Sayreville Gets Approved For Free, Full-Day Pre-K

SAYREVILLE, NJ — Sayreville is part of 28 school districts across New Jersey that were selected this week to receive funding for free, full-day Pre-K.

The news was announced by Gov. Phil Murphy on Wednesday. This marks the largest expansion in free preschool that New Jersey has ever seen.

Sayreville was given $2,799,800 from the state to implement full-day Pre-K. The Sayreville school district already offers Pre-K, but currently it is only for a half day. This $2.7 million from the state Department of Education allows them to make the program full day and free for all residents.

"We were naturally thrilled to recently learn that we will be receiving additional state aid, which will eventually enable us to provide a free full day preschool education to all three- and four-year-old children in Sayreville," Richard Labbe, the superintendent of Sayreville public schools, told Patch in an email. "What makes the receipt of this very important additional aid that much more special is that we tried and failed last year to obtain it."

Sayreville's full-day pre-K will be open to 3- and 4-year-old children.

A town in each of New Jersey's counties was selected, with some counties getting multiple towns chosen for the pre-K expansion. Sayreville was the only town in Middlesex County chosen. The Pre-K expansion targeted New Jersey towns that already have pockets of poverty: To qualify, the school district had to have at least 20 percent of their student population receiving free or reduced lunch or had been receiving partial state funding for poverty.

Nearby, Princeton also made the list for free Pre-K, as did Farmingdale and Ocean Twp. in Monmouth County.

“This is a historic year for Sayreville. We know that early education for children provides them a resilient foundation for academic success, setting them up to flourish in school, as young adults and throughout their careers. This is one of the best investments we can make as a community and as a state and we are grateful to everyone – the legislators, the governor and the advocate s—who have made this possible," said Senator Joseph Vitale, Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin and Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez in a joint statement this week.