The New York State Department of Education is offering the Great Neck School District additional funding for 28 4-year-olds to attend pre-kindergarten for a half-day program. In accordance with the guidelines for eligibility for the funds, a public hearing was held on March 7 at Lakeville School. Most of the people who attended serve on a Universal Pre-K Advisory Committee composed of board of education members and directors of public and private pre-kindergarten programs. The program is named "Universal Pre-Kindergarten" by the state, but all participants call the title an unfortunate misnomer as it raises expectations of a broader based, publicly funded service which is not the case.

Currently, 3-and 4-year-olds whose families meet the stringent income requirements for free and reduced fee school lunches or who have special needs that can be mainstreamed, are the only children in this age bracket being served by the school district. The state funding level is $2700 per child, which according to Dr. Shelia Terens, assistant superintendent for elementary education in Great Neck, is lower than it actually costs to fund the program.

Most young children whose parents want them to have an educationally enriched pre-school program attend private nursery schools. Ms. Barbara Breslow, director at Community Nursery School, who will be taking the proposal back to the school's board of directors for consideration, says that the current cost for a morning or afternoon program for 10 months ranges between $3,500 and $3,600. Parents who enroll their child in an extended program for 5 hours pay $6,095. While costs may vary somewhat from one private school to another, they are fairly comparable. She adds, "At Community School, we have always offered a limited number of scholarships as a community service."

The handful of parents who attended the meeting were understandably confused by the title of the hearing and came hoping that a publicly supported program for all 4-year-olds was in the offing. Dr. Terens explained that the state has placed a high priority on serving the "underserved children" whose families' incomes fall within the poverty level. It was acknowledged that there are probably families living within Great Neck who earn enough to be over the financial requirements for the program and yet cannot afford private programs. Dr. Terens noted that if there are open slots after the designated children with the greatest financial need are served, the district is allowed to take children from the next tier of financial need.

Deborah Shalom, director at Parkville, explained that it is difficult to get a handle on the number of children who fall in the category of being just above the poverty line. Currently, 141 children are enrolled in the pre-K program. According to her figures, 41 children whose families applied last year for the program were not accepted. Even those numbers do not necessarily reflect numbers of families just above the eligibility requirements. It is not unusual to have some inappropriate applications from families clearly well above disadvantaged income levels.

Advocates for better and more accessible child care and early childhood education such as the Great Neck/Manhasset Community Child Care Partnership have been pressing to have the eligibility requirements raised on Long Island due to the high cost of living here.

Dr. William Shine, superintendent of Great Neck Public Schools in an interview with the Record emphasized that, while the district is willing to work with the state in establishing programs for children from economically disadvantaged families, there is no intention to create a 14th grade. He said, "We can't intrude on the equilibrium of the community that has well established nursery programs in place to serve this age group."

Dr. Terens commented that it would be feasible for the school district to add one classroom at Parkville serving 18 children. The other ten slots at $2700 each would be available for pre-school programs in the community if they choose to participate.