full day prek is a key priority of the Murphy Administration in this year's budget and many school districts are working to expand their programs as the funding comes in well in the city of Camden free full day preschool is available for three and four yearolds but not enough parents know about it Raven Santana accompanied education leaders and Advocates as they went door-to-door in Camden neighborhoods informing families about this Early Education opportunity [Music] Camden City school district superintendent Katrina momes and more than 50 volunteers hit the streets to promote enrolling three and four year olds in the district's free full day preschool programs because even though we have Billboards plastered throughout the city in Spanish and in English we have social media um that we keep alive and we shine a light on it there's nothing like knocking on a door and having a personal human ation with a parent who may not know anything about Early Childhood the state's Universal preschool programs are full day programs that have a certificated teacher and Aid there are limited class sizes and a curriculum aligned to the New Jersey preschool teaching and learning standards the program is also inclusive to special needs children in an effort to make sure families were taking advantage of the programs members of the school board and the Early Childhood team began canvasing any and every door of around the Maguire Gardens Apartments located in the East Camden area we have about a th000 slots that we're looking to fill for next school year um our main round has already opened and closed and so we have quite a few applicants that have already uh registered for our program for next school year so we're looking for a a few hundred more about five or 6 hundred more and volunteers I spoke with as you can see behind me who have continued to knock on doors throughout the afternoon stress that the process is so quick and easy that they wanted to remain with parents and Guardians to help them complete the enrollment process on site do you think this is a way to go for not just you people around here yes why so because some people be applying and be on the waiting list for a long time and stuff like that and they got jobs and stuff so and they want to get their kids in school or trying to find a job and will you be taking advantage of it yes has really done a number on us but I'm sure some parents who don't know and you know education you think about it it has a price tag on it and it's important to let everybody know that this is free it's a free program so it's just get your kids involved it's free and we want to make sure that the information is being spread Camden is one of 238 New Jersey school districts that receive state funding for Universal preschool programs according to the National Institute for Early Education research annual state of preschool report 58,000 children are currently enrolled in those programs the report says New Jersey ranked 21st in the nation for preschool enrollment for 4-year-olds and fourth for three-year-olds Governor Murphy has set a goal for Universal prek for all three and foury olds by 20130 our report this year finds that state funded preschool has bounced back from the pandemic uh Across the Nation we hit new highs Steve Barnett is co-director of the National Institute for Early Education research at Rucker University Barnett says Universal prek isn't just a game changer for parents and students it's also good for the economy percentage of four-year-olds percentage of three-year-olds enrolled new highs for spending including spending for Child new highs for quality standards so that's great news and we should be congratulating our states for bouncing back from the recession uh of course that was very uneven right every state didn't bounce back in the same way Barnett says more needs to be done to expand Universal pre across the state volunteers say they plan to knock on doors like today in different parts of the city every Thursday throughout the summer for NJ Spotlight news I'm Raven Santana [Music]