Orange County school districts returned $10 million in unspent pre-K state funds

As New York State pushes to expand Universal pre-K (UPK) access for working families, school districts quietly left millions in state childcare funding unspent.

According to a State Education Department report obtained by New York Focus, $170 million of the $1.2 billion allocated for UPK went unused during the 2024-25 school year.

Of the $170 million returned to the state, Orange County school districts accounted for $10 million, leaving hundreds of potential UPK seats empty in the county.

For years, state Sen. James Skoufis said he has fought to secure millions in state budget funding to expand Universal pre-K access for Orange County families. He said that while there are some districts who spend every dollar allocated to them, others have repeatedly returned a significant portion of that money back untouched.

Skoufis highlighted that behind the number of unspent funds are young working families who have had to bear the brunt of finding alternative pre-K options for their four-year-olds.

“Put simply, it’s bad news for young working families because there are two alternatives to Universal pre-K,” Skoufis said. “Option one is you have to spend $15,000 or more to put your four-year-old child into a private program. Option two is you don’t put your child into a program and your four-year-old does not get an education.

“If your school just returned money,” he added, “you should be raising holy hell with your school district.”

A face behind the waitlist

Out of the more than 670 school districts participating in the state’s UPK program, Monroe-Woodbury sent back the most amount of aid in the entire state, returning more than $4.7 million out of the total $5.5 million that it had received.

Like many districts, Monroe-Woodbury selects its students for its UPK program through a lottery. If students are not picked in the random draw, they are placed on the district’s waitlist.

According to enrollment data provided by Monroe-Woodbury district officials, 110 seats were funded by the state during the 2024-25 school year, with 66 students placed on the district’s waitlist.

Monroe resident Christen Crouther was among the dozens of families who applied for Monroe-Woodbury’s 2024-25 UPK program. She was enthusiastic about the opportunity to enroll her child in the program, but was later notified that her eldest daughter was among the 66 students placed on the waitlist.

“We were devastated,” Crouther said. “We were even more devastated to find out that we were the second to last on the long list.”

For Crouther, getting into the district’s UPK program would have alleviated her household’s financial childcare strain. Instead, Crouther said she paid around $19,000 out-of-pocket for private daycare for her then four-year-old child.

At the same time, Crouther said she was also registering her youngest daughter into a separate daycare. In total, her household spent more than $30,000 on childcare for both children combined.

Crouther said it was “disheartening” to learn that the district had returned so much of the pre-K funding.

“We pay a lot of money in school taxes,” she said, “and so the least that I feel to be done is for my child to be accepted at the UPK program.”

Monroe-Woodbury sends back $4.7 million

But Monroe-Woodbury officials said state aid has historically not been enough to fully cover its UPK program.

The district’s decision to not fully utilize state funds was due to the state’s low reimbursement rate and its impact on local taxpayer dollars, Dr. Karin Morales, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction (UPK-5), and Patrick Cahill, Assistant Superintendent for Business and Management Services, said in a joint statement to Straus News.

“In the 2024-25 school year, the district received $6,495 in state aid per pupil, compared with an actual cost of approximately $10,200 per student, requiring the district to fund the difference with local resources,” Morales and Cahill wrote. “As a result, any expansion of the program is dependent not only on the ability of community-based partners to meet the state’s stringent UPK requirements and provide sufficient classroom space for additional students, but also the district’s local budget capacity.”

Morales and Cahill added that utilizing the $428,670 state funds to cover the seats of 66 waitlisted students would have resulted in an additional local contribution of $244,596.

Skoufis pushed back against the district’s justification, calling it a “very poor excuse” that he has heard from other districts for years. He said school districts should not expect the state to pay for the full cost of UPK, adding that the program is a beneficial investment for taxpayers.

“(Universal pre-K) is of enormous value to taxpayers, even if you don’t have children in the school system,” Skoufis said. “Young families are now predominantly looking to move to school districts that have Universal pre-K, and if your district doesn’t, your home value suffers. And that’s putting aside all the educational benefits that are associated with early child education.”

During the district’s July 22 board of education meeting, Cahill said that the state’s funding formula assumes that every eligible student within the district would participate in the program, despite many families opting for private school.

Skoufis acknowledged that many families, which he noted are often from the district’s Orthodox Jewish community, choose not to participate in the program, but instead enroll their children in private schools. He added that no matter how much funding Monroe-Woodbury receives, the district should be using the funds toward creating the maximum number of slots for all students that want to attend the program.

M-W says it’s committed to expanding UPK

Monroe-Woodbury officials communicated their commitment to expanding the district’s UPK program.

“One of our priorities is to provide high-quality early childhood education to as many young learners and families as possible,” Morales and Cahill wrote. “Over the past several years, our district has made significant strides in expanding Universal Pre-Kindergarten access—adding new classroom sections, strengthening partnerships with community-based organizations, and creating/maintaining engaging, developmentally appropriate learning environments for our four-year-olds.”

This past school year, Monroe-Woodbury filled 113 total UPK state funded seats, with 25 students on the waitlist, according to enrollment data provided by district officials.

But Skoufis said the district is not prioritizing the program enough. He said he’s communicated with district officials privately about expanding the district’s UPK program for over half a decade.

Currently, Monroe-Woodbury holds its UPK program both in-house at Sapphire Elementary and through community-based organizations, including Little Pals Preschool, Christian Education Center and Kids Korner. Skoufis said that without having to construct or readapt space, the district could use classroom space at Smith Clove Elementary to accommodate more students in the program.

“I’ve even offered to provide on top of the state UPK money that I help secure,” Skoufis said. “I’ve even offered to provide additional funding if it meant Monroe-Woodbury being able to create more classroom space within their school buildings for UPK classes... And despite that, over the course of many years of expressing concerns, there has seemingly been hardly any change.”

How neighboring school districts spent state funds

Neighboring districts, including Warwick Valley School District, returned state aid as a result of meeting family demand. In the 2024-25 school year, Warwick Valley used $723,600 in state funds, sending back $313,200 to the state.

The district did not fully utilize its state funds because “local demand fell below the maximum number of available state-funded seats,” Dr. Meghan McGourty, the district’s Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, said in a written statement.

She added that every local family who requested a seat that year was offered a spot in the program.

Some school districts spent every penny that was offered, including Tuxedo School District, which fully utilized the $108,000 in funds that was provided.

Here is a partial list indicating how much unused funds Orange County school districts sent back to the state:

Monroe-Woodbury: $4,786,514

Kiryas Joel: $1,736,472

Goshen: $609,738

Warwick Valley: $313,200

Chester: $168,092

Florida: $160,981

Tuxedo: $0

Straus News reached out to district officials in Goshen School District and Chester School District for comment, but did not hear back by publication.

State increases UPK reimbursement rate

The state’s 2026-27 budget included an increase to the reimbursement rate for UPK programs, nearly doubling it to $10,000 per pupil.

Weighing in on the rate increase at the July 22 board of education meeting, Cahill expressed optimism about the future of Monroe-Woodbury’s UPK program.

“Fortunately, with the adoption of the 2026-27 New York State budget, New York State has increased the level of state aid available for UPK,” Cahill said. “And this additional funding will enable the district to expand the number of UPK seats by reducing the financial burden on local taxpayers.”

In addition to doubling the reimbursement rate, Skoufis said the state also included a mandate, starting in September 2028, that requires school districts to use the provided state aid to create slots for every family that signs up for UPK. He noted he has advocated for the measure for years.

Until then, Skoufis urged Orange County school districts to act.

“My message is the same message it has been for years to all the school districts, which is, ‘please better prioritize this,’ because when you don’t, young families are either out over $15,000 or their kids are not getting an education,” Skoufis said. “And either of those alternatives are unacceptable in the year 2026. And if you need help building out classroom space, I reiterate my offer to help, the same offer that has existed for many years.”