Dive Brief:

• New York state is doling out $340 million for pre-kindergarten, the first round of funding in a promise to spend $1.5 billion on a statewide pre-K program over the next five years. 
• According to state officials, 81 school districts and community groups will receive this round of funds, which will help almost 37,000 students.  
• Of this first round of funding, the New York City Department of Education will receive $294.5 million.  

​Dive Insight:

New York — and more specifically, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio — has been speaking about universal pre-K for quite some time, so it's exciting to see the money finally starting to trickle down to the districts and community groups. It will be interesting to see what the programs look like a year from now, or even five years from now.

While many counties are eager to get their funding, not all applied. Some districts elected not to apply for pre-K funding because the dollars would not come all at once, creating a delicate reimbursement situation that not all districts could afford to do. Finding a way to mitigate reimbursement crunches so all can apply would be a good next step for the state.  

Recommended Reading:

CBS : NY giving $340M to 81 schools, groups for pre-K