Pre-K Enrollment

Pre-K enrollment information to understand how the Pre-K enrollment process works.To be eligible for free Pre-K, a student must be a resident of New York City and turn four years old by December 31st of the year of enrollment.

Eligibility

To be eligible for free pre-K for the next school year, a child must be a resident of New York City and turn four years old by the December 31 of the year of they enter pre-K. No admission test is required for pre-K.Families are not required to enroll their child in pre-K. However, they are expected to enroll the child in kindergarten the year they turn five, or enroll the child in first grade the year they turn six. Students who do not attend pre-K the year they are eligible cannot attend pre-K the year the next year when they turn five. Students cannot repeat pre-K.

If the admissions guide indicates that a NYCEEC (New York City Early Education Center) has Head Start or Extended Day and Year seats, tell the parent or guardian:

• Head Start or Extended Day and Year programs have additional income or other eligibility requirements
• Visit schools.nyc.gov/prek to learn about eligibility requirements.
• If a family receives an offer to a Head Start program, the family will work directly with the program to confirm eligibility.
• If a family receives an offer to a Extended Day and Year seat, eligibility is determined by completing a Child Care application.
• They may proceed with submitting the application now
• They can update the application to add or remove programs and add additional choices at any time before the deadline.

In most cases, students are zoned for a particular DOE public school may that offer pre-K. Families can list their zoned school and any other programs of interest on their application. These options include other zoned and non-zoned schools, NYCEECs, Pre-K Centers, and dual language programs. Applicants will have a high priority for a pre-K program that is offered at their zoned school. There is not guaranteed admissions to a zoned school and not all zoned schools offer pre-K.

Zoning follows these rules:

• Zoned schools are determined by the student's home address.
• Non-zoned schools give priority to applicants based on sibling status, district of residence, and other criteria.
• Even if you are planning to have your child attend your zoned school, you must submit an application for your child.
• Children are not guaranteed a seat at their zoned school.
• District 1, District 7, and District 23 are choice districts and there are no zoned schools in these districts. Schools in these districts give priority to applicants based on sibling status, district of residence, and, in some cases, other criteria.

District schools and NYC Early Education Centers (NYCEECs)

• Programs at district schools and Pre-K Centers offer full day (6 hours and 20 minutes).
• Programs at NYCEECs can offer School Day or Extended Day and Year and Head Start seats. Extended Day and Year and Head Start seats offer up to 10 hours of early care and education. Families must meet income and need eligibility to attend.

Pre-K Centers:

• Pre-K Centers are stand-alone NYC DOE operated centers that only offer pre-K and/or 3-K.
• They are staffed by DOE personnel.
• Centers in existing district school buildings are not affiliated with other schools in those buildings, and have separate staff.
• The Pre-K Center's program name includes the address of the program.
• Pre-K Centers offer only in-district and out-of-district priority. Within each of those priority groups, pre-K offers are made according to random selection.
• Pre-K Centers that have 3-K offer a current student priority for children applying to pre-k at the same center.

What should families consider when deciding a Pre-K program?

• Program hours
• Services offered
• Daily schedules
• Expectations for learning
• Family engagement practices

Pre-K program options can be found at myschools.nyc/en/schools/pre-k/.

• Only the child's parent or legal guardian can submit an application.
• Parents or guardians can apply to up to twelve programs.
• Parents or guardians can apply online, over the phone at (718) 935-2009, or through a Family Welcome Center.
• All applications received by the application deadline will be treated the same, according to admission priorities. Admission is NOT first come, first served.
• If more than one application is submitted for a child, only the most recent application submitted will be processed.
• Offers are made according to the admission priorities. To review admissions priorities, Click Here.
• Families interested in half day or five hour programs must contact those programs directly. Families cannot apply to these options on MySchools.
• If a NYCEEC offers full day and half day or five hour programs and the family wants to apply to both, the family can apply for the full day program online, in person, or over the phone, and can then contact the program directly to apply for the half day or five hour program.
• Families may also apply to charter schools by contacting those schools directly.
• If a family missed the application deadline, families can join a program's waitlist. For instructions on how to add your child to waitlists, click here

• The Office of Student Enrollment manages the admissions process for district school Pre-K programs, Pre-K centers, and full day NYCEEC pre-K programs.
• Five hour and half day NYCEECs and charter school pre-K programs manage their own admissions processes.
• Families will receive only one offer through the main round application process.
• Families who applied online will also receive an email when the results are available. Families without MySchools accounts will be mailed offer letters.
• If a family submits a pre-K application and also applies for half day or 5-hour NYCEEC programs, they may receive an offer from a program listed on the application and a separate offer from a program they applied to directly.

Placement in a program listed on the application is not guaranteed.

• All main round applicants will receive an offer.
• If the DOE is unable to make an offer to one of the programs listed on an application, an offer will be made to the closest program with available seats.
• Families can accept or decline the offer.
• Families who wish to decline the offer they received can decline their offer in MySchools or should contact the program directly.
• If the parent or guardian is not able to reach the program during, tell the caller to send an email to ESEnrollment@schools.nyc.gov for further assistance.
• For families who received an offer for a program with eligibility requirements that the families does not meet, or are being charged a fee for the pre-K program, tell the parent or guardian to contact ESEnrollment@schools.nyc.gov.
• Waitlist offers will be made directly by programs as seats become available.

If your questions have not been answered above, please see our Questions About Pre-K Offers for more information.

• Families must accept their offer at the program where they receive an offer before the deadline. This secures their seat for September.
• Parents must bring the required documentation in order to register.
• If you are unable to provide the required documents for registration, please visit schools.nyc.gov/enrollment/enrollment-help/enrollment-forms for further assistance.

The New York City Department of Education (DOE) does not guarantee placement into a particular pre-K program. There is no appeals process for pre-K admissions, but there are options for families of children who do not like the offer they received.

• Families can accept and offer and pre-register for one program and still remain on the waitlist for other programs. If the child later receives an offer from another program, the family can withdraw the original offer by accepting the new offer.
• Applicants will be automatically waitlisted for all programs on their application ranked higher than the program where they received an offer.
• Applicants who did not get an offer to any program they listed on their application will be automatically waitlisted for all programs on their application.
• If the family listed a program on the application and it was later determined that the program would not offer pre-K, the child was not automatically added to that school's waitlist. If the program does not appear on the list of programs removed, tell the parent or guardian that the DOE is still finalizing program details with the provider and waitlists will be updated as soon as possible.

Families also have the following options:

• Parents can add their children to the waitlist of schools online. Parents can create a MySchools account and complete their waitlist entry. Parents unable to access MySchools can contact us to be added to waitlists.
• Parents can search for programs on the MySchools parent portal myschools.nyc/en/schools/pre-k/. Parents can select the More Filters drop down and check the May Have Seats? checkbox to see schools that have seats open.
• Contact additional programs of interest to request to be put on a waitlist once the waitlist opens. If seats become available, programs will make offers based on the same admissions priorities used for the main admissions process. There is no limit to the number of students on a program's waitlist.
• If you are interested in half-day and 5-hour options at New York City Early Education Centers (NYCEECs), parents can contact these programs directly to inquire about availability.
• Visit the NYC DOE Admissions Email Lists sign-up page to obtain the most up-to-date pre-K information as it is made available.