Students who live in some of New Jersey’s poorest school districts, once known as Abbott districts, are eligible for free preschool, and these districts are required to enroll at least 90% of all eligible preschoolers. Only five of the 31 districts met that mark in the 2023-24 school year, only four had higher enrollment numbers in the last school year compared to the 2009-10 school year, and many are much further away from hitting the 90% enrollment goal than they were in the 2009-2010 school year, according to a recent report from the Education Law Center. The report comes 25 years after the start of the court-ordered enrollment.
