Ballston Spa Central School District to Begin Enrolling for 2026-2027 UPK Program

The Ballston Spa Central School District will begin enrolling students for its Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program for the 2026-2027 school year on February 9, 2026. Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) is a state and federally funded program offered to families FREE of charge, regardless of income status. Children who have birth dates between December 2, 2021 and December 1, 2022, and are residents of the Ballston Spa Central School District are eligible to apply. A child who is age-eligible to attend kindergarten is not eligible for the UPK program. 

For additional information, visit the district’s Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program web page at https://www.bscsd.org/departments/curriculum-instruction/2026-2027-universal-pre-kindergarten-program. For questions about the registration process, please contact the District Registrar at registrar@bscsd.org or (518) 602-0256. 

For general UPK questions, please contact the Office of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment at upk@bscsd.org or (518) 884-7195, ext. 1374. The online registration link form will be available on the BSCSD UPK web page at https://www.bscsd.org/departments/curriculum-instruction/2026-2027-universal-pre-kindergarten-program at 8:00 am on February 9, 2026. The application deadline is March 27, 2026. 

For the 2026-2027 school year, agencies that will partner with the district to provide full-day Universal Pre-Kindergarten classrooms are Advanced Therapy, Ballston Area Community Center, Childtime (Ballston Spa and Mechanicville locations), LifeWorks Head Start, Little Achievers Child Care and Learning Center. Parents are provided the opportunity to indicate their preference regarding UPK sites, and the district makes efforts to match parent preference to placement determinations; however, parents are not guaranteed placement at the site they prefer. 

In the event that there are more applicants than available spaces, all complete applications will be included in a random lottery that will be conducted at the close of the enrollment period. Those applications not selected through the lottery process will be placed on a waiting list. All families who submit a timely application will be mailed acceptance/declination letters after the enrollment period has closed. Complete applications received after the March 27, 2026, deadline will have fewer options for placement and may be placed on a waitlist for programming if all current spots have been filled. 

Parents of potential 2026-2027 UPK students are invited to attend the BSCSD UPK Parent Information Night on January 21, 2026, from 6:30 pm-7:30 pm in the Milton Terrace/Wood Road Cafeteria, 100 Wood Road, Ballston Spa. Representatives from the school district and community-based sites will be present to answer questions and provide more information about the Ballston Spa CSD UPK program. Adults only please. 

If your child is age-eligible to attend kindergarten for the 2026-2027 school year, please contact registration@bscsd.org for information on registering.