Free Preschool, Full-Day Kindergarten For All NJ Kids: What Parents Should Know

New Jersey is taking steps to advance access to early education for children.

Governor Phil Murphy signed three bills last month that bolstered the funding for local districts to provide "free preschool and kindergarten" to kids. Each of these programs in the state will be required to have a full-day kindergarten system no later than the beginning of the 2029-2030 academic year.

This latest boost comes after it was announced that preschool education aid is set to receive $1.27 billion more in funding after the new state budget for Fiscal Year 2025 was signed by Governor Murphy, and went into effect on July 1.

The first bill signed on July 9 (S3910/A5717) is set to take effect in the 2025-2026 school year, and could have an immediate impact on easing the burden on the daily lives and wallets of New Jersey parents.

Here's what you need to know:

Cost Savings To Parents

While public preschool is free to parents, it is not available in every state.

According to Private School Review, the average yearly tuition for an elementary level student in the state of New Jersey in 2025 is $18,418. Preschool is calculated separately.

The private elementary schools with the lowest yearly tuition in 2025 are Joyful Noise Christian ($1,086), Rutgers-Livingston Day Care Center ($1,620) and Melamed Academy ($2,350).

School Districts Right Now

According to NJ Advance Media, just 10 of the close to 600 school districts throughout the state do not have free, full-day kindergarten for their students. These include Moorestown, Millstone, Westfield, Metuchen, School District Of The Chathams, Haddonfield, Monroe, Bridgewater-Raritan, Hillsborough and Cranford.

Millstone, Westfield, Metuchen and the School District of the Chathams are set to incorporate full-day plans this fall.

Right now, more than half of New Jersey’s elementary-serving school districts offer “free, high-quality preschool,” according to Governor Murphy.

Costs To Districts

Looking at data from the National Institute for Early Education Research, this boost looks to continue a promising trend of high standards and performance in the state.

During the 2023-24 academic year, New Jersey met nine out of the 10 possible benchmarks for state quality standards in providing adequate resources in its preschools and kindergarten settings. These benchmarks include aspects such "Staff to Child Ratio," "Continuous Quality Improvement," and "Early Learning & Development Standards."

The only mark not achieved by the state was in the "Assistant Teacher Degree" standard, coming in at HSD with a set goal of CDA or equivalent.

Across the United States, New Jersey ranks third in total state spending, and in all reported spending towards early education resources. The more than $1.1 billion in funding for the 2023-2024 year was a 17 percent increase from the year before. Per child, this equates to $17,911, a hike of $1,690 from the year prior, adjusted for inflation.

While access to education for 3-year-olds ranked fourth-highest in the entire country for the 2023-2024 academic year, the state drops to 21st when it comes to 4-year-olds. During Fiscal Year 2024, the state directed funding under the Preschool Expansion Program to an additional 42 districts in order to help provide full-day preschool for 3 and 4-year-olds.

The new bill signed last week – S3910/A5717 – will require the state Department of Education to provide annual grants that further expand access for children in this age group in districts that don’t currently have a program. The New Jersey Department of Education currently funds hundreds of the state's lowest-income school districts under the former Abbott Preschool Program, which had a goal of providing a full-day program to 90 percent of all 3-year-old and 4-year-old children.

Over the past seven years, funding for public preschool in New Jersey has increased by nearly $600 million, reaching $1.2 billion as of July 2025.

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