Riverhead Schools Gets $1M Grant to Fund Full-Day PreK

The New York State Education Department awarded a $1 million Universal Prekindergarten Expansion Grant to the Riverhead Central School District to help fund the establishment of new full-day prekindergarten placements, officials said.

School districts statewide applied to the grant, which was awarded based upon a district’s plan to serve a community’s highest need schools and students, the status of its current pre-K program, how it planned to maximize the number of eligible 4-year-old children enrolled and other factors.

“When we provide equitable opportunities for children in their early years, they reap the benefits throughout their lives,” Commissioner Betty A. Rosa said. “The department is deeply committed to providing a strong educational foundation to every single child in New York — because that is what each of them deserves.”

Sixty-four school districts statewide were awarded a combined total of $34 million in grants that enable them to operate a 180-day program during the 2024–2025 school year. Ten of those districts were on Long Island.

Riverhead was the only one in Suffolk County to secure the grant funding. The grant was the eighth largest of any district in the state. The Garden City Union Free School District secured the largest such grant on Long Island at $2.3 million.