ASSEMBLY EDUCATION COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
ASSEMBLY, No. 5717
with committee amendments
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: JUNE 16, 2025
The Assembly Education Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 5717.
As amended, this bill is to be known as the “New Jersey Universal Preschool and Kindergarten Act.”
The amended bill modifies various statutes governing early childhood education in an effort to codify and expand on requirements that the Department of Education has previously established for providing State-funded preschool to build and sustain universal access to high-quality programs.
Preschool Expansion Grants
The amended bill requires the Department of Education (DOE) to provide annual preschool expansion grants, defined as grants expanding free access to high-quality preschool for resident three- and four-year children in districts that do not, at the time of application for a grant, provide State-funded, high-quality, free preschool programs. Pursuant to the amended bill, the department’s preschool expansion grant program is to include certain requirements.
Preschool Education Aid
The amended bill also revises requirements for preschool education aid. The revisions include an update to the formula for determining each district’s allocation of preschool education aid to eliminate the use of District Factor Groups and specify the use of projected FTE enrollment for the upcoming year. The amended bill also requires districts that receive preschool education aid to meet certain criteria concerning partnerships with licensed child care providers and Head Start programs, program planning, and self-assessment.
Preschool Cost-Sharing Pilot Program
The amended bill establishes a three-year pilot program for a methodology for sharing preschool education costs between the State and participating school districts. A participating district is any district receiving preschool education aid for the first time in the 2025-2026, 2026-2027, or 2027-2028 school years. Under the pilot program, preschool education aid for participating school districts is to be calculated by multiplying the district’s district aid percentage by the amount calculated under the preschool education aid formula applicable to districts that received preschool education aid in the 2024-2025 school year. District aid percentage for this purpose is to equal to the greater of the district aid percentage as defined pursuant to the State school construction law or 40 percent.
Universal Preschool Implementation Steering Committee
The amended bill establishes in the Department of Education a Universal Preschool Implementation Steering Committee composed of representatives of various State agencies and the New Jersey Legislature.
Other Early Childhood Education Provisions
The amended bill also:
• requires the DOE, the Department of Children and Families, and the Department of Human Services to maintain and annually update certain information regarding preschool and child care providers on their respective Internet websites;
• requires the DOE, the Department of Children and Families, and the Department of Human Services, in consultation with stakeholders, to annually submit a report to the Legislature on the status of preschool education in the State and the efficacy of the mixed delivery method of preschool education;
• requires numerous State agencies to publish guidance on a variety of topics related to expanding access to high-quality preschool education in areas of greatest need; and
• removes preschool students from the population used to determine approved area for unhoused students for purposes of the DOE’s administration of school facilities projects.
Finally, the bill requires each elementary-serving
school district in the State to establish a full-day kindergarten program no
later than the beginning of the 2029-2030 school year. Attendance at the
kindergarten program shall be free. School districts not providing full-day
kindergarten by the effective date of the amended bill may satisfy this
requirement by entering into a sending-receiving relationship with an adjacent
school district.
COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:
The committee amended the bill to:
· provide that school districts applying for preschool expansion grants are to demonstrate due diligence to partner with all ready, willing, and able licensed child care providers and Head Start programs in the district’s immediate and neighboring communities, in a manner determined by the Commissioner of Education, which is to include documentation of all efforts made by the applicant school district to engage with all licensed child care providers and Head Start programs in the applicant’s immediate and neighboring communities;
· stipulate that the Department of Education, the Department of Children and Families, and the Department of Human Services are to maintain on their respective Internet websites a list of all districts offering State-funded preschool for a school year, instead of only districts receiving preschool expansion grants;
· provide that the Department of Education, the Department of Children and Families, and the Department of Human Services are to update the required information on their respective Internet websites in a timely manner after preschool expansion grants are awarded;
· require the report on the efficacy of the mixed delivery method of preschool education to be issued by the Department of Education, the Department of Children and Families, and the Department of Human Services on an annual basis;
· require, rather than permit, the Universal Preschool Implementation Steering Committee to convene one or more local subcommittees to solicit input from local practitioners; and
· make various technical changes to the bill.