Murphy wants to require free, full-day kindergarten
By: Mary Ann Koruth
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... Aside from a handful of districts, New Jersey's 5- and 6-year-olds have long had access to free kindergarten programs within their school districts. A new proposal that Governor Phil Murphy floated in his State of the State address Tuesday [01/14/2025]could codify this practice into law by mandating free, full-day kindergarten in the state's 608 public and charter schools.
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The proposal to mandate free kindergarten, which needs backing from the Legislature to become law, will also mandate that school districts retain existing universal, free pre-k programs for children who are 3 or 4 years old, a Murphy administration priority since he took office.
..... Kindergarten has never been compulsory in New Jersey.
..... "Today, [01/14/2025] I am announcing a suite of new proposals, each crafted to support our children at every stage of life," Murphy said in his speech. "From the cradle to the college campus and beyond."
..... "When I first ran for this office, I set the goal of putting New Jersey on a path to free, universal pre-K," he said. "And this year, [2025] we will not only move forward in reaching this goal, I am also going to work, with you all to enact a new proposal requiring school districts to proivde full-day kindergarten in the communities that still lack it."
..... Senator Teresa Ruiz, D-Essex, the majority leader, is already sponsoring legislation that would require schools to submit plans that show how their state-funded universal pre-K programs would remain in place.
..... Under the bill, all districts would be required to provide free preschool education opportunities for all 3-and 4-year-old pupils based on the amount of preschool education aid the district receives, by a date determined by each school district.
..... The bill would allow any district that operates a preschool program to apply to the Education Department for approval to establish tuition based on a family's ability to pay.
..... The district would have to show that it cannot afford to support a free full-day preschool program and that collecting tuition would permit more at risk students to enroll.
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Those districts would also receive preschool expansion aid from the state.
..... The few districts in the state that don't offer free full-day kindergarten would also have to include a plan to provide in order to apply for state-funded pre-K.
..... Only about 11 district in the state do not have full-day kindergarten, or else charge a fee to attend. the districts that charge a fee are Cranford and Westfield in Union County and the School District of the Chathams in Morris County.
..... Districts that don't already offer full-day free kindergarten have various reasons. The suburban Westfield school districts for example, offers a wrap-around kindergarten lottery for families that want more than the standard 2 1/2-hour program. The district does not have enough buildings or staff to provide a full-day program.
" To build the classrooms needed will require support of a bond referendum to go before Westfield voters in April 15," [2025] said Westfield's superintendent, Raymond Gonzales. "Provided the referendum is approved, an additional funding proposal will be necessary in a future operation budget to pay for additional kindergarten teachers."
..... Other districts without full-day free kindergarten are Mooestown, Haddonfield, Metuchen, Monroe, Millstone, Upper Freehold Regional, Bridgewater-Raritan Regional and Hillsborough Township. Some of these districts have indicated plans to provide full-day programming going forward, the governor's office said.
..... Murphy's proposal calls for mandating full-day kindergarten in all of New Jersey's school districts, Sixteen states and the District of Columbia require that children attend full-day kindergarten, according to the Education Commission of the States, policy group run by lawmakers and governors.
..... Historically, only New Jersey's poorest urban districts that benefited from a lawsuit granting them additional state funding to put them on the same footing as better-off suburban districts ran fully state-funded universal pre-k and kindergarten programs.
..... Preschool aid allocations in the budget have been a state priority since 2018, when the Murphy administration took over.
..... It has spent $3.1 billion to expand access, the governor's office said.
...., Until 2023, state-allocated funds for preschool were available only to districts with 10% or more student enrollment from low-income families.
..... Since 2024, applications for preschool funding have been open to all of the state's school districts but still prioritize districts with low-income students according to a tiered system, a credit for as an "important shift" in how preschool money is allocated in New Jersey.