Nearly 10,000 eligible preschoolers in high-poverty “Abbott” school districts missed the opportunity to enroll in free full-day preschool programs last year, according to a recent report by the Education Law Center.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of implementation of the New Jersey Supreme Court’s decision in the landmark Abbott v. Burke school finance case that mandated full-day, high-quality preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds in the state’s 31 “Abbott” districts.
Although Abbott Preschool program, which has become a nationally recognized model for delivering high-quality early education, a report released Feb. 12 by the Education Law Center shows preschool enrollment is declining.
This report, Abbott Preschool at 25: Declining Enrollment Puts a Landmark Program at Risk, found that in the 2023-2024 school year, just 78% of eligible preschoolers (34,930 students) participated in the program. In fact, last year more than 800 fewer students were enrolled in Abbott Preschools than were two decades prior.
The report also identifies a shift in where preschoolers are educated, which is noteworthy given the Abbott Preschool program’s reliance on a mixed delivery system of in-district preschool, programs run by private providers and Head Start centers, and charter-run programs.
Twenty years ago, private providers and Head Start centers educated 71% of preschoolers, but in 2023-24, these settings served only 53% of students. The share of students educated in-district subsequently increased from 29% to 47% over this same time.
The report found that Abbott Preschool enrollment had been steadily decreasing even before COVID-19 school closures, but that the pandemic exacerbated this downward enrollment trend. Pre-pandemic, Abbott Preschool enrollment had decreased by 5%. Between 2019-20 and 2020-21, preschool enrollment decreased by an additional 20%.
Enrollment losses by district ranged from 1% in Burlington City to 43% in Salem City. Several districts have been able to recover from pandemic enrollment losses, but the majority still have enrollments below pre-pandemic levels.
Nearly all districts lost a greater percentage of 3-year-olds than 4-year-olds during the pandemic. In 2023-24, just 70% of eligible 3-year-olds and 84% of eligible 4-year-olds were enrolled in Abbott Preschool, significant decreases from pre-pandemic participation rates.
Finally, the report examined whether individual districts are meeting the New Jersey Department of Education’s (NJDOE) target of enrolling at least 90% of their eligible preschool universe, a requirement of the Abbott Preschool program. In 2023-24, only five of the 31 Abbott districts (Hoboken, Harrison, Irvington, Millville, Salem) met the target, which is less than a third of the districts that met the target in 2009-10.
Only four districts (Hoboken, Harrison, Salem, Pemberton) enrolled a greater percentage of their eligible students in 2023-24 than in 2009-10.
“Students in the Abbott districts are constitutionally entitled to a high-quality early education,” said Danielle Farrie, ELC research director and report co-author. “The State and school districts must devote the necessary resources to ensure that every student takes advantage of this unique opportunity and its proven benefits.”
To address serious enrollment issues in Abbott Preschool, ELC recommends the following:
- Enhanced oversight of the program and efforts by the NJDOE’s Division of Early Childhood Education to increase enrollment, especially of 3-year-olds given the long-term benefits of two years of preschool on student outcomes;
- Funding for the Schools Development Authority (SDA) for school construction projects that include additional preschool facilities to address capacity deficiencies in the Abbott districts;
- A cost study to evaluate whether the per-pupil preschool amounts in the state’s school funding formula, the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA), are sufficient to meet current program requirements across settings and locations.
- “This report underscores the urgent need for the State to renew its commitment to the Abbott Preschool program,” said Nicole Ciullo, associate director of Policy & Development at ELC and report co-author.
“Thousands of eligible preschoolers are missing out on the benefits of participating in the program, which include higher academic achievement and a lower likelihood of being classified with a disability or repeating a grade,” she said.
