I hope that we can seek feedback from the community to optimize, to fill all the seats, to address any of the challenges that exist. Thank you so much for your time. [clears throat] Hi everyone. My name i…
Why don't we take a five minute break? [clears throat] Mhm. one action We will begin the meeting of the January 8th meeting of the Croton-Harmon Union Free School District Board of Education. We are at the conclusion of item 2.3, which is the superin…
So, we need to seek out other providers that may be interested in partnering with us. Hence, the request for proposals. So, we are going to go out to bid publicly where providers can submit a proposal to partner with us to house some or all of our UP…
And I just want to add that [clears throat] as a board So, the first day I know as board, we are proud and pleased when our staff and when our administrators become leaders in their respective areas in their respective areas of expertise and we are p…
Additionally, there were some guidance documents that we were kind of, looking through but the priority fund the some of the priorities, the legislative priorities for our our state as well as our Board of Regents is that, by 2030 all 4-year-olds wil…
from what I understand, it would be extraordinarily difficult and time-consuming to reenter the program. I [clears throat] have been doing a fair amount of legal research, and I'm a practicing attorney, for the record, not just a volunteer lawyer, bu…
I first just wanted to thank the board and thank the superintendent and administration for meeting with us, for listening with us. specifically wanted to thank you for working on a board resolution that would ask for more funding from the state to pe…
So, I want to end by again asking for any sort of way to bridge that gap funding gap with Children's Space Montessori as a UPK provider. as we heard last board meeting, they will not be able to continue because of the financial constraints. I asked l…
Thanks for your Could you say your name again? Sarah Ruder. 77 North Street. My family and I have been part of the Children's Space North community for about 2 and 1/2 years. And it has been a really wonderful experience for our 3-year-old and our en…
We are raising our children in a challenging America. Our local leaders matter. We need protection and innovation in safeguarding our kids and communities. Please do your part to do so. Also, I wanted to add that I and others would organize around vo…
So, I think that's what I think we're trying to understand is like will this RFP include this potential offer or is that coming later on in the process? So, within the RFP there is a opening There's like a window of questions, a time where they can r…
They actually said, "We don't call it daycare." In the first tour that I went, they said to refer to it as school, and it is education. They have an amazing play-based philosophy that yields incredibly positive results. And I think it would be a grea…
So what I hear you saying is that we may end up having two or three or four providers some of whom [clears throat] only one of whom will be in CTE because we're only going to have one provider that can use that facility and supervise it but there may…
And that's just one of the many reasons our community here is so lucky to have Children's Space North running the UPK program. As I'm sure you're aware, I don't know if it's been mentioned by others, but today Governor Hochul announced a plan that in…
We learned our colors and we hatched chicks. and half of the school year, if we were in the morning, we switched to afternoon and if we were in the afternoon, we switched to morning. It was a very different world. And the curriculum, my son is in kin…
Which we're being, we want people to take an opportunity in the event that they can house, let's just say for example, five seats at, at little little Suzy's preschool for them to submit a proposal and we will consider that in the bid select in the s…
But so, really between the end of February and March, depending on when we get the contracts to the board, we'll open the lottery and we post that on social media, our website, Parent Square. We put flyers in the local preschools. So, we do a lot of …
But I would love for future and I worry for the kids who come after even if if for some reason we can't get it together this year. Every year going through this is mentally, the mental load is exhausting. And you help take care of us if we know what'…
UPK prepared our youngest son academically and socially for kindergarten, and he arrived at CET ready and confident to start school. As an immigrant and now proud citizen who has built a life here in the US, I want to see Croton embrace fairness and …
There are many good child care options in Croton, but they're not always affordable for everybody as we know. So, the investment in UPK will really improve the economic well-being and the overall health not just of Croton's kids, but of our families …
However, based upon some correspondence with the board and the district, it appears as though there's a plan to issue an RFP next month, and reading between the lines, it sounds like you may not provide the requested funds, although I hope I'm wrong.…
The Federal Department of Health and Human Services recommends that a household budget not exceed 7% of gross household income for child care. I'm not making a million dollars a year. So, [snorts] one pre-K spot is 24 grand, which roughly equates to …
Anyone vote because the money the proposal is already approved train, how are you spending that money? Under under the specific parameters. Under the specific parameters of what was in in the bond resolution. Exactly. However, the capital reserve Rig…
And I'm sure a lot of the other parents that aren't here right now are probably have similar stories about why they can't be here, and the financial impacts, and the time impacts. You know, it makes a big difference. And programs like this will make …
And then, It's it's never before April. It's been [laughter] One of the concerns that I would have if I were in their shoes is like right now for at least one of our providers, the current funding level is sounds like it's most likely not sustainable…
so, but given that we have we we we have this the UPK issue that we really want to advocate strongly for discussing whether it makes sense to just have a first participate this year. That would be on February 11th. and that I will have more to report…
Both my kids have been at Children's Space North, as well as several other facilities in Croton and in New York City, and by far Children's Space North has been, the best [clears throat] the best that we've we've seen. just the quality of the teacher…
I think that the it seems very clear that the people who are paying those taxes are asking you as a group to make a very specific decision. thank you so much for your time. I'm appreciative. [snorts] Good evening, everyone. It's good to see some fami…
[snorts] And so, I want to mention that as a really, I think, viable possibility and a way to make this, again, not just a program that can operate successfully in 2026-2027, but beyond that, an advantage scores [snorts] and scores of students over t…
2026-02-12
Board of Education
On the point of continuity and retention that was mentioned in a different matter earlier, I would just like to say I do hope the board considers that when looking at the RFPs knowing that we have an incredibly excellent provider of UPK right now and…
But the reason I mention this is to name that it's it's probable there's a large number of parents who need UPK the most who are not able to come and voice support in person because of child care issues and not having UPK essentially would make Croin…
And I think it's great that Alison raised that point about the policy because we're not looking at all these things all the time. I appreciate knowing that there's room for improvement in terms of how we articulate this approach to the community and …
we also had a a robust discussion about the board section of the website. As as I've been telling it in prior meetings, that's something we've been working on a lot this year. so Greg has wonderfully put together a production site that I will share w…
It's crushing. so I'm standing up here for them as well. I also understand theoretically this shouldn't be the district's problem to come up with money to supplement a flawed state funding formula. I think we're also in broad agreement about that, bu…
First, at the December 8th meeting, you heard from at least four parents who raised concerns that the current lottery process led to the underutilization of the UPK program, particularly because families were told which provider they had to accept an…
Though the trends in education are showing many school districts now have UPK, the city has 3K. Maybe in the future we'll have two school for 2-year-olds. We're just asking to continue a UPK program that was already established and is very I think cr…
It's like you kind of want to laugh a lot, don't you? Maybe we'll cry. Its fun half a person. I can't I like in articulate. Yeah. So, expense based aids. there have been no changes to those formulas which is great. They are based on they're expenditu…
Please be specific, be transparent. I think many of us would really appreciate a public session on how the budget gets made. The timeline on the website is impossible to understand without context. What role does the board have? Where's the ultimate …
We have more than 550 signatures on that petition. It's only been out for a little over a week. the vast majority of that is from Croin residents. And if you think about that number, it's about 350 people, which means it's far more than just people w…
but finally, I would like to congratulate Valor and January, Maya, Sebastian for their hard work and dedication to academic excellence. these recognitions represent their love of learning and curiosity. So, congratulations to them for this achievemen…
my name is Michelle. I live at four Wells Avenue. So I have two young daughters. they are three and one and currently my daughter Sarah who is going to be four would be eligible for UPK. it's obviously CAD with young kids. I have not come to a school…
to echo what Sarah had mentioned, we're talking about predictability with foundation aid and revising formula specifically in Westchester County where our cost of living is much higher than in most areas of the state there's no consideration for that…
but we were able to discuss again and put forth our our support for the governor's proposal of the expanded funding for UPK. it was certainly we were certainly not the only district to be having this discussion. It was really a main theme of our conv…
Therefore, I ask the board to be just as candid and transparent about whether that planned recommendation actually reflects the board's objectives. The board should question the assertion that no matter how small or large the need turns out to be, th…
Symbols are good for all groups and I'm going to propose a few. Thank you. Hi, my name is Evan Atkins, 95 Treeand Drive. I spoke I think in December about the issue of UPK and I'd like to bring it back to that. I I don't at least from what I've heard…
aside from that, we also had some conversations about the EV bus mandates and the timelines for that and the the, real inability I think in the the fact that the the timeline is not really feasible and looking to make adjustments there. So those were…
thank you to the board and the administration for your time and attention. just to I wanted to do a quick summary of all the activities that the parents are undertaking in lobbying Albany and really doing what we can to move this process forward for …
the recently added UPK facts page on the district website is a great step in the right direction. Thank you for putting all that info in one place for parents to find. there's still a few things I would love clarification on and even to respectfully …
All the districts with UPK do that." I said, "Oh, that's interesting." And then I asked him, "Well, how would you view a cost of one quarter of 1% of your district budget as a necessary input to do this? Is that such a number that it's so large that …
forcing us to wait this long to solidify plans makes an already stressful situation just that much harder for us. So I am very curious to understand how the board imagines all this logically fitting together. and making sense for providers and famili…