{"id":336009,"date":"2026-09-02T14:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T14:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/336009\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T14:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T14:44:13","slug":"84-long-island-school-districts-are-adding-free-pre-k-new-york-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/336009\/","title":{"rendered":"84 Long Island School Districts Are Adding Free Pre-K \u2013 New York Family"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-427035\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-1332728408.jpg\" alt=\"Free Pre-K Coming to 84 Long Island School Districts\u00a0\" width=\"568\" height=\"568\"\/>Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Long Island is getting a lot more free Pre-K, with 84 school districts adding new seats this year.<\/p>\n<p>At a Glance:<\/p>\n<p>84 Long Island school districts are adding free Pre-K seats this year.<br \/>\nThe expansion is part of a $560 million investment in early childhood education.<br \/>\n400+ school districts across New York are adding new Pre-K seats.<br \/>\nLong Island is getting more new Pre-K seats than any other region in New York this year.<\/p>\n<p>Psst\u2026 Check Out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorkfamily.com\/nyc-neighborhoods-to-get-free-2-k-program\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Free 2-K Seats Are Coming to These NYC Neighborhoods This Fall<\/a><\/p>\n<p>More Free Pre-K Coming to Long Island<\/p>\n<p>Governor Kathy Hochul has said time and time again that she wants every child in New York to have access to free Pre-K, and little by little we are making our way there. Today, Hochul announced a major expansion of free Pre-K, and Long Island is getting the largest share of new seats of any region in New York State.<\/p>\n<p>As part of a $560 million investment, 84 Long Island school districts are expanding free Pre-K this year. New York City and other districts around the state are also growing their programs.<\/p>\n<p>Across the state, more than 400 school districts are expanding free Pre-K this year, which is over half of all public districts in New York.<\/p>\n<p>Long Island\u2019s 84 participating districts make up the biggest concentration of new Pre-K seats anywhere in New York this year. In comparison, the Mid-Hudson region is adding seats in 53 districts, and Western New York in 58.<\/p>\n<p>This is all part of a bigger effort to take some of the financial pressure off families when it comes to child care, which is often one of the biggest expenses a family can have. New York is putting $1.6 billion into child care programs, and funding for universal Pre-K has grown by more than 70 percent since 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Hochul points out that childcare can run anywhere from $20K to $40K per year, and many parents are trying to survive on low wages. She says she doesn\u2019t want families to feel like they have to leave New York due to childcare expenses.<\/p>\n<p>More seats are on the way in the coming years as New York works toward free Pre-K for every child by 2028, which really isn\u2019t that far away.<\/p>\n<p>Psst\u2026 Check Out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorkfamily.com\/gov-kathy-hochul-fight-new-york-families\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Exclusive: Governor Kathy Hochul\u2019s Fight for New York Families<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/link.schnepsmedia.com\/join\/7hf\/signup-page-fam\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-391465 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788360253_420_newsletter-signup-1.png\"   alt=\"Sign up for New York Family's weekly newsletters!\" width=\"612\" height=\"442\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Images Long Island is getting a lot more free Pre-K, with 84 school districts adding new seats&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5287,126233,776,9,24,55,54,126232,56,44227],"class_list":["post-336009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-child-care","tag-free-pre-k","tag-long-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-new-york-families","tag-ny","tag-preschool"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}