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Carmel expands UPK to eight sites, now serving 138 children; state funding rises above $1 million
Summary
Administrators told the board that the district now serves 138 Universal Pre-K students across eight partner sites and 12 classrooms, with state UPK funding rising from $250,000 last year to more than $1 million this year. The program uses the Core Knowledge curriculum and partners with local providers.
The Carmel Central School District on Oct. 21 reported substantial growth in its Universal Pre-K (UPK) program: the district is serving 138 UPK students across eight partner sites and 12 classrooms, nearly doubling its initial cohort and approaching the program—s funded capacity.
Dr. Kennedy, who presented the program update, said the district launched a full-day UPK program in January 2025 and has expanded during the year. "Over the course of the following months, we successfully launched a full day program across 5 partner sites that serve 74 children," she said, and added that "over the summer, we successfully developed new partnerships allowing us to expand to 8 different sites this fall for our first full year." She provided a current snapshot: "We are serving a 138 students across 8 sites utilizing 12 dedicated classrooms." Dr. Kennedy said the curriculum uses the Core Knowledge sequence to align preschool instruction with the K-8 sequence used in the district.
Assistant Superintendent Ken Silver described the financing. "While we have 138 kids in there now, we have the capacity with the money from the state for a 188 kids. This is not part of our budget. It is not part of our regular state aid. The UPK money was $250,000 last year. In the current year, it exceeds a million dollars," Silver said. He emphasized the state funding is separate from the general fund.
Dr. Kennedy named partner sites and providers: Creative Kids, Kids Cottage, the Putnam County Early Childhood Learning Center, St. James the Apostle School, and the Learning Garden. She described instructional goals such as early literacy, emergent numeracy, science experiments and integrated arts. The board thanked staff for early-childhood outreach and the effort to make programs geographically accessible across the district.
Administrators said they plan to begin registrations for the 2026-27 school year in February and will continue community outreach to maximize enrollment.
