Edison school board rejects pre-K grant
The 5-4 vote adds to weeks of uncertainty for families counting on the program, which has now been voted down twice since April.
Edison Schools Superintendent Dr. Edward Aldarelli at a Board of Education meeting on May 19, 2026. (Edison Television via YouTube)
Chris Howell | May 20, 2026
The Edison Board of Education voted Tuesday night to reject the state pre-K expansion grant, dealing another blow to a program whose future has been in question since the district’s budget fight began in March.
The grant funds the district’s free, full-day preschool expansion program, which launched in 2024. Without it, Superintendent Edward Aldarelli said previously that current 3-year-olds “will be without a program next year” and any alternative the district might offer would be “not to the scale of what we currently have.”
The vote was 5-4. Board members Ralph Errico, Christopher Lugo, Anjana Patel, and Virginia White each voted against the rejection. Board President Vishal Patel, Vice President Shannon Peng, Jerry Shi, Russell Azzarello, and Ronak Patel voted in favor of the rejection.
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The vote marks the second time since April that the board has moved to cut the program. At the April 28 action meeting, the board passed a budget that included rejecting the grant. Several members then said they had not had a standalone opportunity to weigh in on the pre-K item specifically and moved to reconsider. The board voted 7-1 to accept the grant, which Business Administrator Jonathan Toth warned would leave a $3.7 million hole in the budget the board had just passed.
Tuesday’s vote effectively closes that chapter. The grant is rejected. The $3.7 million hole is resolved. And the free, full-day pre-K program appears headed for elimination when the new school year begins in September.
The Special Education Committee, which met April 30, said in its report Tuesday that discussions about the future of the preschool program are “ongoing” and that “all available options continue to be explored.” The district’s special education preschool program, which serves a different population, will continue to operate as normal, the report said.
What that means for families enrolled in the general education pre-K program remains unclear. The board made no public statement Tuesday about what, if anything, would be offered in its place.
The human cost of that uncertainty has been visible at recent meetings. At the May 5 meeting, Matthew Pinho, whose wife Gabriella is a non-renewed second-grade teacher who is seven months pregnant, told the board that their 3-year-old son, Benjamin, was being pulled from his North Edison preschool because the family can no longer afford it. He said the district’s free pre-K program was far from a guarantee even before Tuesday’s vote.
“The pre-K lottery is far from a guarantee,” he said. “Out of 450 students who applied last year, only 70 were given a spot.”
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