Kingston announces changes to its UPK programs; moves to open pre-K to all four-year-olds

In an effort to align itself with Governor Kathy Hochul’s early childhood education proposal, the Kingston City School District (KCSD) announced last week changes to its Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) programs for the 2026-27 school year. Hochul’s plan includes making funding for UPK available to serve all four-year-olds across New York State by the start of the 2028-29 school year. The KCSD has offered UPK for the past four years, though seats were limited and won by lottery. “If the mandate is that we have space for all four-year-olds in the Kingston City School District by 2028, we’re trying to get into compliance as soon as possible,” said superintendent Paul Padalino. “We’re pretty close as it is, because we offer more UPK than most places.” Instead, the district will expand its offerings for four-year-olds, with seats reallocated at Kingston Catholic and the Center for Creative Education. Padalino said that the move will allow the KCSD to focus on serving an age group that’s traditionally in greater demand. “We usually have a decent amount of interest for the three-year-olds, but it’s not like we have for the four-year-olds,” he said. “We want to open those seats to potential four-year-olds, where in the past, we didn’t necessarily have those seats for them. We had that we kind of kept them aside for the three-year-olds.” Padalino added that the district has the physical space available and increasing the number of four-year-olds won’t require staffing additions. “If I have 30 more four-year-olds. I spread them over six sections,” he said. “I can just add a few to each section so it’s not about adding teachers or adding assistance, whereas if I have 30 three-year-olds, I have to add two new sections.” In an April 9 post on the KCSD website, district officials said they understood that the news might be unwelcome for some families. “We recognize that this change may be disappointing for families who were planning for the three-year-old program and apologize f