The Island Trees Board of Education, at their May 30 meeting, approved a resolution to offer the Universal Pre-Kindergarten program if state funding is secured at an early enough date.

The Universal Pre-K Program has been funded by the state for a number of years but the 2001-2002 school year is the first time that it is being offered to all school districts in New York. Island Trees would not have been eligible for state aid in the past but for the coming school year, each eligible 4-year-old child would be funded at a rate of $2,000 per child. Currently though this is being offered, the funding is not in the state's budget for the coming year. Island Trees Superintendent of Schools Richard Segerdahl has stated that the district would only go forward with this plan if the money is put in the state budget and if the budget is passed at an early enough date for the district to finalize plans for the program. The superintendent has indicated that if a state budget is not passed by mid- to-late August, the district could not offer Universal Pre-K for the coming school year.

In order to be eligible for the funding, in case the money is provided in the state budget, any district interested in the Universal Pre-K Program, had to form a Universal Pre-K Committee. Island Trees did that, and the committee met on several occasions to review the Universal Pre-K Technical Assistance Manual and develop a 2001-2002 Program Plan and create a Parent Preschool Survey that was sent to the 184 homes in the district that are known to have children who would be eligible for the program in the coming year. This program would offer the children 2 1/2 hours of preschool five days a week at no cost to the parents. While many districts do not have the space to provide such a program, because Island Trees already has a preschool program that parents pay to send their children to, the district does have the room for the children.

The response to the parent survey was very favorable and on May 22 the Universal Pre-K Committee held a districtwide public hearing to seek input from the community. Following that hearing, the committee recommended that the board move forward with the program, as they felt that offering a Universal Pre-K Program for 2001-2002 would be educationally beneficial.

Segerdahl said that the district will have everything for the program ready to go for September and that they will wait as long as they can for the state grant. If the grant is not received in time for the coming school year, the district will still offer the current Island Trees/SCOPE Preschool Program that parents must pay for.