The BCSD Pre-Kindergarten program is free and open to all children who live in the City of Binghamton and will be at least 4 years old by December 1 (or 3 years old for some locations.)  Classes are held Monday through Friday, September through June, following the school district calendar.  The district does not provide transportation.

Participating Pre-K sites include:
MacArthur Elementary
Franklin Elementary
Roosevelt Elementary
Horace Mann Elementary/Family Enrichment
Wilson Elementary/Family Enrichment
Binghamton High School
Binghamton YMCA
Binghamton YWCA
Discovery Center
Jewish Community Center
Kurious Kids
Campus Preschool

PRE-K APPLICATION

For more information on our Pre-K program,
call 762-6014  

Any interested, eligible community-based organization that is interested in becoming a Binghamton UPK site should complete both the UPK Eligibility Application and the UPK Self-Check List by April 30th.  Once completed, the agency should contact the Early Childhood Office at 762-8197 to set up a site visit.  Additional information on Universal Pre-K can be obtained from the NYS Education website .

In the Binghamton schools, we believe that children are born to learn, and parents are their first teachers.  With that in mind, we are proud to offer Parents and Children Together (PACT), an award-winning program that provides support and education for families with children from prenatal to kindergarten.

PACT provides free home visits by certified parent educators on a regular basis, typically weekly or monthly.  Parent educators share child development information and demonstrate activities designed to stimulate child development.  They provide guidance and periodic screenings for each child, and offer information on agencies, programs and services that can benefit families and children.  PACT also holds groupd meetings and special family events.

For more information on the PACT program, call 762-8197.

Even Start is a family literacy program designed for young parents who do not have their high school diplomas and have children between birth and age five.  Priority is given to teen mothers who have left high school without graduating.

While parents attend adult education classes, their children attend an exciting learning center program nearby, usually in the same building.  An on-site social worker is available to offer assistance as needed with a variety of situations, concerns and issues that may arise with the parent and/or child.  Even Start also promotes "integrated time" in which parents and children spend time doing literacy activities together.

In addition to the classroom program, Even Start provides a PACT parent educator to visit the parent and child at home.  These home visist help to provide support and reinforce the role of the parent as the child's first and most important teacher.

For more information on the Even Start program, call 762-8133.