EDISON, NJ — The Edison Board of Education voted to reject a $2.3 million state preschool grant around a month after they unanimously voted to accept it.
During the board meeting on Tuesday, May 19, a majority vote carried the board’s rejection of the grant, with board members Ralph Errico, Christopher Lugo and Virginia White voting against the rejection resolution.
This vote follows a meeting in late April, where the board unanimously voted to accept the grant after rejecting it earlier in the same meeting.
According to Patch’s previous reporting, the board accepted the grant in April after a board member asked to revisit their vote on it from earlier in the meeting, and said the grant had appeared on the agenda alongside other items rather than as a standalone resolution, which caused confusion.
After a second vote was called at the April meeting, all members approved of the grant, effectively accepting the Preschool Education Aid, which funds pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds at licensed private childcare centers and district preschools in the 2026-27 school year.
Though the board voted to accept the grant in April, Business Administration Jonathan Toth warned them that while the district could accept state aid, the budget approved earlier in that meeting didn’t include the district’s required local matching contribution.
To fully fund the program, the district would have to find $3.7 million from somewhere else, Toth advised.
Now that the board has rejected the state preschool grant, they won’t need to find that $3.7 million for the budget.
To watch a full recording of the board’s meeting on Tuesday, May 19, you can click here.
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