New York Laws
Part 1 - General Provisions
3602-EE - Statewide Universal Full-Day Pre-Kindergarten Program.

(a) curriculum;
(b) learning environment, materials and supplies;
(c) family engagement;
(d) staffing patterns;
(e) teacher education and experience;
(f) facility quality;
(g) physical well-being, health and nutrition; and
(h) partnerships with non-profit, community and educational
institutions.
3. (a) The universal full-day pre-kindergarten program shall make
awards to (i) consolidated applications submitted by school districts
which include pre-kindergarten programs offered by schools, non-profit
organizations, community-based organizations, charter schools, libraries
and/or museums, which shall demonstrate geographic diversity within the
area to be served as well as diversity of providers; and (ii) non-profit
organizations, community-based organizations, charter schools, libraries
and museums, which may apply individually to the extent allowed under
paragraph (b) of this subdivision. Any consolidated application must
include, but is not limited to, the names of individual locations and
providers, applicable licenses, facility lease information, and intended
staffing plans and certifications.
(b) Prior to submission of a consolidated application, a school
district shall widely solicit non-profit organizations, community-based
organizations, charter schools, libraries and museums located within the
school district to be included in its application. The school district
shall notify any applicant who has been denied for inclusion in the
consolidated application no later than two weeks prior to submission of
such application. Such eligible providers denied for inclusion may apply
individually as provided in paragraph (a) of this subdivision.
(c) The department shall establish two application periods in advance
of a school year.
(d) Providers awarded slots under this section that they actually
utilized would continue to have such slots renewed in subsequent years
provided the program meets quality standards and all applicable
requirements.
4. Programs that provide more stimulation, enhance child development
and demonstrate creative approaches to improve early childhood education
will have a competitive advantage in the application process.
5. The department shall develop a scoring system, which it shall use
to evaluate which applications shall be funded on a competitive basis
based on merit and factors including but not limited to the criteria
listed above and student and community need. Upon review of
applications, if the program is oversubscribed in any region or regions
of the state, the department shall notify the division of the budget,
which shall develop a plan for distribution of available slots within
any oversubscribed region. The subscription for the New York city region
is three hundred million dollars. The department shall allocate full-day
pre-kindergarten conversion slots and new full-day pre-kindergarten
slots based on available funding and shall make payments upon
documentation of eligible expenditures in the base year, which shall be
limited to the actual number of slots operated and paid on a per-pupil
basis pursuant to subdivision fourteen of this section.

6. The department shall develop a statewide inspection protocol, which
shall provide for annual inspections of all universal full-day
pre-kindergarten providers, and shall develop a quality assurance
protocol and physical plant review protocol for such reviews.
7. Statewide universal full-day pre-kindergarten slots shall only be
awarded to support programs that provide instruction for at least five
hours per school day for the full school year and that otherwise comply
with the rules and requirements pursuant to section thirty-six hundred
two-e of this part except as otherwise provided in this section.
8. All teachers in the universal full-day pre-kindergarten program
shall meet the same teacher certification standards applicable to public
schools. Pre-kindergarten teachers providing instruction through this
section shall possess:
(a) a teaching license or certificate valid for service in the early
childhood grades; or
(b) a teaching license or certificate for students with disabilities
valid for service in early childhood grades; or
(c) for eligible agencies as defined in paragraph b of subdivision one
of section thirty-six hundred two-e of this part that are not schools, a
bachelor's degree in early childhood education. Provided however,
beginning with the two thousand twenty-two--two thousand twenty-three
school year, a school district may annually apply to the commissioner by
September first of the current school year for a waiver that would allow
personnel employed by an eligible agency that is collaborating with a
school district to provide prekindergarten services and licensed by an
agency other than the department, to meet the staff qualifications
prescribed by the licensing or registering agency. Provided further that
the commissioner shall annually submit a report by November first to the
chairperson of the assembly ways and means committee, the chairperson of
the senate finance committee and the director of the budget which shall
include but not be limited to the following: (a) a listing of the school
districts receiving a waiver pursuant to this paragraph from the
commissioner for the current school year; (b) the number and proportion
of students within each district receiving a waiver pursuant to this
paragraph for the current school year that are receiving instruction
from personnel employed by an eligible agency that is collaborating with
a school district to provide prekindergarten services and licensed by an
agency other than the department; and (c) the number and proportion of
total prekindergarten personnel for each school district that are
providing instructional services pursuant to this paragraph that are
employed by an eligible agency that is collaborating with a school
district to provide prekindergarten services and licensed by an agency
other than the department, to meet the staff qualifications prescribed
by the licensing or registering agency.
9. The process by which applicants submit proposals to collaborate
with the school district or individually to the department, and the
renewal process for such providers, shall take into account any record
of violations of health and safety codes and/or licensure or
registration requirements. In addition, any agency that is cited for a
violation classified as an "imminent danger" by the office of children
and family services or as a "public health hazard" by the New York city
department of health and mental hygiene which is not immediately
corrected and which is not of a life threatening or of a grave and
serious nature shall be suspended from the program and, upon final
determination of such violation by the regulating agency, suspended or
terminated from participating in the program under this section based on
the severity of the violation. Provided further, that eligible agencies
with a record of other serious or critical and/or repeated violations

that pose a risk to health or safety shall, upon final determination of
such violations, be suspended or terminated from participating in the
program under this section, and the office of children and family
services shall establish statewide standards for determining such
grounds for such suspension or termination based on violations issued by
the applicable regulatory agency.
10. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, a universal
full-day pre-kindergarten provider shall be inspected by the department,
the school district with which it partners, if any, and its respective
licensing, permitting, regulatory, oversight, registration or enrolling
agency or entity no fewer than two times per school year, at least one
inspection of which shall be performed by the eligible agency's
respective licensing, permitting, regulatory, oversight, registration or
enrolling agency, as applicable.
11. Facilities providing universal full-day pre-kindergarten under
this section shall meet all applicable fire safety and building codes
and any applicable facility requirements of a state or local licensing
or registering agency and at all times shall maintain building and
classroom space in a manner that ensures and protects the health and
safety of students in all programs statewide, notwithstanding any
changes in such applicable codes or requirements.
12. Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section
twenty-eight hundred fifty-four of this chapter and paragraph (c) of
subdivision two of section twenty-eight hundred fifty-four of this
chapter, charter schools shall be eligible to participate in universal
full-day pre-kindergarten programs under this section, provided that all
such monitoring, programmatic review and operational requirements under
this section shall be the responsibility of the charter entity and shall
be consistent with the requirements under article fifty-six of this
chapter. The provisions of paragraph (b) of subdivision two of section
twenty-eight hundred fifty-four of this chapter shall apply to the
admission of pre-kindergarten students, except parents of
pre-kindergarten children may submit applications for the two thousand
fourteen--two thousand fifteen school year by a date to be determined by
the charter school upon selection to participate in the universal
full-day pre-kindergarten program. The limitations on the employment of
uncertified teachers under paragraph (a-1) of subdivision three of
section twenty-eight hundred fifty-four of this chapter shall apply to
all teachers from pre-kindergarten through grade twelve.
13. Apportionments under this section shall only be used to supplement
and not supplant current local expenditures of federal, state or local
funds on pre-kindergarten programs and the number of slots in such
programs from such sources. Current local expenditures shall include any
local expenditures of federal, state or local funds used to supplement
or extend services provided directly or via contract to eligible
children enrolled in a universal pre-kindergarten program pursuant to
section thirty-six hundred two-e of this part.
14. (a) The award per pupil for an eligible entity pursuant to
subdivision three of this section shall equal: (i) for each new full-day
pre-kindergarten placement the lesser of the full-day pre-kindergarten
per pupil amount or the total approved expenditures per pupil and (ii)
for each existing half-day pre-kindergarten placement converted into a
full-day pre-kindergarten placement the lesser of (A) the positive
difference of the full-day pre-kindergarten per pupil amount minus the
district's selected aid per pre-kindergarten pupil pursuant to
subparagraph (i) of paragraph b of subdivision ten of section thirty-six
hundred two-e of this part or (B) the positive difference of the total
approved expenditures per pupil minus the district's selected aid per

pre-kindergarten pupil pursuant to subparagraph (i) of paragraph b of
subdivision ten of section thirty-six hundred two-e of this part. Each
participating eligible entity pursuant to subdivision three of this
section shall provide its expenses under this provision in a format
prescribed by the commissioner.
(b) For the purposes of this section, "full-day pre-kindergarten per
pupil amount" shall mean (i) for pupils enrolled in programs where the
teacher of record for such pupil holds a teaching certificate issued by
the commissioner in an appropriate certificate title, ten thousand
dollars, and (ii) for pupils enrolled in programs where the teacher of
record for such pupil does not hold a teaching certificate issued by the
commissioner in an appropriate certificate title, seven thousand
dollars.
(c) For the purposes of this section, "teacher of record" shall mean
the teacher who is primarily and directly responsible for a student's
learning activities, as reported to the department in a manner
prescribed by the commissioner.
15. Definitions. For the purpose of this section, the following
definitions shall apply:
(a) "regions of the state" shall mean:
(i) Capital Region: Includes Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer,
Saratoga, Schenectady, Warren, and Washington counties.
(ii) Central New York Region: Includes Cayuga, Cortland, Madison,
Onondaga and Oswego counties.
(iii) Finger Lakes Region: Includes Genesee, Livingston, Monroe,
Ontario, Orleans, Seneca, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates counties.
(iv) Long Island Region: Includes Nassau and Suffolk counties.
(v) Mid-Hudson Region: Includes Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland,
Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester counties.
(vi) Mohawk Valley Region: Includes Fulton, Herkimer, Montgomery,
Oneida, Otsego and Schoharie counties.
(vii) New York City Region: Includes Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens
and Richmond counties.
(viii) North Country Region: Includes Clinton, Essex, Franklin,
Hamilton, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties.
(ix) Southern Tier Region: Includes Broome, Chemung, Chenango,
Delaware, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga and Tompkins counties.
(x) Western New York Region: Includes Allegany, Cattaraugus,
Chautauqua, Erie and Niagara counties.
(b) "community-based organization" shall mean a provider of child care
and early education, a day care provider, early childhood program or
center, approved preschool special education program, Head Start or
other such community-based organization.
16. The authority of the department to administer the universal
full-day pre-kindergarten program shall expire June thirtieth, two
thousand twenty-four; provided that the program shall continue and
remain in full effect.
17. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of law to the contrary,
for the purposes of determining the prekindergarten allocation on the
electronic data file prepared by the commissioner pursuant to
subdivision twenty-one of section three hundred five of this chapter for
the two thousand nineteen--two thousand twenty school year and
thereafter, the commissioner is directed to include the grant amounts
awarded pursuant to this section in the amount set forth for such school
district as "UNIVERSAL PRE-KINDERGARTEN."