Students who live in some of New Jersey’s poorest school districts, once known as Abbott districts, are eligible for free preschool and these districts are required to enroll at least 90% of all eligible preschoolers.
Only five of the 31 districts met that mark in the 2023-24 school year, only four had higher enrollment numbers in the last school year compared to the 2009-10 school year, and many are much further away from hitting the 90% enrollment goal than they were in the 2009-2010 school year, according to a recent report from the Education Law Center. The report comes 25 years after the start of the court-ordered enrollment.
With 78% of eligible preschoolers enrolled in the Abbott preschool program, that means more than 10,000 eligible students are not enrolled.
“After the first stages of implementation, while the state was growing the program, we saw increases,” said Danielle Farrie, research director at the Education Law Center and co-author of the report. “Then enrollment basically leveled off for a number of years, and then starting a little bit before COVID, we did start to see declines in enrollment. And then when COVID happened, those declines were exacerbated. But the troubling thing is that what we’ve seen is the enrollments have not rebounded to the levels they were pre-COVID.”
Some preschools are run through school districts, others are partnerships between districts and private providers, like the Egenolf Early Childhood Center in Elizabeth which, along with the district, has struggled to meet its enrollment numbers.
“It’s shocking to me actually, how many parents of 3-year-olds don’t know about this free preschool program,” said Lorraine Cooke, executive director of the center. For those who do, Cooke says there are other barriers, including transportation. “In my district, parents have to live two miles or more from their preschool in order to get transportation. A lot of families are pushing strollers, and that’s walking four miles a day. I think that has to be looked at.”
Some districts are hitting their numbers by engaging in extensive outreach. Joselyn Estevez-Vargas, vice president of early childhood programs at Hopes Cap, Inc. in Hoboken, said they promote the program door to door. And, she said, “We do the menus at the diners, posting at the local grocery stores, at the laundromats.”
All involved said they would like the state to step up its outreach in all the places families go, so they understand the need and the availability of these pre-K programs.
