Every morning before he heads to school, Meghan McMahon goes over her son Xander's homework. Just a few weeks ago, Xander’s school district, Schuylerville Central Schools, added a new universal pre-kindergarten, or UPK, program.

“This year with the new UPK program, I think it’s saving us a ton in daycare costs, but also exposing him to rich curriculum and being around other kids, which is something that we knew we wanted for him, especially after being at an in home daycare for the last 3 years," McMahon said.

Over the last few years, New York has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into UPK programs. Universal Pre-K is a government-funded effort to make education more accessible, and the programs are free to parents.

“When I think about equity and making sure that all of our kids in this greater community are getting the same opportunities, all families should have the opportunity to send their kids to school at the age of 4," McMahon said.

With Xander in this program, it’s saving his family around $2,000 a month in day care costs. Recently, more and more school districts across the state have been adding programs like this.

“We start letters, shapes, all the things they learn in kindergarten, here this year, so they have a nice base. Learning how to hold scissors and hold a pencil before they get to kindergarten so more time in kindergarten can be used in early reading and literacy and things like that," said Lisa Lipinski, UPK teacher at Schuylerville Elementary School.

Lipinski says it also helps that the students are in the same building for UPK that they’ll stay in for years to come.

“Being in the school is huge for them. Seeing all the older kids, walking down the hallway, seeing the cafeteria, where they will be in kindergarten has been really beneficial, even just in the first two weeks," Lipinski said.