NJ Preschool Funds Paying Big Dividends For Belleville, Official Says

BELLEVILLE, NJ — Belleville has received more than $16 million in state funds for its preschool program over the past four years. And yes – it is money well-spent, a district administrator says.

Last month, Belleville’s neighbor, Nutley, made headlines when officials learned the district is one of 27 that will be getting a big chunk of state funding to create or expand access to “high-quality preschool programs” in the 2022-2023 school year. Read More: Pre-K On The Way In Nutley: School District Seeks Staff, Space

But according to Matthew Paladino, the business administrator for the Belleville Board of Education, the state’s Preschool Education Aid (PEA) program has also been paying big dividends in Belleville.

Paladino said Belleville’s public schools offered preschool options prior to the state's launch of the PEA program: an AM/PM split-day class for general education students, and full-day class for preschool students with disabilities.

But the funding from the state – which Belleville started getting in 2019-2020 – enabled the district to really kick things up a notch, he noted.

According to Paladino:

“PEA funding is being used to provide high-quality preschool education to all Belleville Beginners PreK students. All classrooms are designed with the guidance on New Jersey Department of Education Preschool Guidelines. Each classroom has a P-3 certified teacher and at least one paraprofessional. PEA funding is also used to purchase developmentally appropriate supplies and materials for each classroom. In addition, each Belleville Beginners PreK location has developmentally appropriate playground equipment for daily outdoor, gross-motor activities. Funding for school administrators of Belleville’s Early Childhood Department also comes from PEA funding. To support all PreK staff, required professional development training sessions are also paid with PEA funding. Through Preschool Expansion Aid, Belleville Public Schools is also able to partner with a local private preschool provider and a local Head Start program, to offer further enrollment in free, full-day preschool for Belleville residents. Families participate in monthly PreK Parent University sessions, educating parents on developmentally appropriate practices to empower their children.”

How much has the district received so far? According to Paladino, Belleville’s share of PEA funds has been growing steadily over the past several school years:

• 2019-2020 – $892,452
• 2020-2021 – $3,104,124
• 2021-2022 – $5,765,070
• 2022-2023 – $6,933,775

“The state funding is absolutely having the effect it was intended to have here in Belleville,” Paladino emphasized.

According to Paladino, the state aid serves two main goals in Belleville. The first is simple: increase the enrollment for free, full-day preschool for local students.

“Compared to 2018-2019, [the Belleville Public School District] has increased its projected enrollment of general education preschool students from 7.8 percent in 2018-2019 to 86.7 percent in 2022-2023,” Paladino told Patch.

The Belleville Beginners PreK currently has 36 general education preschool classrooms across six school locations throughout the town, he added.

The second goal of the state funding is to successfully transition students and families into the school district, and eventually into kindergarten. And that’s also been a success in Belleville, Paladino said:

“Through Belleville’s expanded preschool program, PreK students are exposed to a standards-based curriculum with progress monitoring that extends into kindergarten. By the time former PreK students enter kindergarten classrooms, the district uses academic data to make the start of kindergarten academically successful.”

“By providing high-quality PreK to Belleville Beginners students, [the Belleville Public School District] sets out to familiarize students and families with district procedures and resources to reduce the number of students who need intensive academic support in early elementary school,” Paladino said.

The frequency of special education classifications and Tier-2 interventions will be monitored each year to assess the success of the Belleville Beginners PreK on academic projections, he added.

‘FUNDAMENTAL EDUCATION FOR THE CHILDREN OF BELLEVILLE’

New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz was among those who congratulated the Belleville school district when it earned its first year of PEA funding.

Ruiz said the funding came to Belleville after a joint effort between the Department of Education, school administrators and Mayor Michael Melham. “This is the first step towards ensuring access to this fundamental education for the children of Belleville,” the senator said.

Melham touted the Belleville’s preschool program during his State of the Township speech that year, saying that working-class families are often forced with making the difficult decision between staying at home with a child or paying for expensive pre-K education.

Superintendent Richard Tomko said the funding was earned through a competitive grant process, and was based on a district's ability to add or expand preschool programs and work with private local providers to increase enrollments.

Tomko previously offered Patch the following statement about the district’s first year of PEA funding:

“I’m very proud of the hard work that our team put in this last year to expand our existing preschool programs. Working with our Board of Education members, Senator Ruiz, Commissioner [Lamont] Repollet and our mayor and council, we were able to open up several additional classrooms and move to a full-day preschool program. I have made a commitment to our community to continue to work to find additional space to create more classrooms and partner with our local providers over the next several years to deliver the board's vision of preschool for all eligible children in our township.”

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