Coalition: Not enough funding for pre-K

The state's latest boosts in school funding aren't helping Long Island's youngest students -- many of whom face waits for placement in prekindergarten classes, a regional coalition of education activists asserted Tuesday.

At a news conference outside Brentwood school headquarters, one coalition leader, Danielle Asher, cited a recent study showing that five Island school districts each had waiting lists of 100 children or more for slots in publicly funded prekindergartens. Brentwood, the Island's biggest district, was among those cited.

"Do you know what a waiting list is for a 4-year-old? It's a missed opportunity," said Asher, who is lead organizer for the Long Island Progressive Coalition, a grassroots advocacy group. The coalition joined Tuesday with representatives of the Alliance for Quality Education, a statewide organization allied with teacher unions.

The alliance also held news briefings Tuesday in Binghamton, Kingston, Rochester and Yonkers.

A Brentwood schools spokesman, Rick Belyea, confirmed that his district has a prekindergarten waiting list of 275 children. He added, however, that another 645 children are currently enrolled in pre-K classes there. "We're serving right now as many kids as humanly possible," Belyea said.

Maximum funding for the state's Universal Prekindergarten program has fallen from a statewide peak of $451.2 million in the 2008-09 school year to $384.29 million in the current year. Albany authorities expect that figure to be bumped up to about $385 million next year, and another $95 million is being added to a program that provides child-care subsidies for low-income families.

State officials add that reductions in prekindergarten funding in prior years have been forced upon them by the nation's recent economic downturn and by the state's need to balance its finances.

"It's the same forces that affect the rest of the budget," said Morris Peters, a spokesman for the state's Budget Division.

Coalition members also voice concern over recent cutbacks in local kindergarten programs from full-day to half-day sessions.

Central Islip, Elwood and Huntington already have taken that step, and South Huntington is considering a similar move that would affect about 400 kindergartners there. South Huntington's school board is scheduled to reach a final decision at a 7:30 meeting Wednesday night.

Tuesday's news conferences sounded a rare discordant note, amid generally positive reviews for the state's new $132.6 billion budget adopted last week.

But even activists who complained Tuesday of inadequate prekindergarten funding praised Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and lawmakers for raising general school aid by $805 million -- the first increase in four years.