Chalkbeat

Colorado officials leading the state’s new universal preschool program originally planned to ban religious lessons and activities during state-funded class time. Not anymore.

In the latest round of proposed state rules posted publicly on Wednesday, they have removed an explicit ban on religious instruction during universal preschool hours. The rules, which would take effect next summer, are set to be considered by a state advisory committee on Jan. 11 and adopted in February.

The new draft rules mark the latest in a series of flip-flops by state officials on the subject of religious education in its new $322 million preschool program. The state’s shifting approach stems partly from the program’s rushed rollout, and partly from a new legal landscape shaped by recent U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions permitting the use of public funds for religious education.

Practically speaking, the state’s decision to remove the ban on religious instruction could attract more faith-based preschools to the universal preschool program, which provides tuition-free classes to more than 60% of the state’s 4-year-olds this year. Currently, there are 40 faith-based preschools among more than 1,900 preschools in the program. Because of mixed messages about whether religious instruction was allowed, some faith-based preschools may have decided not to participate this year.

State officials declined to comment Thursday about why they eliminated the ban on religious instruction in the proposed preschool rules. Ian McKenzie, a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, said the department will comment following the conclusion of a trial in a federal lawsuit brought by two Catholic preschools challenging the universal preschool program’s nondiscrimination rules.

“We’re just letting the trial finish before any comments on any of its content,” he said Thursday.

The trial centers not on religious instruction, but on whether religious preschools in the universal preschool program have to accept students from LGBTQ families. It began Tuesday and is expected to finish late this week or early next week.

Colorado always planned to offer universal preschool classes in a variety of settings, including public school classrooms, private child care centers, and faith-based preschools. They never planned to let faith-based preschools teach religion during state-funded classes.

But state officials at the early childhood department ran out of time to make rules on the topic before the program launched in August. There was a widely distributed fact sheet that talked about religious instruction being prohibited, but no official rules. That allowed faith-based preschools participating in the program to incorporate religious stories, songs, and prayers however they wished this year.

In October, the state proposed rules that would do what officials had intended all along: ban religious instruction in universal preschool. But in December, the conservative group Advance Colorado threatened to sue if the state followed through with the proposed ban. With the state’s latest draft rules, it appears the state has shelved its plan for now.

Faith-based preschools participating in the universal program differ widely in how much religion they incorporate into their preschool classes.

Leaders at Grand Junction’s Landmark Preschool, which is housed in a Baptist church, say religion is incorporated into everything they do, including math and reading. One morning last fall, a class of 4-year-old preschoolers recited Bible verses with their teacher.

“OK, here we go,” said teacher Corrie Haynes to the 13 children sitting in front of her on a green rug. “Philippians 4:19. My God shall supply all your needs,” they said together. Next, they sang songs about God and talked about sin and forgiveness.

At King Baptist Child Development Center and Preschool in Denver, preschool classes look much different. The school, which is owned by the adjacent church, uses a secular curriculum and doesn’t incorporate religious content during the school day.

Telaya Purchase, assistant director of the center, said during an interview with Chalkbeat earlier this school year that children can participate in what’s called a devotional before school starts at 9 a.m. That includes the Pledge of Allegiance, the Lord’s Prayer, and the song “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” She also said children say grace at meals, but can skip it if they choose.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Proposed ban on religious instruction in Colorado’s state-funded preschools may spark legal fight

2023-11-28T23:24:42+00:00

When teacher Corrie Haynes asked the preschoolers gathered on the green rug in front of her what sin is, a little boy answered confidently: “All the bad things we do.”

“Very good,” she said.

Next, the 13 children, most wearing maroon or blue polo shirts and dark skirts or pants, learned that everybody sins — even teachers, moms and dads, and the church pastor — and that although God hates sin, he doesn’t hate people who sin.

“He still loves us very much even when we sin,” Haynes said.

A minute later, Haynes led the 4-year-olds in a song about manners: “Always say thank you, always say please. When we’re ungrateful, God is not pleased.”

Such religious content has long been woven through the lessons at Landmark Preschool, which is nestled inside Landmark Baptist Church in the western Colorado city of Grand Junction. What’s different this year is that state taxpayers are covering the bill — more than $100,000 — for 20 preschoolers to attend classes there.

Colorado explicitly invited faith-based preschools to participate in its new $322 million universal preschool program, which despite a rocky rollout has proven popular with families. But state officials have sent mixed messages about whether preschools can offer religious instruction during state-funded class time. Prior to the launch, they said it was forbidden. Now, they say it’s not, but that next year it could be.

Debates about public funding for religious education come amid an ongoing conservative push to break down long-held ideas about the separation of church and state, including in a lawsuit underway now over a religious charter school in Oklahoma. Colorado’s Constitution, like those in many other states, prohibits using public money for religious purposes. But a series of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions has hollowed out such provisions.

In order to participate in Colorado’s universal preschool program, preschools, including Landmark, had to sign a contract agreeing to a variety of conditions, including that they would not discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity. That requirement is now the subject of two lawsuits — one by a Christian preschool in Chaffee County and the other by two Catholic parishes that run preschools near Denver. The contract that providers signed did not mention religious instruction.

Lauren Weber, the director of Landmark Preschool, said such instruction is “built into pretty much everything we do.”

But some experts say mixing public dollars and religious education clashes with the nation’s historical underpinnings.

“If our taxpayer money is funding religious exercise … then we are putting ourselves in a position of the state and the church getting entangled in a way that the founders were trying to avoid,” said Kevin Welner, director of the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado Boulder.

State plans to restrict religious lessons in universal preschool

Colorado early childhood officials have proposed a ban on religious instruction in a set of rules they plan to approve next spring. It’s not clear where that would leave programs like Landmark, where leaders hope to open two additional universal preschool classrooms next year.

Such questions are playing out amid a rapidly changing legal landscape. The latest shift came in June 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in a Maine voucher case called Carson v. Makin. The court ruled that Maine could not exclude schools that offer religious instruction from a state-funded program open to secular private schools. The ruling built on a series of decisions in which the high court has grown more sympathetic to the idea of using public money for religious purposes, including religious education.

Steven Green, a law professor at Willamette University who specializes in church and state issues, said the shift has come as the share of Christians in the United States shrinks and the share of people without a religious affiliation grows.

Amid these demographic changes, “We’re seeing a kind of circling of the wagons and a feeling of being dispossessed of privilege, particularly white, conservative Christians,” he said.

That narrative has created growing support for measures that allow or inject religion into public life, he said.

Green said that five or six years ago, Colorado could have banned religious instruction during state-funded preschool classes fairly easily. But the U.S. Supreme Court has mostly invalidated state constitutional provisions that prohibit public funds for religious purposes. Now, such provisions — often referred to as Blaine amendments — are “pretty much unenforceable,” he said.

Michael Bindas, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest law firm, agreed. He also said the ruling in the Carson case, which he argued on behalf of the plaintiffs before the Supreme Court, makes clear that asking faith-based schools to eliminate religious instruction during state-funded class time amounts to religious discrimination.

If Colorado adopts the proposed rules banning religious instruction during state-funded preschool hours, he said, “I suspect it will be tied up in years of litigation.”

Welner worries that some preschools’ religious teachings could send damaging messages to children. He raised the possibility of a young transgender child attending universal preschool in a faith-based program that’s intolerant of transgender people.

“There is something disturbing, to me at least, about using taxpayer money to subsidize the education of a child in an environment that is essentially attacking the kid’s identity,” he said.

Parent choice was part of the universal preschool vision

Colorado’s Democratic governor, Jared Polis, has championed state-funded preschool for all since hitting the gubernatorial campaign trail in 2017. Two years later, during his first term, voters approved a nicotine tax to help pay for the program.

Parents began applying last winter, using an online form to choose up to five preschools they liked. The state matching system then assigned their child to a spot at one of them. Despite some confusion about the application process, families flocked to join, and enrollment quickly exceeded the state’s projections. Today, nearly 50,000 children are getting tuition-free preschool through the program, most of them 4-year-olds.

From the beginning, state leaders planned to offer universal preschool in all kinds of settings — in public schools, faith-based centers, and homes licensed by the state. The idea was to give parents lots of choices, more than were offered under the state’s previous smaller preschool program for children with risk factors. That was mostly offered in public school classrooms.

Of the more than 1,900 preschools that joined the universal program, 39 are faith-based, according to state data. Together, they serve about 930 children.

Allowing faith-based preschools to participate in publicly funded early childhood programs is nothing new. The federal Head Start preschool program, plus a number of states and cities, have done it for years. But unlike Colorado’s universal program, those programs — including Denver’s long-running taxpayer-funded preschool tuition assistance program — generally prohibit religious instruction during the government-funded portion of the day.

Such a restriction was on Colorado’s radar, too. An open records request found that in October 2022, the state’s universal preschool director sent a fact sheet to more than 50 local universal preschool officials stating that faith-based preschools could participate, as long as they didn’t use state funds for religious programming. Some of those local officials posted that condition on their websites.

But somehow, amid the chaos leading up to the launch, the issue got lost. Last spring, the state ran out of time to create rules on things like class size, curriculum, and teacher training, so it told participating preschools to “keep doing what you’re doing.” State leaders pledged to come up with rules by the start of the second year in August 2024 and are in that process now.

In October, state officials told Chalkbeat by email that there’s nothing in writing prohibiting religious instruction in universal preschool. A spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood declined to comment about why the department didn’t establish rules on the issue from the outset.

Will this Christian curriculum be used in preschools next year?

Landmark Preschool opened in 2012 and serves children from infancy through preschool, about half of them from low-income families. It has the second highest rating on the state’s five-level scale for child care quality.

Landmark Preschool in Grand Junction, Colorado.

The school has two universal preschool classrooms, one that is play-based and one that is more structured, teaching skills like cursive writing. Both use the Abeka curriculum, a program popular with Christian schools and homeschooling families that describes the Bible as the foundation for all learning.

Currently, there are no state rules governing curriculum in universal preschool, but state officials plan to create a list of acceptable curriculums before the second year of the program starts. It’s not clear what the criteria will be or whether programs like Abeka will pass muster.

Weber, the center’s director, and Christy Barrows, an administrator at Landmark’s adjoining K-12 school, say they received repeated reassurances from local universal preschool officials that their program and curriculum would be acceptable.

“We’re very open about who we are and what we teach,” said Weber. “I tell all my tours, ‘Find the right fit for you, and if it’s not (here), that’s OK.’”

The preschool welcomes all children, including those from LGBTQ families, she said. But hiring decisions are not as simple.

“We have the Christian values and morals and beliefs,” Weber said. “That hire may not be a good fit for our center, because we will be teaching these values, and if you don’t believe in these values, that’s really hard to be hired.”

Bible lessons shape storytime at Landmark Preschool

Inside Haynes’ preschool classroom, it was time for a Bible story on obedience — specifically obedience to God. Between pauses to settle antsy children, Haynes told about a young girl who was stolen from her family and forced to work for the powerful general Naaman, who had leprosy.

“There were huge sores all over Naaman’s skin, and all these sores would keep getting worse and worse,” Haynes explained. But the girl stepped in to help, suggesting Naaman should visit a prophet.

“The little girl could have said, ‘It serves Naaman right to have leprosy. I’ve been taken away from my home and made to work as a servant,’” Haynes said.

Instead, “the girl chose to do what was right and forgive even though no one had told her to do it.”

Weber, who sat nearby observing the class, is waiting to see what new rules universal preschool leaders put in place and whether Abeka will make the approved curriculum list.

“Right now, it’s working out just fine, but in the future what does it look like?” she said. “We’re just going to take it year by year and see what we do.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado abandona el plan de prohibir la educación religiosa en preescolar financiado por el estado

2024-03-11T13:39:40+00:00

Solicitud para el preescolar gratis de Colorado en 2024: lo que los padres necesitan saber

Los funcionarios de Colorado que lideran el nuevo programa de preescolar universal en el estado originalmente planeaban prohibir las lecciones y actividades religiosas durante el horario de clases financiado por el estado.

Pero ya no.

En la última ronda de reglas estatales propuestas que se compartieron públicamente, eliminaron una prohibición explícita de la enseñanza religiosa durante el horario de preescolar universal. Se espera que las reglas, las cuales entrarían en vigor el próximo verano, se adopten a finales de marzo.

Las nuevas reglas borrador marcan las más recientes en una serie de decisiones cambiantes que los funcionarios estatales han tomado en relación con el tema de la educación religiosa en su nuevo programa de preescolar valuado en $322 millones. El método cambiante del estado se debe en parte a la implementación apresurada del programa, y en parte también a un nuevo entorno legal influido por recientes decisiones de la Corte Suprema de EE. UU. las cuales permiten el uso de fondos públicos para la educación religiosa.

Prácticamente hablando, la decisión del estado de eliminar la prohibición de la enseñanza religiosa quizás atraiga a más centros preescolares religiosos al programa de preescolar universal, el cual está proporcionando clases sin cobrar colegiatura a más del 60 por ciento de los niños de cuatro años de edad en el estado este año. Actualmente, hay 40 preescolares religiosos entre los más de 1,900 preescolares que participan en el programa. Debido a mensajes confusos sobre si la enseñanza religiosa se permitía o no, algunos preescolares religiosos quizás decidieron no participar este año.

Un vocero con el Departamento de Colorado de la Primera Infancia dijo que la prohibición de la enseñanza religiosa se eliminó de las reglas propuestas porque no disminuyó las inquietudes de “ciertos proveedores de que sus derechos legales estarían protegidos, ni reflejaba el entorno legal cambiante relacionado con estos temas”.

El estado está esperando una decisión de la Corte Suprema de Colorado en una demanda presentada por dos preescolares católicos. El resultado de esa demanda no afectaría las reglas sobre lo que se puede enseñar en los preescolares financiados por el estado, pero abordaría las reglas antidiscriminación que afectan a las familias LGBTQ.

Colorado siempre tuvo planes de ofrecer clases de preescolar universal en una variedad de entornos, incluidos salones de escuelas públicas, centros de atención infantil privados y preescolares religiosos. Nunca planeó dejar que los preescolares religiosos enseñaran religión durante las clases financiadas por el estado.

Pero los funcionarios estatales en el departamento de la primera infancia no tuvieron suficiente tiempo para establecer reglas sobre el tema antes de lanzar el programa en agosto. Eso permitió que este año los preescolares religiosos que participan en el programa incorporaran historias, canciones y oraciones religiosas como quisieran.

El programa de preescolar universal de Colorado podría prohibir la enseñanza religiosa el próximo año

En octubre, el estado propuso reglas que harían lo que los funcionarios tenían planeado hacer desde el principio: prohibir la enseñanza religiosa en el programa de preescolar universal. Pero en Diciembre, el grupo conservador Advance Colorado amenazó con demandar si el estado implementaba la prohibición. Con las reglas borrador más recientes, parece ser que el estado ha decidido abandonar su plan por ahora.

Los preescolares religiosos que están participando en el programa universal varían mucho con respecto a cuánta religión incorporan a sus clases de preescolar.

Líderes en el programa de Landmark Preschool en Grand Junction, el cual funciona adentro de una iglesia bautista, dicen que la religión se incorpora a todo lo que hacen, incluyendo las matemáticas y la lectura. Una mañana el otoño pasado, los estudiantes de 4 años de edad en salón de preescolar recitaron versos bíblicos con su maestra.

“Muy bien, aquí vamos”, dijo la maestra Corrie Haynes a los 13 niños sentados frente a ella sobre una alfombra verde. “Filipenses 4:19. Mi Dios proveerá de todas tus necesidades”, dijeron juntos. A continuación, cantaron canciones sobre Dios y hablaron sobre el pecado y el perdón.

En el Centro Rey Bautista de Desarrollo Infantil y Preescolar en Denver, las clases de preescolar son muy diferentes. La escuela, propiedad de la iglesia adyacente, usa un plan de estudios laico y no incorpora contenido religioso durante el día escolar.

Telaya Purchase, subdirectora del centro, dijo durante una entrevista con Chalkbeat a principios de este año escolar que los niños pueden participar en lo que se llama un oficio breve (devotional, en inglés) antes que empiece el día escolar a las 9 de la mañana. Ese oficio incluye el juramento a la patria, el padrenuestro y la canción “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”. También dijo que los niños bendicen la mesa durante las comidas, pero pueden no hacerlo si eso eligen.

Ann Schimke es reportera senior de Chalkbeat y cubre temas relacionados con la educación en la niñez temprana y la alfabetización temprana. Para comunicarte con Ann, envíale un email a aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

Is 24 preschoolers in a classroom too many? Colorado will soon decide.

2024-02-23T16:00:00+00:00

As Colorado leaders prepare for the second year of the state’s popular new universal preschool program, they’re grappling with a hotly debated question.

How many 4-year-olds in a classroom is too many?

Since the $322 million preschool program launched in August, the state has allowed classes of up to 24 children and required one staff member for every 12 students. But many experts and observers believe those numbers are too high and undermine the state’s promise to provide high-quality preschool. They want class sizes capped at 20 and staff-to-student ratios limited to 1 to 10.

Last fall, state leaders appeared ready to phase in the 20-student class size and 1-to-10 ratio limits by 2025. But they’ve faced months of pushback, mostly from private preschool providers. A state advisory committee has also recommended the rules allowing higher class sizes and ratios stay in place.

The final decision rests with Lisa Roy, executive director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood. She said in a statement she’s weighing research on the topic and feedback from the advisory committee, and will decide by March 28.

The class size debate highlights one of the key tensions in Colorado’s new preschool program: the need to balance what’s best for young children with cold financial realities. Not only is early childhood education a notoriously low-margin business, but there’s limited state funding for the program.

This year, about 39,000 4-year-olds receive 10 to 30 hours of tuition-free preschool through the program — 62% of that age group in the state. Next year, enrollment is expected to rise.

Because preschool is funded per student, many providers who’ve argued for keeping universal preschool classes of 24 students have warned they’ll lose tens of thousands of dollars annually if they have to drop down to 20 children per classroom and one staff member for every 10 students.

In addition, some say such rules would lead to tuition hikes for hours not covered by universal preschool, push providers to drop out of the universal program, or force them to close their doors permanently.

Dozens of preschool providers and early childhood groups have submitted written comments to the state in recent months about the proposed preschool quality rules. A few providers have endorsed smaller class sizes and lower staff-to-student ratios — but most have not, and several have sharply criticized them.

One private provider suggested that lower class sizes and ratios make sense for preschools run by public schools — which serve most young students with special needs — but not for private preschools. A few commenters noted that Montessori preschools often incorporate 24 or more children of varying ages because students work more independently in such programs.

Ron Montoya, who with his wife owns a Goddard School child care franchise in Westminster, said in an interview that class sizes of 20 would mean he’d have to cut eight universal preschool seats — four from each of his two 4-year-old classrooms.

Fewer spots for children, he said, run counter to “the mandate from the voters and from the governor.”

Universal preschool is one of Gov. Jared Polis’ signature initiatives and is funded partly with a voter-approved nicotine tax. Preschools get about $6,000 for every child enrolled for 15 hours a week. That funding is set to increase by only 2% — about $120 — next year.

Montoya also worries that lost revenue stemming from the proposed class size cap could make it harder to pay teachers a competitive wage.

Class size data hard to pin down

One of the biggest unanswered questions in the class size conflict is how many of the 1,932 preschools in Colorado’s universal program actually have classes of 24 students and staff-to-student ratios of 1 to 12. The state doesn’t track that number.

That makes it hard to know how many universal preschool seats would be lost by changing class size rules. Some preschool providers say thousands of seats would disappear statewide. At the same time, state officials say up to 150 new preschools are poised to join the universal program for the 2024-25 school year, adding new slots to the total.

While Colorado’s licensing rules have long allowed 24 4-year-olds in preschool classes and staff-to-student ratios of 1 to 12, many providers operate with lower numbers for logistical or historical reasons.

Some classrooms simply don’t have the square footage required by the state to accommodate that many kids. Plus, Colorado’s previous state-funded preschool program, which served children with risk factors mostly in public schools, capped class sizes at 16 and staff-student ratios at 1 to 8.

The Durango school district in southwest Colorado continues to run its 13 preschool classrooms with 16 children per class and one staff member for every eight students even though it’s no longer required.

“I think it’s best for kids,” said Jennifer Baufield, the district’s early childhood coordinator. “Our teachers are better able to meet their needs.”

Much is expected of early childhood teachers and smaller class sizes make it easier, she said: “Being a preschool teacher is a stressful job.”

The Denver district, Colorado’s largest, has taken a different tack than Durango. It bumped up class sizes from 16 to 20 when the state’s new universal preschool began last summer.

But Priscilla Hopkins, the district’s executive director of early education, said that’s as high as the district will go except for Montessori classroom settings.

“I like keeping class sizes as manageable as possible because you want strong supervision and high-quality programming and attention for students,” she said.

Denver’s move to a maximum 20 students per class will lead to around 20 preschool classroom closures across the district next year because it will take fewer classrooms to hold the same number of students.

“We are just being efficient and consolidating programs,” Hopkins said.

Experts say smaller class sizes are better

Early childhood groups, including the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University and the National Association for the Education of Young Children, recommend preschool class size maximums of 20 children and staff-to-student ratios of 1 to 10.

Many states with large, publicly funded preschool programs hew to those limits, too.

At a December meeting of the state’s Early Childhood Leadership Commission, co-chair Susan Steele acknowledged the tension in creating high quality preschool with limited funding, but said other states have managed.

“How can they have higher [teacher training] requirements? How can they have lower group sizes? How is that possible other places and not in Colorado? I mean, it doesn’t make sense to me,” she said.

Research on class size is mixed, with some studies finding social, behavioral, or literacy gains for children in smaller classes and others finding no effects. A 2017 study that analyzed decades of research concluded that class size caps of 20 and staff-to-student ratios of 1 to 10 “are largely adequate for most children.”

The same year, another group of researchers that analyzed dozens of studies on staff-to-student ratios concluded that other efforts to boost preschool quality, such as staff training, might yield “better payoffs” than reducing ratios.

Alissa Mwenelupembe, managing director of early learning at the National Association for the Education of Young Children, said it’s clear that young children profit from deep connections with trusted adults.

“There is a point in the size of the group where those deep connections cannot happen,” she said. “The reality is the smaller the group size, the more individual attention and support children can get in the classroom.”

But Mwenelupembe is also sympathetic to preschool providers who’ve long operated with 24 children per class and fear losing money if Colorado’s proposed stricter limits come to pass.

“I think it’s really challenging to turn a ship,” she said. “At the end of the day, we do think lower ratios are better, but we also can’t let go of the fact that early learning programs have to be able to be viable businesses.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

¿Son 24 alumnos de preescolar por salón demasiados? Colorado pronto decidirá.

2024-02-29T20:20:57+00:00

Read in English

Mientras líderes en Colorado se preparan para el segundo año del popular programa nuevo de preescolar universal en el estado, también están tratando de resolver una pregunta muy discutida.

¿Cuántos alumnos de 4 años en un salón de clases son demasiados?

Desde que el programa de preescolar universal de $322 millones se lanzó en agosto, el estado ha permitido que los salones de clases tengan hasta 24 niños, y requiere que haya un empleado por cada 12 alumnos. Pero muchos expertos y observadores creen que esas cantidades son demasiado altas y socavan la promesa del estado de proporcionar educación preescolar de alta calidad. Quieren que el tamaño de las clases se limite a 20 alumnos y la relación entre la cantidad de alumnos y el personal (o cociente) a 10 por cada uno.

El otoño pasado, líderes estatales aparentaban estar listos para lanzar los límites de clases con 20 estudiantes y cocientes de 10 a 1 para el año 2025. Pero han enfrentado meses de oposición, en su mayoría de proveedores privados de educación preescolar.

Lisa Roy, directora ejecutiva del Departamento de la Primera Infancia en Colorado, está examinando estudios sobre el tema y comentarios de un comité asesor, y tomará una decisión a más tardar el 28 de marzo.

El debate sobre la cantidad de alumnos por salón resalta una de las tensiones clave en el nuevo programa de preescolar universal en Colorado: la necesidad de balancear lo que es mejor para los niños con las realidades financieras impersonales.

Este año, alrededor de 39,000 niños de 4 años recibieron entre 10 y 30 horas de enseñanza preescolar gratis a través del programa—el 62 por ciento de todos los niños de esa edad en el estado. El próximo año, se espera que la cantidad de alumnos inscritos aumente.

Debido a que la enseñanza preescolar se financia por estudiante, muchos proveedores que han luchado para mantener 24 estudiantes por salón de preescolar universal advierten que perderán decenas de miles de dólares anualmente si tienen que reducir la cantidad a 20 alumnos por salón y a 10 estudiantes por cada integrante del personal. Algunos dicen que quizás tengan que aumentar las mensualidades o hasta cerrar permanentemente sus puertas.

Docenas de proveedores preescolares y grupos dedicados a la primera infancia han enviado comentarios escritos al estado en meses recientes sobre las propuestas reglas de calidad preescolar. Un par de proveedores han respaldado la reducción en la cantidad de alumnos y un menor cociente entre alumnos y el personal—pero la mayoría no lo han hecho, y varios los han criticado intensamente.

Un proveedor privado sugirió que las reducciones en la cantidad de alumnos y el cociente alumnos/personal tienen sentido en preescolares administrados por escuelas públicas—los cuales atienden a la mayoría de los estudiantes con necesidades especiales—pero no en preescolares privados. Un par de personas comentaron que los preescolares Montessori con frecuencia incorporan 24 niños o más de diversas edades porque los estudiantes trabajan con más independencia en esos programas.

Ron Montoya, quien con su esposa es dueño de una franquicia de la guardería Goddard School en Westminster, dijo en una entrevista que si el tamaño de las clases se reduce a 20 alumnos eso significará que deberá eliminar ocho espacios de preescolar universal—cuatro en cada uno de sus salones para alumnos de 4 años.

Ofrecer menos espacios para niños, dijo, va en contra del “mandato de los votantes y del gobernador”.

El prescolar universal es una de las iniciativas distintivas del gobernador Jared Polis y se financia en parte con un impuesto en la nicotina aprobado por los votantes.

A Montoya también le preocupa que los ingresos perdidos debido al propuesto límite en la cantidad de alumnos por salón cause que sea más difícil pagarles un salario competitivo a los maestros.

Datos sobre la cantidad de alumnos por salón son difíciles de encontrar

Una de las preguntas más importantes que quedan sin contestar en el conflicto del tamaño de las clases es cuántos estudiantes en los 1,932 preescolares que participan en el programa universal de Colorado realmente tienen clases con 24 estudiantes y 12 estudiantes por cada empleado. El estado no da seguimiento a esa cantidad.

Eso hace que sea difícil saber cuántos espacios de preescolar universal se perderían si se cambian las reglas. Algunos proveedores de educación preescolar dicen que miles de espacios desaparecerán alrededor del estado. A la vez, los funcionarios estatales dicen que hasta 150 preescolares nuevos están preparándose para unirse al programa de preescolar universal para el año escolar 2024-25, y agregarán nuevos espacios al total.

Algunos salones en Colorado simplemente no tienen el espacio físico que el estado requiere para acomodar a 24 niños. Además, el programa preescolar anterior financiado por el estado, a través del cual se atendía a niños con factores de riesgo principalmente en escuelas públicas, limitaba el tamaño de sus clases a 16 alumnos y la cantidad de estudiantes por cada empleado a ocho.

El distrito escolar de Durango en el sudoeste de Colorado sigue administrando sus 13 salones de educación preescolar con 16 niños por salón y un integrante del personal por cada ocho estudiantes, aunque ya no es un requisito.

“Creo que es lo mejor para los niños”, dijo Jennifer Baufield, la coordinador de la primera infancia en el distrito. “Nuestros maestros pueden cubrir mejor sus necesidades”.

El distrito de Denver, el más grande en Colorado, implementó un método diferente al de Durango. Aumentó el tamaño de sus clases de 16 alumnos a 20 cuando el nuevo programa de preescolar universal del estado empezó el año pasado.

Pero Priscilla Hopkins, la directora ejecutiva de educación temprana en el distrito, dijo que esa cantidad será la más alta que el distrito usará, excepto en entornos de aprendizaje Montessori.

“Me gusta mantener tamaños de clases lo más manejables posible [para ofrecerles] una sólida supervisión y programas y atención de alta calidad a los estudiantes”, dijo.

Los expertos dicen que las clases más pequeñas son mejores

Grupos dedicados a la primera infancia, incluidos el Instituto Nacional para el Estudio de la Educación Temprana en la Universidad de Rutgers y la Asociación Nacional para la Educación de los Niños Pequeños, recomiendan máximos de 20 niños por salón de clases y cocientes de 10 alumnos por cada empleado.

Muchos estados con programas preescolares grandes respaldados con fondos públicos también mantienen esos límites.

Durante una reunión en diciembre de la Comisión estatal de Líderes en la Primera Infancia, la copresidenta Susan Steele reconoció la tensión entre crear un preescolar de alta calidad con fondos limitados, pero dijo que otros estados han logrado hacerlo.

“¿Cómo pueden tener requisitos más altos [de capacitación para maestros]? ¿Cómo pueden tener tamaños más pequeños de grupos? ¿Cómo es posible eso en otros lugares y no en Colorado? Digo, no tiene sentido para mí”, dijo.

Los estudios sobre el tamaño de las clases muestran resultados variados; algunos estudios encuentran más beneficios sociales, de comportamiento o lectoescritura en los niños en salones con menos alumnos, mientras que otros no encuentran diferencias. Un estudio de 2017 que analizó décadas de investigaciones concluyó que límites de 20 en el tamaño de las clases y cocientes de 10 alumnos por cada empleado “son en gran parte adecuados para la mayoría de los niños”.

Ese mismo año, otro grupo de investigadores que analizó docenas de estudios sobre los cocientes entre la cantidad de alumnos por cada empleado concluyó que otros esfuerzos para mejorar la calidad de la educación preescolar, como la capacitación del personal, pueden dar “mejores resultados” que reducir los cocientes.

Alissa Mwenelupembe, directora gerencial de aprendizaje temprano en la Asociación Nacional para la Educación de los Niños Pequeños, dijo que queda claro que los niños pequeños se benefician de conexiones profundas con adultos confiables.

“Llega un punto en el tamaño del grupo en el que esas conexiones profundas no suceden”, dijo. “La realidad es que, mientras más pequeño sea el grupo, más atención individual y apoyo podrán recibir los niños en el salón de clases”.

Pero Mwenelupembe también entiende a los proveedores preescolares que han estado funcionando con 24 niños por salón durante años y que temen perder dinero si se aprueban los límites más estrictos en Colorado.

“Al final del día, pensamos que los cocientes más bajos son mejores, pero tampoco podemos ignorar el hecho de que los programas de aprendizaje temprano tienen que ser negocios viables”.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

Colorado’s free preschool application in 2024: Here’s what parents need to know

2024-01-17T20:34:24+00:00

Colorado families can start applying for the state’s free preschool program for the 2024-25 school year on Feb. 29.

The $322 million program, which launched in August, is open to all 4-year-olds and some 3-year-olds. More than 39,000 4-year-olds are currently enrolled in the program — about 62% of that age group in the state. About 10,000 3-year-olds are also enrolled.

After a chaotic and confusing application rollout last spring and summer, state officials made several changes to this year’s process. The goal is to make it easier for families already connected to a preschool to stay with that program for universal preschool. The state also is making a change to ensure that children in poverty get access to full-day tuition-free preschool.

Here’s what families need to know about the preschool program and the online application.

Who gets free preschool and how much do they get?

Two groups of children qualify: All 4-year-olds and some 3-year-olds who need extra help.

The preschool program is primarily designed for children in the year before they go to kindergarten — children who turn 4 before the state’s Oct. 1 cutoff date. Most 4-year-olds will get 15 hours of preschool a week, though some preschool providers offer only 10 hour-a-week schedules.

Starting this year, 4-year-olds from families with incomes at or below 100% of the federal poverty level — up to $31,200 for a family of four — will qualify for 30 hours of tuition-free preschool a week.

In addition, 4-year-olds in families with income between 100% and 270% of the federal poverty level — $31,200 to $84,240 for a family of four — who also fall into at least one of the categories below qualify for 30 hours a week:

Speak a language other than English at home.
Have a special education plan, also known as an IEP.
Homeless
In foster care

Remember, not every preschool offers a 30-hour a week schedule — or if they do, has open seats available. That means qualifying for 30 hours of free preschool through the state isn’t a guarantee that a child will get it.

Compared to 4-year-olds, only a small number of 3-year-olds — children two years away from kindergarten — qualify for tuition-free preschool. This year, about one-third of 3-year-olds in universal preschool are children with disabilities and the rest are from low-income families or have other risk factors.

Only 3-year-olds who have special education plans are guaranteed free preschool. The number of hours depends on what’s spelled out in their special education plan. Parents of these 3-year-olds should fill out the state’s online application.

If there’s enough funding, 3-year-olds with one of the other risk factors listed above may get at least 10 hours of free preschool a week. Parents of these children can skip the state application and apply for free preschool directly through their local school districts.

What about 5-year-olds who aren’t in kindergarten yet?

A small number of 5-year-olds are eligible for free preschool in the year before they attend kindergarten. Specifically: Those living in school districts with kindergarten cut-off dates earlier than the state’s Oct. 1 cut-off whose birthdays fall between the two cut-off dates. For example, a child in a district where children must turn 5 by July 30 to attend kindergarten, will qualify for free preschool if they turn 5 in August or September.

Five-year-olds who could go to kindergarten but have been held out by their families — a practice often called redshirting — aren’t eligible for free preschool in that year.

When can I fill out the universal preschool application?

This year’s application will open on Feb. 29, about a month later than last year.

Starting then, certain families will get to preregister, specifically those who want to send their child to the preschool where the child is currently enrolled, where a sibling is enrolled, or where the parent is employed. These families will get an email from the state that links to a universal preschool application preloaded with their current preschool. Once the family accepts the placement, the match will be confirmed immediately.

To ensure you get a preregistration link, talk to your current preschool or child care provider about your plans to stay with the program for universal preschool. The provider will then let the state know about all continuing families.

Families not eligible to preregister can still fill out the universal preschool application starting on Feb. 29 but they won’t be matched to a preschool until April. Families who apply after that will get their preschool matches in June.

Starting in late June, walk-ins will be allowed. That means families can apply for universal preschool by calling or visiting a local preschool directly. If that preschool is participating in the state program and has space, staff there will help families apply and secure a spot.

Unlike last year, some parents of 3-year-olds can skip the state’s online application and apply for preschool directly through their school districts. This includes parents of 3-year-olds from low-income households, or who are learning English, are homeless, or in foster care. Parents of 3-year-olds with special education plans still have to apply using the state’s online application.

What do I need to fill out the application? Are there income requirements?

If you qualify for preregistration, you’ll receive a link from the state with a prepopulated application. If not, you’ll create your online application using an email address or phone number. Most families will need about 15 minutes to fill it out. The application is offered in English, Spanish, and Arabic.

Families with incomes at or below 270% of the federal poverty line will need to upload proof of income, such as pay stubs or tax forms, when they apply for universal preschool.

My child has a disability. What’s the application process?

Families will get a link from the state with a preloaded universal preschool application if their child will be 3 or 4 next school year, has a special education plan — also known as an IEP — and are already getting services for their disability through their local school district.

If the family of a child with a special education plan is not currently connected to their local district — perhaps they recently moved — they can fill out the universal preschool application when it opens. Once they indicate on the application that their child has an IEP, the district will reach out to them about next steps. Most preschoolers with IEPs will be placed in classrooms run by their school districts.

Parents who are worried their preschooler may be delayed in speech, learning, or development but don’t have a diagnosis or IEP, should contact Child Find, a state program that screens children suspected of having a disability. Check this list for Child Find coordinators by region.

Can I pick my 4-year-old’s preschool?

Yes. Families who don’t qualify for preregistration or want a program other than the one their child currently attends will be asked to pick up to five preschools and will be able to rank their choices. Options include school-based preschools, faith-based preschools, preschool programs inside child care centers, and state-licensed home-based programs.

Search and map functions are available within the universal preschool application to narrow down the choices. There are some cases where preschool providers can turn down a universal preschool applicant. For example, a school-based preschool might turn away a child who lives outside district boundaries or an employer-based preschool that mainly provides care to children of company employees may decline a child of a non-employee.

Can I pick my 3-year-old’s preschool?

Possibly, but you won’t have as many choices as 4-year-olds do. It all depends on your school district since districts are in charge of placing 3-year-old preschoolers. Some districts primarily serve 3-year-olds in district-run classrooms while others work with community child care programs to serve 3-year-olds. When you fill out the universal preschool application, you’ll select your school district and then work with them on preschool placement.

My district’s school choice application is due before the universal preschool application opens. What should I do?

Families who want to send their child to a district-run preschool run may have to fill out two applications. First up is the district’s school choice form. Next, fill out the universal preschool application when it opens.

If your child or a sibling already attends your favored district-run preschool, or you work there, the state will send you a preregistration link to a universal preschool application preloaded with your preschool choice in late February.

If you have no current affiliation with a district-run preschool, the state will send you a link to the general universal preschool application using your contact information from the school choice form. Fill out the application and choose your top five preschools and you’ll find out your child’s preschool match in April.

What if I need more hours than what my preschooler is eligible for?

You can still pay for extra hours above and beyond what the state covers for free, as long as the preschool offers more hours. You can also see if you qualify for financial help through other means, such as the state’s child care subsidy program or a local tuition assistance program. Here’s a rundown of the options.

I have more questions. What should I do?

Contact the local group that’s coordinating the universal preschool program in your county or region. Here’s a county-by-county list of all the groups — the state calls them Local Coordinating Organizations or LCOs — with email addresses.

You can also contact the state’s help desk from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding state holidays. The number is 303-866-5223 and the email is cdec_upkcolorado@state.co.us.

Do you have a question you don’t see answered here or can’t find the answer to elsewhere? Let us know at co.tips@chalkbeat.org and we’ll do our best to find an answer.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Some Colorado preschool families can skip the state application this year

2024-02-14T23:15:58+00:00

Many parents of 3-year-olds with risk factors won’t have to fill out Colorado’s universal preschool application to secure a seat for the 2024-25 school year.

Instead, they’ll apply this spring through their local school districts.

The change could make it simpler for thousands of families to apply for tuition-free preschool — cutting out one of the steps that was previously required. The new rule will apply to 3-year-olds who come from low-income families, are learning English, are homeless, or are in foster care.

School districts asked for the change, according to a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, which runs the new $322 million universal preschool program. Many district leaders expressed frustration about the state application during last year’s rollout, saying it caused confusion and kept some preschoolers from being properly placed.

Families whose 3-year-olds have special education plans, often called Individualized Education Programs or IEPs, will still have to complete the state’s online application this year. State officials say that’s because preschool for 3-year-olds with disabilities is funded differently than it is for other 3-year-olds and the state application allows the proper funding source to be tapped.

Colorado’s universal preschool program launched in August and serves about 39,000 4-year-olds and 10,000 3-year-olds. Most 4-year-olds get 15 hours of free preschool a week, but some with greater needs get 30 hours. This age group is served in both public school classrooms and private preschools.

Most 3-year-olds — those two years away from starting kindergarten — get 10 hours a week and are generally served in public school classrooms. This year, about one-third of 3-year-olds have special education plans. The rest qualify for tuition-free preschool because they come from low-income families or have one of the other three risk factors.

The state’s universal preschool application opens on Feb. 29 this year. Families of 4-year-olds — those who will start kindergarten in the fall of 2025 — and families of 3-year-olds with special education plans can fill it out starting then.

Parents whose 3-year-olds don’t have a special education plan but may qualify for free preschool for other reasons should contact their school district to find out how the application process works.

Parents who worry that their 3-year-old may have a speech, learning, or developmental delay should contact Child Find, a state program that screens children suspected of having a disability. Check this list for Child Find coordinators by region.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Ya comenzó el periodo de solicitud para el preescolar gratis de Colorado. Esto es lo que necesitas saber.

2023-02-11T22:02:46+00:00

Nota: Este artículo trata sobre la solicitud de preescolar gratis de 2023 y parte de la información está desactualizada. Para obtener información actualizada sobre la solicitud de preescolar gratis de 2024, lea nuestro artículo actualizado aquí.

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La solicitud para el nuevo programa de preescolar gratis de Colorado empezó a las 8 a.m. del martes, un momento importante en el camino a la apertura del nuevo programa el próximo verano.

El programa, financiado en parte por un impuesto sobre la nicotina aprobado por los electores del estado, ofrecerá entre 10 y 15 horas semanales de preescolar gratuito para todos los niños de 4 años de Colorado, y algunos serán elegibles para 30 horas semanales. Además, algunos niños de 3 años serán elegibles para obtener 10 horas semanales.

Los funcionarios del estado esperan que unos 30,000 niños se inscriban en el programa universal de preescolar en su primer año. Eso representa más o menos la mitad de los que serán elegibles.

Esto es lo que las familias necesitan saber acerca del proceso en línea para solicitar el preescolar:

¿Quién recibirá el preescolar gratis, y cuántos años deben tener los niños?

Tres grupos de niños calificarán: los de 4 años, algunos de 3 años que necesitan ayuda adicional, y un pequeño grupo de 5 años que todavía están demasiado pequeños para ir al Kinder.

Permítenos explicarte. El programa de preescolar nuevo está diseñado para niños en el año antes de ir al Kinder; es decir, los niños que cumplan 4 años antes del 1 de octubre, la fecha límite del estado. El estado pagará por 15 horas semanales de preescolar para estos niños y no habrá costo adicional para los padres. Algunos proveedores de preescolar podrían ofrecer 10 horas a la semana; por ejemplo, un distrito escolar que ofrece clases de K-12 solamente cuatro días por semana.

Algunos niños de 4 años recibirán 30 horas semanales de preescolar gratis, los cuales incluyen niños de familias de pocos ingresos, los que hablan un idioma que no es inglés en el hogar, los que no tienen hogar, los que estén en hogares de crianza, y los que tengan discapacidades.

El programa de preescolar nuevo también cubrirá 10 horas semanales para los niños de 3 años que estén en esos mismos grupos.

¿Y qué tal los niños de 5 años que todavía no están en Kinder?

Algunos niños de 5 años calificarán para el preescolar gratuito y algunos no. Si un niño vive en un distrito escolar cuya fecha límite para cumplir 5 años y entrar al Kinder es antes del 1 de octubre, calificará para el preescolar si cumple años después de la fecha límite y antes del 1 de octubre. Por ejemplo, si vive en un distrito en el que tiene que cumplir 5 años a más tardar el 1 de agosto para ir al Kinder, calificará para el preescolar gratuito si cumplirá 5 años en septiembre.

Los niños de cinco años de edad que cumplen los requisitos de edad para ir al Kinder, pero sus familias prefieren retrasar la entrada a la escuela (una práctica conocida como redshirting en inglés) no podrán asistir al preescolar gratuito en el programa estatal nuevo.

¿Qué necesito para llenar la solicitud? ¿Hay algún requisito de ingresos?

Muchas familias necesitarán unos 15 minutos solamente. La solicitud está disponible en inglés, español y árabe, y los padres deben poder completarla en un celular o computadora.

Las familias cuyos ingresos del hogar califiquen para horas adicionales, o les permitan inscribir a un niño de 3 años, necesitarán subir documentos para comprobar los ingresos. Las familias que ganen hasta un 270% del límite federal de pobreza (unos $81,000 anuales para una familia de cuatro) están en esta categoría.

Si eso describe tu familia, esta página de preguntas frecuentes (FAQ) explica cuáles documentos el estado aceptará como prueba de los ingresos del hogar.

Las familias que califiquen para el preescolar de niños de 3 años o para horas adicionales para niños de 4 años por razones aparte de los ingresos (por ejemplo, su hijo(a) tiene una discapacidad o está aprendiendo inglés) no necesitarán mostrar evidencia de los ingresos.

Esta página de preguntas frecuentes (FAQ) tiene los detalles sobre cuáles documentos el estado aceptará como prueba de los ingresos del hogar.

¿Cómo sabré cuántas horas recibirá mi hijo(a)?

El sistema de solicitud en línea te dirá para cuántas horas es elegible tu hijo(a) después de que indiques algunos datos. Estos son los cuatro posibles resultados:

No serás elegible. Tu hijo(a) no tiene suficiente edad, tiene demasiada edad, o no vive en Colorado.
10 horas: Si tu hijo(a) tiene 3 años y cumple uno o más de los criterios de elegibilidad.
15 horas: Si tu hijo(a) tiene 4 años.
30 horas: Si tu hijo(a) tiene 4 años y cumple uno o más de los criterios de elegibilidad.

¿Podré elegir el preescolar de mi hijo(a)?

Sí. A las familias se les pedirá que elijan hasta cinco preescolares que les gustarían para su hijo(a) y podrán ponerlos en orden de preferencia. Las opciones incluyen preescolares en escuelas, preescolares en iglesias, programas preescolares dentro de centros de cuidado/guarderías, y preescolares en hogares con licencia del estado.

También habrá un mapa y buscador disponible para afinar los resultados. Puedes buscar el programa en el que tu hijo(a) ya está, o explorar opciones nuevas. En cada preescolar se les dará prioridad a los niños que ya están inscritos allí, si uno de sus hermanos está inscrito, o si uno de sus padres trabaja allí.

En algunos casos los proveedores de preescolar podrían no aceptar a un estudiante asignado por el sistema de solicitud. Por ejemplo, un preescolar dentro de una escuela podría rechazar a un estudiante que vive fuera de los límites geográficos del distrito, o es posible que un preescolar dentro de una empresa y que principalmente recibe a los estudiantes de sus empleados no inscriba al hijo(a) de alguien que no es empleado. (Durante el proceso de solicitud, los padres verán una banderita azul para indicar si los preescolares seleccionados les dan prioridad a determinados estudiantes.)

Mi hijo(a) tiene una discapacidad. ¿Cuáles programas de preescolar puedo elegir?

Si tu hijo(a) tiene un plan de educación especial (oficialmente conocido como un IEP, o Individualized Education Program), entonces necesitará asistir a un preescolar del distrito escolar. Esto se debe a la manera en que están escritas las leyes de educación especial.

Si tu hijo(a) no tiene un IEP y te preocupa algún retraso en su desarrollo, comunícate con Child Find, el programa estatal de intervención temprana para niños de 3-5 años.

Mi hijo(a) tiene 3 años. ¿Cuáles programas de preescolar puedo elegir?

Los niños de 3 años principalmente asistirán a preescolares operados en distritos escolares. Algunos niños de 3 años podrían no tener opciones fuera de escuelas, pero solamente si sus distritos escolares tienen colaboraciones con preescolares privados. Esto se debe a la manera en que las leyes estatales de preescolar están escritas.

Los padres de niños de 3 años no podrán seleccionar centros preescolares específicos en el formulario de solicitud del estado. En vez de eso, ellos elegirán su distrito escolar local. Esto se debe a que los distritos escolares son los encargados de asignar a los niños de 3 años a programas preescolares específicos.

¿Qué hago si el proveedor de preescolar de mi hijo(a) no está en la lista?

Los proveedores de preescolar no están obligados a participar en el programa estatal de preescolar universal, pero más de 1,000 ya están participando, y se espera que más de ellos también lo hagan. Los funcionarios del estado dicen que, si los padres no encuentran el preescolar que quieren en el sistema de solicitud, deben comunicarse con el proveedor y alentarlo a que participe.

¿Qué pasa si necesito más horas de las que mi hijo(a) es elegible para recibir?

Tienes la opción de pagar por las horas adicionales a las que el estado cubre gratuitamente, siempre y cuando ese preescolar las ofrezca. También puedes ver si calificas para recibir ayuda financiera por otros medios, como el programa estatal de subsidios para cuidado de los hijos para familias de pocos ingresos, el Colorado Child Care Assistance Program.

¿Necesito llenar la solicitud lo antes posible?

Puedes hacerlo ahora, pero no quedarás fuera si esperas un par de días o semanas. El sistema no atiende en orden de llegada. Sin embargo, las familias que llenen la solicitud durante el primer periodo de solicitud tendrán más opciones y sabrán primero a cuál preescolar han sido asignadas.

El primero periodo de solicitud es del 17 de enero al 24 de febrero, y las familias sabrán cuál es su preescolar el 30 de marzo. (El primer periodo iba a cerrar el 14 de febrero, pero se lo extendió después de que los oficiales descubrieron algunos errores en el sistema.)

Las familias todavía puede llenar la solicitud después del 24 de febrero, y sabrán más tarde en la primavera cuál es su preescolar.

Ya llené la solicitud para el preescolar del estado. ¿Tengo que llenar también la solicitud para elegir la escuela (school choice) de mi distrito escolar?

Posiblemente. Algunos distritos también quieren que los padres llenen formularios para seleccionar la escuela (school choice) si desean que su hijo(a) asista a un centro preescolar del distrito. Eso incluye los distritos de Denver y Jeffco, los dos más grandes. Si eliges un preescolar del distrito, visita la página web de inscripción de tu distrito local para ver si también quieren que solicites allí.

La solicitud estatal determinará si tu hijo califica para recibir educación preescolar gratuita, y en caso afirmativo, por cuántas horas. Esa solicitud también asignará a los niños de 4 años a un centro preescolar específico. El sistema para elegir la escuela del distrito recolecta más información para que los niños puedan inscribirse en el programa que les fue asignado. En el caso de niños de 3 años, el sistema de elección de escuela del distrito es el que asigna a las familias a un centro preescolar específico.

Si las familias no llenan el formulario del distrito, los funcionarios del distrito dicen que se pondrán en contacto con ellas y trabajarán con ellas para que lo hagan. En algunos casos, los retrasos en llenar el formulario del distrito podrían resultar en que las familias tengan menos opciones de preescolar.

¿Qué hago si decido no inscribir a mi hijo(a) en el preescolar que me asignaron?

Tienes la opción de no aceptar el preescolar que el estado le asignó a tu hijo(a). Sin embargo, es posible que tengas que volver a solicitar.

¿Cuándo comenzará el preescolar gratuito en Colorado?

En agosto o septiembre, todo depende de la fecha en que comenzará el programa de preescolar que se te asignó. Las familias se enterarán de su asignación con anticipación, pero la inscripción gratuita no comenzará hasta fines del verano.

Mi hijo califica para el preescolar gratuito. ¿Mi centro de preescolar puede cobrarme cargos o matrícula adicionales?

Sí y no. Depende de cuántas horas semanales de preescolar tu hijo(a) necesita.

Los centros que están participando en el programa de preescolar universal de Colorado no pueden cobrarles dinero adicional a las familias – inscripción, cuotas de suministros o cuotas de actividades – por las horas gratuitas para las que el niño o niña es elegible a través del programa estatal.

Sin embargo, los centros pueden cobrar por las horas que le proporcionen a un niño(a) adicionales a las horas gratuitas concedidas por el estado. Por ejemplo, si un niño de 4 años asiste a 20 horas de preescolar a la semana, pero solamente es elegible para 15 horas gratuitas, el proveedor puede cobrar inscripción por las cinco horas adicionales, más los gastos de suministros o cuotas por actividades para esas horas adicionales.

Tengo más preguntas. ¿Qué debo hacer?

Tienes tres opciones:

Visitar la página de preguntas frecuentes sobre el preescolar universal del estado.
Comunicarte con el grupo local que está coordinando el programa de preescolar universal en tu condado o región. Aquí hay una lista por condado de todos los grupos — conocidos por el estado como LCO, o Local Coordinating Organizations — y sus direcciones de email.
Comunícate con el escritorio de ayuda del estado de lunes a viernes, 6 a.m. a 10 p.m., excepto los días feriados estatales. El teléfono es 303-866-5223 y su email es cdec_upkcolorado@state.co.us.

¿Tienes alguna pregunta que no ves aquí y no puedes encontrar respuesta en otro lugar? Escríbenos a co.tips@chalkbeat.org y haremos lo posible por conseguirte la respuesta.

Ann Schimke es reportera senior en Chalkbeat y cubre temas sobre la niñez temprana y la alfabetización en la niñez temprana. Para comunicarte con Ann, escríbele a aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Solicitud para el preescolar gratis de Colorado en 2024: lo que los padres necesitan saber

2024-01-29T19:48:35+00:00

Las familias de Colorado pueden comenzar a solicitar el programa preescolar gratis del estado para el año escolar 2024-25 el 29 de febrero.

El programa de $322 millones, que empezó en agosto, está abierto a todos los niños de 4 años y a algunos de 3 años. Más de 39,000 niños de 4 años están actualmente inscritos en el programa, aproximadamente un 62% de los niños de esa edad en el estado. También están matriculados unos 10,000 niños de 3 años.

Después de un caótico y confuso proceso de solicitud la primavera y el verano pasados, los funcionarios estatales hicieron varios cambios en el proceso de este año. La meta es facilitar que las familias ya conectadas a un preescolar permanezcan en ese programa de preescolar universal. El estado también está haciendo un cambio para asegurar que los niños en índice de pobreza tengan acceso al día completo de educación preescolar gratis.

Esto es lo que las familias necesitan saber sobre el programa preescolar y la solicitud en línea.

¿Quién recibe educación preescolar gratis y cuánto le dan?

Califican dos grupos de niños: Todos los niños de 4 años y algunos de 3 que necesitan ayuda adicional.

El programa preescolar está diseñado principalmente para niños en el año antes de ir al Kinder — es decir, los que hayan cumplido 4 años a más tardar el 1 de octubre, la fecha de corte del estado. La mayoría de los niños de 4 años recibirán 15 horas de preescolar a la semana, aunque algunos proveedores solo ofrecen 10 horas semanales.

A partir de este año, los niños de 4 años de familias con ingresos iguales o inferiores al 100% del nivel federal de pobreza — $31,200 o menos para una familia de cuatro — calificarán para derecho a 30 horas semanales de preescolar gratis.

Los niños de cuatro años con dos o más de los siguientes factores de riesgo también calificarán para 30 horas semanales

Ingreso familiar igual o menor de 270% del índice federal de pobreza — $84,240 para una familia de cuatro.
Hablar un idioma distinto del inglés en casa.
Tener un plan de educación especial, también conocido como IEP.
No tener vivienda
Vivir en un hogar de crianza (foster care)

Recuerda, no todos los preescolares ofrecen un horario de 30 horas semanales, y si lo ofrecen, no todos tienen espacio disponible. Esto significa que calificar para 30 horas de educación preescolar gratis a través del estado no garantiza que se reciban.

En comparación con los niños de 4 años, solamente un pequeño número de niños de 3 años — niños a los que les falta dos años para ir al Kinder — califican para el preescolar gratis. Este año, aproximadamente un tercio de los niños de 3 años en preescolar universal son niños con discapacidad y el resto procede de familias con bajos ingresos o tiene otros factores de riesgo.

Solamente los niños de 3 años con planes de educación especial tienen garantizado el preescolar gratis. La cantidad de horas depende de lo que se especifique en su plan de educación especial. Si hay suficientes fondos, los niños de 3 años con uno de los otros factores de riesgo mencionados podrían recibir al menos 10 horas semanales de preescolar gratis. Si no sabes si tu hijo de 3 años va a calificar, llena la solicitud estatal por si acaso.

¿Qué pasa con los niños de 5 años que aún no están en Kinder?

Una pequeña cantidad de niños de 5 años son elegibles para el preescolar gratis el año antes de empezar el Kinder. Específicamente: Los que viven en distritos escolares con fechas de corte para el Kinder antes del 1 de octubre (fecha de corte del estado) y que cumplen años entre las dos fechas de corte. Por ejemplo, un niño de un distrito donde los niños tienen que haber cumplido 5 años a más tardar el 30 de julio para ir al Kinder calificarán para el preescolar gratis si cumplen 5 años en agosto o septiembre.

Los niños de cinco años que podrían ir al Kinder pero sus familias prefieren esperar otro año — una práctica conocida en inglés como redshirting — no son elegibles para recibir preescolar gratis ese año.

¿Cuándo puedo llenar la solicitud de preescolar universal?

La solicitud de este año estará disponible el 29 de febrero, aproximadamente un mes más tarde que el año pasado.

Desde ese momento, ciertas familias podrán preinscribirse, específicamente las que quieran que sus hijos se queden en el mismo preescolar donde están actualmente, en el que asiste un hermano(a) o en el que trabaje uno de sus padres. Estas familias recibirán un email del estado con un enlace a una solicitud de preescolar universal que ya tendrá la información de preescolar actual. Una vez que la familia acepte esa oferta, la preinscripción se confirmará inmediatamente.

Para asegurarte de recibir un enlace de preinscripción, habla con tu proveedor de preescolar o de guardería actual sobre tus planes de permanecer en el programa de preescolar universal. Luego, el proveedor le informará al estado de todas las familias que desean continuar en ese preescolar.

Las familias que no sean elegibles para preinscribirse pueden empezar a llenar la solicitud de preescolar universal a partir del 29 de febrero, pero no se les asignará un centro de preescolar hasta abril. Las familias que soliciten después de esa fecha recibirán sus asignaciones de preescolar en junio.

Empezando a fines de junio, se permitirán inscripciones en persona. Eso significa que las familias pueden solicitar el preescolar universal llamando o visitando un preescolar local directamente. Si ese preescolar está participando en el programa estatal y tiene espacio disponible, el personal ayudará a las familias a solicitarlas y asegurar un espacio.

¿Qué necesito para llenar la solicitud? ¿Hay requisitos de ingresos?

Si calificas para preinscripción, recibirás un enlace del estado con una solicitud que ya tendrá tu información. Si no, vas a solicitar en línea usando una dirección de email o un número de teléfono. La mayoría de las familias necesitarán unos 15 minutos para llenar la solicitud. La solicitud está disponible en inglés, español y árabe.

Las familias con ingresos iguales o inferiores al 270% del límite federal de pobreza tendrán que presentar un comprobante de ingresos al momento de solicitar el preescolar universal, como por ejemplo talonarios de pago o formularios de impuestos.

Mi hijo(a) tiene una discapacidad. ¿Cuál es el proceso para solicitar?

Las familias recibirán un enlace del estado con una solicitud de preescolar que ya tendrá su información si su hijo(a) cumplirá 3 o 4 años el próximo año escolar, tiene un plan de educación especial —también conocido como IEP — y ya está recibiendo servicios para su discapacidad a través de su distrito escolar local.

Si la familia de un niño con un plan de educación especial no está actualmente conectada con su distrito local — porque quizás se mudaron recientemente — puede llenar la solicitud de preescolar universal cuando esté disponible. Una vez que indiquen en la solicitud que su hijo(a) tiene un IEP, el distrito se comunicará con ellos para informarles de los siguientes pasos. La mayoría de los niños de preescolar con un IEP se asignarán a salones operados por sus distritos escolares.

Los padres que estén preocupados porque su hijo en edad preescolar pueda tener retrasos en el habla, aprendizaje o desarrollo, pero no tienen un diagnóstico ni un IEP, deben comunicarse con Child Find, un programa estatal que evalúa a los niños que se sospecha tienen una discapacidad. Consulta esta lista para encontrar los coordinadores de Child Find por región.

¿Puedo elegir el preescolar de mi hijo(a) de 4 años?

Sí. A las familias que no califican para preinscripción, o que desean un programa distinto al que su hijo(a) asiste actualmente, se les pedirá que seleccionen hasta cinco preescolares y que los pongan en orden de preferencia. Las opciones incluyen preescolares dentro de escuelas, preescolares en centros religiosos, preescolares dentro de guarderías y programas a domicilio autorizados por el estado.

Hay funciones de búsqueda y mapa para afinar las opciones disponibles. Hay algunos casos en los que los proveedores de preescolar pueden rechazar a un solicitante de preescolar universal. Por ejemplo, una escuela preescolar dentro de una escuela puede rechazar a un niño que viva fuera de los límites del distrito, o un preescolar dentro de una empresa, que principalmente atiende a los hijos de sus empleados, puede rechazar a un hijo de alguien que no es empleado.

¿Puedo elegir el preescolar de mi hijo(a) de 3 años?

Posiblemente, pero no tendrás tantas opciones como los niños de 4 años. Todo depende de tu distrito escolar, ya que los distritos son los encargados de asignar a los niños de 3 años. Algunos distritos atienden principalmente a niños de 3 años en salones operados por el distrito, mientras que otros trabajan con programas comunitarios de cuidado de niños para atender a niños de 3 años. Cuando llenes la solicitud de preescolar universal, seleccionarás tu distrito escolar y luego trabajarás con ellos para que te asignen a un centro preescolar.

La solicitud de school choice de mi distrito vence antes de que se abra la solicitud de preescolar universal. ¿Qué debo hacer?

Es posible que las familias que quieran matricular a su hijo(a) a un preescolar del distrito tengan que llenar dos solicitudes. Primero llenarán el formulario de school choice de su distrito. Luego, llenarán la solicitud de preescolar universal cuando esté disponible.

Si tu hijo o un hermano ya asiste al centro preescolar que prefieres en tu distrito, o si trabajas allí, el estado te enviará a finales de febrero un enlace de preinscripción a una solicitud que ya tendrá tu información y el preescolar que prefieres.

Si actualmente no tienes conexión con ningún preescolar operado por un distrito, el Estado te enviará un enlace a la solicitud general de preescolar universal usando los datos de contacto que usaste en el formulario de school choice. Llena la solicitud, selecciona tus cinco centros preescolares favoritos, y en abril sabrás a cuál preescolar asignaron a tu hijo(a).

¿Y si necesito más horas de las que mi hijo(a) es elegible?

Puedes seguir pagando por las horas adicionales a las que el estado cubre gratis, siempre y cuando ese preescolar ofrezca más horas. También puedes ver si calificas para ayuda económica por otros medios, como el programa estatal de subvenciones para guarderías, o un programa local de ayuda para la matrícula. Aquí te mostramos un resumen de las opciones.

Tengo más preguntas. ¿Qué debo hacer?

Comunícate con el grupo local que está coordinando el preescolar universal en tu condado o región. Aquí hay una lista por condados de todos los grupos — el estado los llama Local Coordinating Organizations, o LCO — con sus direcciones de email.

También puedes comunicarte con el servicio de ayuda del estado de lunes a viernes, de 7:00am a 10:00 pm, excepto los días feriados estatales. El teléfono es 303-866-5223 y el email es cdec_upkcolorado@state.co.us.

¿Tienes alguna pregunta que no está aquí o cuya respuesta no encuentras en ningún otro sitio? Escríbenos a co.tips@chalkbeat.org y haremos lo posible por encontrar la respuesta a tu pregunta.

Traducido por Milly Suazo-Martinez

Colorado’s free preschool application is open. Here’s what you need to know.

2023-02-15T01:22:09+00:00

Note: This story is about the 2023 free preschool application, and some of the information is out of date. For updated information about the 2024 free preschool application, read our updated story here.

The parent application for Colorado’s new free preschool program opened at 8 a.m. on Tuesday — a major milestone in the march toward the program’s launch next summer.

The program, funded in part by a voter-approved nicotine tax, will offer 10 to 15 hours a week of tuition-free preschool to 4-year-olds statewide, with some eligible for 30 hours a week. In addition, some 3-year-olds will be eligible for 10 hours a week.

State officials expect about 30,000 children to opt into the universal preschool program in its first year. That’s about half the number that will be eligible.

Here’s what families need to know about the online preschool application:

Who gets free preschool and what age do they have to be?

Three groups of children qualify: 4-year-olds, some 3-year-olds who need extra help, and a small number of 5-year-olds who are too young for kindergarten.

Let us explain. The new preschool program is designed for children in the year before they go to kindergarten — children who turn 4 before the state’s Oct. 1 cutoff date. The state will pay for 15 hours a week of preschool for these students at no cost to parents. Some preschool providers may offer only 10 hours a week — for example, a school district that offers K-12 classes only four days a week.

Some 4-year-olds will get 30 hours of free preschool a week, including those from lower-income families, who speak a language besides English at home, are homeless, in foster care, or have disabilities.

The new preschool program will also cover 10 hours a week of preschool for 3-year-olds in these same groups.

What about 5-year-olds who aren’t in kindergarten yet?

Some 5-year-olds will qualify for free preschool and some won’t. Children who live in school districts with kindergarten cutoff dates before Oct. 1 will qualify if they turn 5 after the district’s cutoff date and before Oct. 1. For example, a child in a district where children must turn 5 by Aug. 1 to attend kindergarten, will qualify for free preschool if they turn 5 in September. (The application may indicate these children are not eligible. State officials say families should contact the group coordinating universal preschool in their area if this happens. Search this county-by-county list to find contact information for the right local group.)

Five-year-olds who could go to kindergarten but have been held out by their families — a practice often called redshirting — won’t be able to get free preschool through the new state program.

What do I need to fill out the application? Are there income requirements?

Many families will need about 15 minutes and not much else. The application is offered in English, Spanish, and Arabic, and parents should be able to complete the application on a cell phone or computer.

Families whose household income qualifies their 4-year-olds for extra hours or allows them to enroll a 3-year-old will need to upload documents that prove their income. Families that earn up to 270% of the federal poverty limit — about $81,000 a year for a family of four — fall into this category.

If that describes you, this FAQ lays out which documents the state will accept for proof of household income.

Families who qualify for 3-year-old preschool or extra hours of 4-year-old preschool for reasons other than income levels — perhaps their child has a disability or is learning English — won’t need to show proof of income.

Check this FAQ for details about which documents the state will accept for proof of household income.

How do I know how many hours my child will get?

The online application system will tell you how many hours your child is eligible for after you enter a few pieces of information. There are four possibilities:

Not eligible: Your child is too young, too old, or doesn’t live in Colorado.
10 hours: If your child is 3 and meets one or more of the eligibility criteria.
15 hours: If your child is 4.
30 hours: If your child is 4 and meets one or more of the eligibility criteria.

Can I pick my child’s preschool?

Yes. Families will be asked to pick up to five preschools they’d like their child to attend and will be able to rank their choices. Options include school-based preschools, church-based preschools, preschool programs inside child care centers, and state-licensed home-based preschools.

Search and map functions are available to narrow down the choices. You can look for the program your child already attends or explore new options. Children will be prioritized for a spot in a preschool if they’re already enrolled there, if a sibling is enrolled there, or if a parent works there.

There are some cases where preschool providers may not accept a preschool match made by the application system. For example, a school-based preschool might turn away a child who lives outside district boundaries or an employer-based preschool that mainly provides care to children of company employees may not enroll the child of a non-employee. (During the application process, parents will see a blue banner indicating if selected preschools prioritize certain students.)

My child has a disability. What preschools can I pick?

If your child has a special education plan — officially called an Individualized Education Program, or IEP — your child will be served in a preschool classroom run by your school district. That’s because of the way special education laws are written.

If your child doesn’t have an IEP and you’re worried about a developmental delay, contact Child Find, the state’s early intervention program for 3- to 5-year-olds.

My child is 3. What preschools can I pick?

Three-year-olds will mostly be served in preschool classrooms run by their school districts. Some 3-year-olds may have non-school options, but only if their district partners with private preschools. That’s because of the way the state’s preschool law is written.

Parents of 3-year-olds won’t be able to select specific preschools on the state application. Instead, they’ll select their local school district. That’s because school districts are in charge of matching 3-year-olds to specific preschool programs.

What if I don’t see my child’s provider on the list?

Preschool providers don’t have to participate in the state’s universal preschool program, but more than 1,000 have chosen to and more are expected to sign up. State officials say if parents don’t find the preschool they want listed in the application system, they should reach out to the preschool provider and encourage them to sign up.

What if I need more hours than what my preschooler is eligible for?

You can still pay for extra hours above and beyond what the state covers for free, as long as the preschool offers more hours. You can also see if you qualify for financial help through other means, such as the state’s child care subsidy program for low-income families, called the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program.

Do I need to fill out the application right away?

Families who fill out the application by Feb. 24, the deadline for the first round of applications, will have more options and find out sooner which preschool they matched with.

The first application window runs from Jan. 17 to Feb. 24. (The original end date was Feb. 14, but state officials extended it.) Families will find out their match on March 30. State officials said families can still apply after Feb. 24, including through spring and summer.

I filled out the state’s preschool application. Do I have to fill out my school district’s school choice application, too?

Possibly. Some districts also want parents to fill out school choice forms if they want a spot in a district-run preschool. That includes Denver and Jeffco, the two largest school districts. If you choose a district-run option, check your local district’s enrollment website to see if they want you to apply there as well.

The state application will determine whether your child qualifies for free preschool and if so, for how many hours. It will also match 4-year-olds to a specific preschool. The district school choice system collects more information so that children can be enrolled in the program they matched with. For 3-year-olds, the district choice system is where families get matched with a specific preschool.

If families fail to fill out the district choice form, district officials they’ll reach out and work with them to get it done. In some cases, delays in filling out the district form could mean families end up with fewer preschool options.

What if I decide against the preschool my child was matched with?

You can reject the preschool match the state makes for you. However it’s possible you’ll have to resubmit your application.

When does free preschool start in Colorado?

Not until August or September, whenever the preschool program you matched with starts. Families will find out their matches sooner, but tuition coverage doesn’t kick in until late summer.

My child qualifies for free preschool. Can my preschool charge extra tuition or fees?

Yes and no. It depends how many hours of care your child needs each week.

Preschools participating in Colorado’s universal preschool program cannot charge families additional money — tuition, supply fees, or activity fees — for the free hours the child is eligible for through the state program.

However, preschools are allowed to charge for any additional hours they provide to a child above the number of free hours granted through the state. For example, if a 4-year-old receives 20 hours of preschool a week, but is only eligible for 15 free hours, the provider can charge tuition for the additional five hours, plus supply or activity fees for that extra time.

I have more questions. What should I do?

You have three options:

Check out the state’s universal preschool frequently asked questions page.
Contact the local group that’s coordinating the universal preschool program in your county or region. Here’s a county-by-county list of all the groups — the state calls them Local Coordinating Organizations or LCOs — with email addresses.
Contact the state’s help desk from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding state holidays. The number is 303-866-5223 and the email is cdec_upkcolorado@state.co.us.

Do you have a question you don’t see answered here or can’t find the answer to elsewhere? Let us know at co.tips@chalkbeat.org and we’ll do our best to find an answer.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado Catholic preschools make their case at trial challenging nondiscrimination rules

2024-01-03T03:56:38+00:00

Enrolling preschoolers from LGBTQ families would conflict with the religious beliefs and obligations of Catholic preschools, attorneys for two Denver-area Catholic parishes said Tuesday as the trial began in a lawsuit challenging the nondiscrimination rules in Colorado’s universal preschool program.

Two Catholic parishes that run preschools — St. Mary’s in Littleton and St. Bernadette’s in Lakewood — and the Archdiocese of Denver sued the state in federal district court in August. They argued that a nondiscrimination clause in an agreement required by the state for participation in the preschool program conflicts with their mission to provide a Catholic education. Senior U.S. District Judge John L. Kane, who is presiding over the trial, recently issued an order dismissing the archdiocese as a plaintiff.

Attorneys for the state said Catholic preschools under the archdiocese are being treated the same as other preschools in the program, and that the nondiscrimination agreement in question is similar to the ones some Catholic schools have signed in the past for other kinds of publicly funded programs.

The lawsuit could have big implications for the new $322 million preschool program, which launched in August and enrolls more than 60% of the state’s 4-year-olds this year. A win for the Catholic preschools could bring more faith-based schools into the preschool program, but it could limit the state’s ability to set nondiscrimination policies for an education program that it pays for.

A win for the state could deter some faith-based preschools from participating, but it means families with LGBTQ parents or children couldn’t be shut out of preschools because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The trial is expected to last several days, with the judge making the decision.

Four witnesses testified for the Catholic preschools on Tuesday, including the mother who said her family would have saved several thousand dollars if the Catholic preschool her 4-year-old attends had been able to participate in universal preschool this year.

Colorado’s universal preschool program offers 10 to 30 hours of tuition-free preschool a week to 4-year-olds. Families can pick preschool classrooms in public schools, private child care centers, faith-based programs, or state-licensed homes.

The two parish preschools that sued declined to join the program after the archdiocese instructed them not to sign the state’s nondiscrimination agreement, which prohibits discrimination based on religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity, among other factors. The lawsuit asserts that the nondiscrimination clause could prevent them from prioritizing children from Catholic families for enrollment, or force them to admit a child who identifies as a gender “at odds with their biological sex,” or a child whose parents “identify as gay or lesbian” or are “part of a same sex couple.”

The suit also argues that the state’s nondiscrimination rules would prohibit preschools from hiring employees who agree with the Catholic Church’s mission and teachings, including “that marriage is limited to one man and one woman for life.”

The lawsuit is one of two that religious preschools have filed over the state program. The other one, filed by a Christian preschool in Chaffee County that’s participating in the universal preschool program this year, also argues that the nondiscrimination provision could impede hiring, but didn’t focus on enrollment questions. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in October in that case, barring the state from punishing or withholding funds from the Chaffee County preschool even though some of its policies appear to violate the nondiscrimination agreement.

A third lawsuit was filed by several school districts last summer and deals with services and funding for preschoolers with disabilities as well as other high-needs students.

Nick Reaves, a lawyer for the Catholic preschools, said that in rare circumstances, schools overseen by the Archdiocese of Denver have turned away families on the grounds that their beliefs or practices conflict with what the school teaches. He said there have been no complaints from any LGBTQ families about any of the 36 preschools that operate under the archdiocese.

During her testimony Tuesday, Avery Coats, principal of the pre-K-8 school operated by St. Bernadette’s, described turning away a prospective fifth-grade student because the parents were a same-sex couple and school officials worried Catholic teachings would cause confusion and conflict in the family.

Of the more than 1,900 preschools that joined Colorado’s universal program this year, 40 are faith-based. Together, they serve about 900 children. State rules allow faith-based preschools to give children in their congregations priority for enrollment. But beyond that, they don’t allow enrollment decisions based on a family’s religion or beliefs.

While some families choose religious preschools to match their faith, others choose them because the schools are close to their homes or jobs, or because they offer full-day care or flexible schedules.

Lawyers for the Catholic preschools asked a state witness to clarify what kind of enrollment restrictions or conditions preschools in the universal program are allowed to have. For example, Reaves asked, could a Jewish preschool, as a condition of enrollment, ask parents to sign a statement of faith saying they won’t eat pork and will keep kosher?

The witness, Michael Cooke, who helped roll out the universal preschool program, said that the question hadn’t come up before but that the state wouldn’t object to an enrollment condition based on the preschool’s particular program.

“Where we would object is if there was something in a statement that a family needed to sign or acknowledge that is contrary to anything that’s in statute or in policy or rule,” Cooke said.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Padres de Colorado: ¿Necesitan ayuda para pagar el preescolar? Vean estos programas.

2023-09-18T18:41:50+00:00

A partir de este otoño, Colorado está ofreciendo entre 10 y 15 horas de educación preescolar gratuita a todos los niños de 4 años como parte del programa preescolar universal del estado. Más de 40,000 familias ya lo solicitaron, pero el proceso de solicitud sigue abierto y estará disponible durante todo el año.

¿Pero qué pasa si necesitas que tu hijo o hija reciba más de solo 10 a 15 horas de clase semanales?

Hay varias formas de obtener ayuda financiera para esas horas adicionales. El programa de preescolar universal pagará hasta 30 horas de preescolar a la semana para algunos niños. Esos niños tienen que ser de familias con bajos ingresos y estar en una de las siguientes categorías: Estar aprendiendo inglés, no tener hogar, vivir en un hogar de crianza (foster home) o tener un plan de educación especial.

El mero hecho de ser de una familia con bajos ingresos no basta para calificar para las 30 horas — pero muchas familias hispanohablantes pueden calificar si sus ingresos caen bajo cierto nivel.

Hemos recopilado una lista de otros programas que pueden ayudar a cubrir las horas adicionales de preescolar, que incluyen Head Start, el Colorado Child Care Assistance Program, y para los residentes de Denver, el Programa Preescolar de Denver. El condado de Summit también ofrece ayudas para la matrícula de preescolares con su Programa de PreKinder de Summit, pero el plazo de solicitud generalmente es del 1 al 31 de mayo.

Las familias de militares pueden ser elegibles para ayuda financiera a través del programa Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood, establecido para familias que no pueden acceder a los programas de guardería operados por el servicio militar porque hay listas de espera o porque están lejos de sus hogares.

Por último, vale la pena preguntar en el centro preescolar de tu hijo si ellos ofrecen becas o descuentos que puedan ayudar a reducir el costo del programa.

Si tienes preguntas sobre el preescolar universal o sobre cómo añadir horas, llama al servicio de ayuda del preescolar universal al 303-866-5223 o o comunícate con el grupo local de tu condado que está ayudando a operar el preescolar universal.

Este es un resumen rápido de algunos de los programas que pueden combinarse con el preescolar universal para darles un día completo de clases a los estudiantes.

Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP)

¿Qué es? Un programa estatal que ayuda a las familias con bajos ingresos a pagar por el cuidado de los niños, incluido el preescolar. Los padres deberán estar trabajando, buscando trabajo o asistiendo a la escuela.

Quién es elegible: Las familias cuyos hijos son ciudadanos o residentes legales permanentes y cuyo ingreso familiar esté entre el 200% y el 270% del límite federal de pobreza. Eso es entre $60,000 y $81,000 para una familia de cuatro. Cada condado establece sus propios criterios de ingresos, así que verifica los detalles aquí dependiendo en dónde vives.

Ayuda financiera: El CCCAP paga por la mayor parte de los gastos de guardería de las familias que califican, y la cantidad pagada varía según las horas de cuidado que necesite el niño por encima de las horas de preescolar universal. Las familias que califican también tienen que pagar una cuota de los padres: un copago basado en los ingresos, el tamaño de la familia y el número de niños que van a la guardería.

Cómo solicitar: En línea en inglés o español, o comunícate con el departamento de servicios humanos de tu condado.

Lo que debes saber sobre combinar con la educación preescolar universal: Solamente algunos preescolares participan en el Colorado Child Care Assistance Program. Pregúntale al proveedor de preescolar universal que hayas seleccionado si acepta el CCCAP, o busca su nombre en la solicitud de preescolar universal y haz clic en “Ver más información”. Aparecerá una ventana con información sobre el proveedor y te dirá si ellos aceptan el CCCAP o si ofrecen otro tipo de ayuda financiera.

Algunas familias que califican para el CCCAP podrían no recibir la ayuda debido a la escasez de fondos, sobre todo una vez que se agoten los fondos del estímulo federal por COVID en 2024.

Programa Preescolar de Denver

¿Qué es? Un programa en Denver que cuenta con matrícula basada en los ingresos para niños de 4 años en preescolar, sin importar los ingresos de la familia.

Quién es elegible: Residentes de Denver con hijos de 4 años que asistan a preescolar, independientemente de su estatus migratorio.

Ayuda financiera: Los créditos de matrícula varían entre $36 y $1,227 mensuales por un máximo de 12 meses, y se le pagan a la escuela a nombre de la familia. Usa la calculadora de crédito de matrícula del Programa Preescolar de Denver para calcular tu crédito de matrícula mensual. Los créditos se basan en el tamaño de la familia, los ingresos y la calidad del centro preescolar seleccionado.

Cómo solicitar: En línea en cualquier momento en inglés o español, o comunícate con el Programa Preescolar de Denver llamando al (303) 595-4377 o escribiendo a info@dpp.org. Hay solicitudes en formato PDF disponibles en chino/mandarín, francés, ruso, vietnamita, somalí, amárico y nepalí.

Lo que debes saber sobre combinar con la educación preescolar universal: Solicita el preescolar universal primero, y después de que tu hijo o hija se haya matriculado en un preescolar, solicita el Programa Preescolar de Denver. Esto es necesario porque la solicitud del Programa Preescolar de Denver requiere que las familias indiquen el centro preescolar al que asiste su hijo o hija. La mayoría de los centros de preescolar de Denver que están participando en el preescolar universal también participan en el Programa Preescolar de Denver, pero hay algunos que no. Checa aquí para encontrar los centros preescolares que están participando en el Programa Preescolar de Denver.

Head Start

¿Qué es? Un programa financiado con fondos federales que ofrece educación preescolar gratuita, servicios de salud y apoyo familiar a niños de familias con bajos ingresos, independientemente de su estatus migratorio.

Quién es elegible: Niños de 3 a 5 años de familias con ingresos que igualan o son menos que el límite federal de pobreza. Esto equivale a $30,000 anuales para una familia de 4. Los niños sin hogar, en hogares de crianza (foster care) o cuyas familias reciben asistencia pública también son elegibles independientemente de sus ingresos.

Ayuda financiera: Head Start es un programa preescolar gratuito que ofrece un horario de clases parcial o completo a los niños.

Cómo solicitar: Busca aquí para encontrar proveedores cerca de ti y comunícate directamente con el centro para solicitar. Si necesitas ayuda para encontrar un proveedor de Head Start, llama al 866-763-6481.

Lo que debes saber sobre combinar con la educación preescolar universal: Solamente algunos proveedores de preescolar ofrecen Head Start. La solicitud de preescolar universal también muestra si los proveedores participan en Head Start. Para obtener ayuda, comunícate con el proveedor de Head Start que te interesa o con el grupo local que ayuda a operar el preescolar universal.

Ann Schimke es reportera senior de Chalkbeat y cubre temas relacionados con la niñez temprana y la alfabetización temprana. Para comunicarte con Ann, envíale un email a aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Los preescolares de Colorado enfrentan nuevos estándares para atender a los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés

2023-04-05T22:39:42+00:00

Cada mañana, los estudiantes del Early Excellence Program del norte de Denver empiezan el día con una canción en inglés y español. Los cuentos y las sesiones de lectura también se hacen en ambos idiomas. A los niños se les anima que hablen ambos, pero nunca se les obliga.

Éstas son algunas de las formas en que los maestros de este prestigioso preescolar tratan de darles a sus estudiantes una base sólida en su lengua materna mientras se preparan para la escuela, algo que los investigadores coinciden en que es útil para los niños más pequeños que están en programas bilingües.

Mientras el estado se prepara para poner en marcha el preescolar universal, un nuevo programa financiado por los contribuyentes a partir del próximo año escolar y que ofrece horas de preescolar gratuitas para todos los niños de 4 años y a algunos más pequeños, las autoridades le han dado prioridad a los niños que no hablan inglés en el hogar. El estado les ofrecerá a esos niños más horas de educación preescolar gratuita y promete — por primera vez — que los programas tendrán que utilizar estrategias de enseñanza que hayan comprobado ser de ayuda para los estudiantes multilingües.

Sin embargo, a pocos meses de que empiece el programa, todavía hay grandes interrogantes sobre si se está haciendo lo suficiente para darlo a conocer, cómo será la programación, y qué ayuda obtendrán los proveedores para mejorar lo que ofrecen.

Jennifer Rodríguez-Luke, líder de Early Excellence, dice que las familias con las que trabaja no saben bien cómo llenar la solicitud o si califican. Ella ha asignado a un miembro del personal para ayudarles en el proceso, pero no ha tenido mucho éxito para conseguir solicitantes nuevos.

Hasta ahora, los únicos preescolares que parecen calificar para a su programa son los que ya ayudaron a pasar por la aplicación y están inscritos.

“Para un nivel 5 en el corazón de Denver, esperábamos tener por lo menos 10 estudiantes nuevos”, dijo Rodríguez-Luke.

Le preocupa que esto signifique que las familias vulnerables de Colorado no están solicitando el preescolar universal y se pierdan un aprendizaje que ha demostrado encaminar a los niños hacia el éxito en la escuela.

Según las leyes de Colorado, los niños de 4 años identificados como estudiantes de inglés son elegibles para recibir horas adicionales de preescolar. Las horas adicionales — 30 en lugar de 15 — dependerán de la financiación estatal. El estado tiene que primero asegurar que puede cubrir el costo de una parte de la educación preescolar de todos los niños de 4 años que la soliciten. Los estudiantes multilingües de tres años pueden calificar para 10 horas semanales de preescolar gratuito.

Los niños que están aprendiendo inglés se encuentran entre los que más podrían beneficiarse del preescolar, una de las razones por las que estos estudiantes son elegibles para recibir más horas de preescolar.

Pero en el año escolar actual, solamente 29 estudiantes de preescolar de todo el estado han sido identificados como estudiantes de inglés, según los datos proporcionados por el Departamento de Educación de Colorado.

Aunque no está claro cómo será el sistema nuevo este otoño, crear un proceso para identificar a los estudiantes multilingües y establecer estándares sobre cómo se les enseñará será beneficioso para los estudiantes, aunque todavía esté en proceso, dicen los investigadores.

“Se está intentando crear un sistema que ni siquiera sé si existe”, dijo Guadalupe Díaz Lara, profesora adjunta del Departamento de Estudios sobre la Infancia y la Adolescencia de la California State University. “Si estamos pensando en estas inversiones, ¿por qué no lo hacemos de una manera que sea de mayor calidad para los niños?”

Aún no está claro cuántas familias con estudiantes multilingües están solicitando el preescolar

Los líderes de Colorado se han apresurado a establecer un programa nuevo de Prekinder universal, que sustituirá un programa preescolar más pequeño financiado por el estado para niños de familias con bajos ingresos o que tienen otros factores de riesgo.

Pero, aunque las solicitudes se abrieron en enero, las partes críticas del programa todavía no se han establecido.

La ley que creó el preescolar universal también ordena que el departamento de estado nuevo establezca estándares de calidad que los proveedores de preescolar participantes deberán cumplir. Entre esos estándares habrá normas para identificar, evaluar y atender a los estudiantes que están aprendiendo dos idiomas. Pero esos estándares todavía no se han creado.

En varios programas estatales y federales anteriores para niños en edad preescolar, los proveedores cumplían reglas diferentes para educar a los estudiantes más pequeños que estaban aprendiendo inglés. El preescolar, a diferencia de la educación K-12, no ha tenido requisitos consistentes para identificar a los niños que necesitan apoyo para aprender un idioma y tampoco estándares sobre cómo sería la enseñanza.

El departamento de estado nuevo que está supervisando el despliegue del preescolar universal no ha podido proporcionar cifras sobre cuántos de los niños que hasta ahora se han inscrito para el otoño marcaron la casilla que indica que no dominan bien el inglés. Los funcionarios dicen que le están pidiendo a cada proveedor que hable con las familias para verificar si los padres marcaron esas casillas correctamente.

Es posible que con el tiempo se necesite otra manera de seleccionar a los estudiantes. Este es uno de los requisitos de la ley de preescolar universal.

Cuando las familias soliciten el preescolar universal gratuito (incluso las que indiquen que su hijo o hija tiene un dominio limitado del inglés), podrán buscar proveedores y hacer una lista de sus preferidos. Además, también pueden buscar proveedores y averiguar cuáles tienen personal o programas bilingües. La solicitud en línea está disponible en tres idiomas: inglés, español, y árabe.

El proceso de asignación le dará prioridad a la preferencia de la familia, no importa si ese programa tiene personal o programas bilingües. Eso significa que los proveedores que antes no anticipaban atender a esta población de niños podrían acabar con estudiantes inscritos identificados como niños que están aprendiendo inglés. Dependiendo de los estándares que se establezcan, es posible que tengan que hacer más para satisfacer las necesidades de los niños.

Los líderes estatales dicen que los proveedores de preescolar no podrán negarle una plaza a un estudiante por no dominar el idioma, pero reconocen que algunos no estarán preparados inmediatamente.

Aunque gran parte del sistema aún está siendo creada, la infraestructura para los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés es la más atrasada porque la investigación, los estándares y las prácticas fueron limitadas previamente.

Dawn Odean, directora de preescolar universal del estado, dijo que la creación por parte del estado de un sistema desde cero representa una oportunidad.

“Tenemos una oportunidad única de lograr avances más significativos en el entorno multilingüe”, dijo Odean. Ella quiere que el departamento ayude a los proveedores, dijo, y no les penalizará por no cumplir los estándares inmediatamente.

“Podemos convertirlo en un acto de cumplimiento, pero eso no va a ayudar a los estudiantes”, dijo Odean.

En cambio, dijo Odean, el departamento se enfocará en ayudar a todos los proveedores a mejorar.

Las familias enfrentan confusión en cuanto a su elegibilidad

Ana Paola Burrola Bustillos tiene dos hijos en Jeffco, entre ellos uno de 4 años inscrito en el preescolar de Foster Dual Language PK-8. Ella dice que no sabía que el estado estaba por abrir un programa de preescolar universal gratuito, y opina que es algo positivo aunque su hija, que pasará a Kinder este otoño, no podrá aprovecharlo.

Burrola Bustillos dijo que le gusta Foster para sus hijos porque cree que ser bilingües les beneficiará.

“Siento que si ellos aprenden en los dos idiomas van a estar mejor más adelante, en todo, para comunicarse con las personas, en los trabajos, pues en su vida diaria”, dijo Burrola Bustillos.

Patricia Lepiani, presidenta de The Idea Marketing, dijo que su grupo fue contratado en enero para darle publicidad al preescolar universal, pocos días antes de que se abriera el plazo de solicitud.

Lepiani explicó que un 25% de los $527,000 del presupuesto de mercadotecnia está dedicado a llegar a las familias que no hablan inglés, un porcentaje más alto que el que la mayoría de los proyectos asigna, dijo. Lepiani calcula que en Colorado un 21% de la población del estado habla español, aunque no todos son monolingües.

Lo que más rápido se hizo, nos dijo, fueron los anuncios en las redes sociales, y más tarde se colocaron letreros en consultorios dentales locales y tiendas como la Carnicería/Mercado Los Dos Toros en Denver, la Panadería Contreras en Denver, y Ay Wey Snack en Aurora.

Los letreros grandes dicen “Medio día de preescolar gratuito para todos los niños de Colorado” e incluyen un código QR y un enlace a la página web del preescolar estatal. Un cartel más pequeño en español señala que los niños que empiezan Kinder sin preparación tienden a quedarse rezagados y exhorta a los padres a “asegurar que sus hijos estén listos”.

Un anuncio para el preescolar universal en la Neveria la Unica en Aurora.

El presupuesto no fue suficiente para cubrir anuncios de radio o televisión, dijo Lepiani.

La campaña más grande que Idea Marketing ha planificado incluye capacitar a embajadores y personas de la comunidad que corran la voz y ayuden a las familias a llenar la solicitud. Ese proyecto empezó a mediados de marzo. Entre las organizaciones con las que están colaborando se encuentran Latinos Unidos de Greeley, The Rocky Mountain Welcome Center y Padres Adelante Family Services.

También se hace énfasis en educar a las familias sobre la importancia de la educación preescolar.

“Hemos estado haciendo todo lo posible lo más rápido posible, y en el menor tiempo posible”, dijo Lepiani. “El despliegue de personas en todo el estado toma un poco más de tiempo”.

Parte del trabajo es llegar a los líderes de la comunidad para que las familias reciban el mensaje de por qué es importante la educación preescolar y cómo sus hijos pueden obtener apoyo, dijo Díaz Lara.

En California, muchas de las familias con las que trabaja Díaz Lara piensan erróneamente que inscribir a sus hijos en programas bilingües podría confundirles y causar retrasos en su desarrollo. Pero darles apoyo para el idioma a los estudiantes en la casa puede beneficiarles, dijo, y el personal del preescolar solamente necesita saber cómo apoyar ese desarrollo.

En Early Excellence, donde un miembro del personal ayuda a las familias a llenar la solicitud, algunas familias piensan que no calificarán porque ganan demasiado dinero o porque ya son bilingües y no consideran que sus hijos tengan un dominio limitado del inglés. Algunas personas indocumentadas o con estatus migratorio mixto no están seguras de si tienen permitido solicitar.

“Ya da miedo entrar en un sitio web y dar tanta información”, dijo Rodríguez-Luke. “Simplemente no queremos que se pierdan en el sistema”.

Por eso, Rodríguez-Luke está trabajando en traducir la página web de la escuela a español con la esperanza de publicar más información y extender una invitación abierta para ayudar a las familias a lenar la solicitud de preescolar gratuito.

La maestra Rosario Ortiz en Early Excellence Program of Denver le enseña los nombres de materiales de arquitectura a dos estudiantes.

Los investigadores dicen que la clave es preparar a los maestros

Según los investigadores, hacen falta más estudios para determinar cuáles son las mejores estrategias para la enseñanza de estudiantes multilingües de preescolar, pero algunas cosas están claras.

“Ser bilingüe no es suficiente”, afirma Cristina Gillanders, profesora asociada de educación en la niñez temprana de la Universidad de Colorado en Denver. “Hay que tener la preparación necesaria para enseñar a estos niños. Tienes que entender lo que es bilingüismo y cómo los niños bilingües aprenden”.

Algunos proveedores de preescolar que atienden a niños que no hablan inglés se enfocan mayormente en tener personal bilingüe.

Joe Ziegler, director de educación en The Family Center/La Familia en Fort Collins, que atiende una población mayormente hispana, dijo que su programa para niños desde las seis semanas de edad hasta los 5 años no es oficialmente bilingüe según su currículo, pero que él se ha enfocado en contratar personal diverso y bilingüe. Entre un 50% y 70% de los estudiantes más pequeños empiezan entendiendo español solamente.

Cuando el programa empezó por primera vez, nos dijo, la escuela a menudo tenía que depender de los hermanos mayores para ayudar al personal a comunicarse con las familias. Desde entonces han podido dejar atrás esa situación contratando a más personal bilingüe, y ahora el enfoque es asegurar que todo el personal entienda las mejores prácticas de inclusión.

“Ahora lo hacemos todo con mayor intención”, dijo Ziegler. “Ahora nuestro énfasis está en entender cuál es la experiencia de una familia y un niño”.

En las escuelas públicas de Aurora, los preescolares llevan mucho tiempo utilizando una prueba para determinar cómo los estudiantes están progresando en su dominio del inglés. El distrito dice que un 54% de sus 2,100 estudiantes de preescolar está aprendiendo inglés.

Los investigadores dicen que los exámenes tradicionales que se usaban con estudiantes de más edad son difíciles de administrar a niños de 3 y 4 años, que tal vez no sean capaces de permanecer sentados por suficiente tiempo, usar una computadora o sujetar un lápiz.

Cynthia Cobb, la directora de educación en la niñez temprana del distrito de Aurora, dice que los exámenes que los maestros usan en los preescolares de Aurora no son exámenes tradicionales de escritorio. Los maestros observan a los estudiantes en el salón para llevar cuenta de su progreso en muchas áreas, incluso sus destrezas de idioma.

“A los niños pequeños generalmente les va fatal en exámenes tradicionales. Su desarrollo está constantemente fluctuando”, dijo Gillanders. “Para tener una mejor idea del desarrollo de un niño, hay que estar con él o ella más tiempo”.

Por eso es clave capacitar a los maestros para que entiendan lo que están observando en los niños.

Cobb dijo que el distrito de Aurora cree firmemente que poder identificar y apoyar a los estudiantes es un beneficio. Y nos dijo que los estudiantes tienen más probabilidades de dominar el inglés si empiezan a aprenderlo desde el preescolar.

Aunque es posible que los proveedores de preescolar tengan que hacer cambios, Cobb dijo que todo resultará bien.

“Es un proceso de aprendizaje”, dijo Cobb.

Ziegler sabe que los estándares que el estado probablemente creará para educar a estudiantes como los suyos posiblemente incluirán capacitación adicional para el personal, algo que sabe que puede ser positivo, pero agregó que acceder a capacitación adicional para su personal ha sido un reto.

Él se ha asociado con el distrito escolar local para darles capacitación profesional a sus maestros sobre cómo ayudar a los estudiantes que todavía no entienden bien el inglés. Pero cuando los propios maestros buscan clases adicionales, muchas solamente se ofrecen en Denver, a unos 90 minutos en auto.

Otros miembros del personal, que hablan principalmente español, tienen dificultades para encontrar clases en español. Ziegler dijo que su centro está trabajando con una universidad comunitaria a fin de desarrollar algunas clases para el personal que puedan ofrecerse en español.

“En nuestra comunidad, realmente no veo esos recursos”, dijo Ziegler, que cree que un programa universal de preescolar será finalmente beneficioso. “Pero ahora mismo, es bien estresante. Es como si estuviésemos construyendo el avión sobre la pista”.

Yesenia Robles es una reportera de Chalkbeat Colorado que cubre los distritos escolares K-12 y la educación multilingüe. Para comunicarte con Yesenia, envíale un mensaje a yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Más niños en Colorado podrían obtener 20 horas semanales de preescolar gratis

2022-09-21T21:42:42+00:00

Los niños de familias de bajos y hasta medios ingresos de Colorado probablemente serán elegibles el próximo año para 20 horas semanales de preescolar gratis. Esto es dos veces las 10 horas semanales garantizadas para todos los niños de 4 años según la ley estatal sobre el programa preescolar.

Los niños que hablan español u otros idiomas en el hogar, o que tengan discapacidades, también serán elegibles para recibir las horas de preescolar adicionales. De igual manera, serán elegibles los niños sin hogar, los que estén en hogares de crianza (foster care) o que no vivan con sus padres por otras razones. Por ejemplo, es posible que sean elegibles los niños que estén siendo criados por sus abuelos.

Cuando los legisladores y líderes de educación en la niñez temprana presentaron por primera vez el preescolar universal, dijeron que todos los niños de 4 años obtendrían por lo menos 10 horas semanales, pero que habría más horas para los niños de más necesidad. Lo que no quedó claro fue quién recibiría las horas adicionales, ni cuántas horas serían.

Ahora se están recibiendo las respuestas a esas preguntas.

Colorado está proponiendo que las familias con ingresos de hasta un 270% del límite federal de pobreza (aproximadamente $75,000 para una familia de cuatro) califiquen para obtener las horas de preescolar adicionales. Ese nivel de ingresos es mucho más alto que el límite del programa preescolar actual.

La media de ingresos en Colorado es $75,231 según los datos del Censo de EE.UU.

Kelly Altizer, a cargo del grupo que supervisa las iniciativas de preescolar universal en el Contado de Adams, dijo que el aumento en la elegibilidad “para mi, es una noticia genial.”

Además, señaló que el aumento en el límite de ingresos permitirá que una mayoría de familias en el distrito Westminster, donde fue administradora, califique para las 20 horas de preescolar.

Todavía falta que las reglas sean finalizadas por Lisa Roy, jefe del Departamento de Niñez Temprana, pero se espera que ella acepte la recomendación.

El programa de preescolar existente del estado está en su último año y será reemplazado por el programa universal en el otoño de 2023. El programa actual les brinda servicio a unos 21,000 estudiantes (en su mayoría de 4 años) provenientes de familias de pocos ingresos o que tienen otros factores de riesgo, como por ejemplo retrasos en el habla o destrezas sociales deficientes.

El programa preescolar nuevo, que podría matricular una cantidad triple de estudiantes, se financiará con dinero del programa preescolar actual y fondos de un impuesto a la nicotina aprobado por los electores de Colorado en 2020.

Ann Schimke es reportera senior de Chalkbeat y cubre temas de niñez temprana y alfabetización temprana. Para comunicarte con Ann, envíale un mensaje a aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado podría cubrir hasta 30 horas por semana para que tus hijos asistan al preescolar. Aquí te mostramos lo que necesitas saber.

2023-08-03T20:01:39+00:00

En enero, el estado de Colorado abrió la solicitud para el nuevo sistema que les ofrece preescolar gratis a todos los niños.

Este programa es nuevo, y va a reemplazar los programas previos que cubrían los costos del preescolar solo para algunas familias. No hay fecha límite para solicitar, pero es mejor que lo hagas lo antes posible, porque los cupos en tu área se pueden llenar. La recomendación más reciente es que solicites antes de mayo. Las clases comienzan este otoño, y la fecha exacta dependerá del preescolar que elijas.

Por ser un programa nuevo, no ha comenzado sin problemas. Entre ellos, a algunos líderes comunitarios les preocupa que la comunidad hispana, en particular, no ha recibido suficiente información.

Aquí están las respuestas a algunas preguntas comunes. Si tienes más preguntas, no dudes en enviar un mensaje a co.tips@chalkbeat.org y haremos lo posible por conseguirte la respuesta.

¿Quién recibirá el preescolar gratis, y cuántos años deben tener los niños?

Hay tres grupos de niños que calificarán: los de 4 años, algunos de 3 años, y un pequeño grupo de 5 años que todavía son demasiado pequeños para ir al Kinder.

El programa de preescolar nuevo está diseñado para el año antes de que los niños vayan al Kinder; es decir, para niños que cumplirán 4 años antes del 1 de octubre, la fecha límite del estado. El estado pagará por 15 horas semanales de preescolar para todos estos niños y no habrá costo adicional para los padres. (Es posible que algunos proveedores de preescolar ofrezcan solo 10 horas a la semana).

Pero, si tu familia es de bajos ingresos y tus hijos también no dominan el inglés, o su idioma natal es otro que no es inglés, esto les puede calificar para más horas — hasta 30 horas gratis por semana. También pueden calificar si tienen discapacidades o si no tienen hogar y la familia es de bajos ingresos. En la solicitud, es importante marcar todos los factores que apliquen para que sus hijos reciban los servicios que merecen.

¿Dónde encuentro la solicitud en español?

Este es el enlace directo a la página donde puedes llenar la solicitud en español. Si te encuentras la solicitud en inglés, haz clic en la esquina derecha de arriba, donde veas el globo, y verás una lista de idiomas. Selecciona el español.

¿Me pedirán comprobante de mi estatus migratorio?

No. No importa el estatus de los niños ni de los padres, y no es algo que te van a preguntar. Este programa está cubierto por fondos estatales de un impuesto en la venta de productos de tabaco. No es un programa federal.

Lo que sí te pedirán es un acta de nacimiento de tu hijo/a para comprobar su edad, y también un comprobante de residencia para verificar que vives en Colorado. Este comprobante puede ser cualquier documento que muestre tu dirección postal física, por ejemplo, una factura de servicio. Si consigues un cupo para tu hijo(a) en el programa, deberás llevar este comprobante de residencia cuando vayas a registrar a tu hijo en la escuela.

¿Hay límites de sueldo para calificar para el programa o para las horas adicionales?

Todos los niños de 4 años califican para un mínimo de 15 horas, sin importar los ingresos de la familia. Pero, si quieres solicitar las horas adicionales, podrías calificar si tu familia gana menos del 270% del límite federal de pobreza, que en este caso es, por ejemplo, $81,000 para una familia de 4 — y también aplica uno de los factores de calificación. Entre esos factores está el no tener dominio del inglés, no tener una casa, o tener una discapacidad. Si tu familia gana más del límite de ingresos, tus hijos solo califican para las 15 horas gratis, pero en algunos casos aún podrás pagar por las horas adicionales.

¿Qué significa tener dominio limitado de inglés? ¿Cómo calificaría mi hijo/hija por esta razón?

Si en tu casa hablas un idioma que no es inglés con tus hijos, es probable que califiques. En la solicitud para pedir las horas preescolares gratis, los padres pueden indicar que su hijo(a) tiene dominio limitado de inglés. La solicitud también preguntará cuál es el idioma principal que se habla en casa de este niño. Después, es posible que el centro preescolar donde asistas haga más preguntas o que tengan otra forma de evaluar cuánto inglés domina un estudiante.

¿Cómo encuentro un centro preescolar que tenga programas bilingües?

Dentro de la solicitud hay una sección para que busques centros en tu área y que indiques los que prefieres para tus hijos.

Antes de llenar la solicitud, también puedes buscar los centros que participan. En la misma página donde encuentras la solicitud, puedes seleccionar “buscar proveedores.” Luego, verás tres preguntas.

Primero, debes poner tu dirección o un código postal y también indicar si quieres manejar o si necesitas que el centro esté más cerca para poder caminar, etc. Después, pon la edad de tu hijo(a) y selecciona ‘Enviar’. Esto abrirá otra página con un mapa y una lista de los centros que están participando.

En esta página, selecciona el botón “Filtros” arriba de la lista al lado izquierdo. Esto abrirá una ventana donde puedes seleccionar todas las opciones que quieras. La sección más abajo te permite indicar “español”, y si la seleccionas, todos los resultados serán centros que tienen empleados que hablan español.

Si seleccionas uno de los centros de la lista, verás más información sobre los programas que tienen. También puedes llamar a los centros que te interesen para preguntar más.

¿Cuáles son los beneficios de poner a mis hijos en un programa bilingüe?

Los expertos dicen que los niños que pueden desarrollar dos idiomas demuestran mejores habilidades académicas, tienen beneficios cognitivos, por ejemplo mejores procesos para solucionar problemas, y cuentan con mejores funciones de ejecución, como la de prestar atención.

Guadalupe Díaz Lara, profesora adjunta del Departamento de Estudios sobre la Infancia y la Adolescencia de la California State University, dice que es importante que los padres sepan que los programas bilingües no hacen daño.

“Los niños no se confunden, no se retrasan académicamente”, dijo Díaz Lara. “Es mejor que aprendan su idioma natal para luego desarrollar sus habilidades de inglés”.

Aunque un niño ya entienda inglés, el beneficio de un programa bilingüe sería poder continuar desarrollando los dos idiomas. Los niños pueden comenzar a perder su idioma natal desde la edad preescolar.

Otro beneficio es que aprender su idioma natal ayuda a los niños a desarrollar su identidad, y permite que mantengan relaciones con sus familiares.

“No es nada más su idioma, su historia, su cultura, es mucho más”, dijo Díaz Lara. “Es estar en un lugar donde eso se valora”.

¿Qué debo preguntar para saber si un programa bilingüe es de alta calidad?

En Colorado, una forma de determinar la calidad de los programas de cuidado de niños pequeños y los centros preescolares es el programa Colorado Shines. El programa otorga una calificación del 1 al 5 para cada programa, donde una puntuación de 5, la más alta, significa que el programa tiene licencia estatal, es de confiar y cumple los estándares más altos de salud y seguridad. Si necesitas ayuda para encontrar un programa, puedes buscar las calificaciones de un programa en línea, o llamar a la línea telefónica de referencias de cuidado infantil de Colorado Shines en Mile High United Way llamando al 1-877-338-2273.

Díaz Lara les recomienda a los padres que pregunten qué apoyos habrá para que sus hijos desarrollen su idioma natal sin importar si el programa es bilingüe o no.

La respuesta, dice ella, no debería ser que van a tener a alguien que les interpreten todo.

“Sabemos que esa no es una estrategia que funciona”, dijo Díaz Lara.

También puedes preguntar: ¿Qué capacitación tienen los maestros en cada idioma? ¿Qué plan van a seguir para desarrollar los dos idiomas? ¿Cómo van a medir el progreso?

Otras preguntas que Díaz Lara recomienda son: ¿Cómo involucran a los padres en decisiones académicas? ¿Qué plan hay para comunicarse con los padres cuando haya algún problema?

Haga clic aquí para descargar y imprimir esta guía. O puede ver y imprimir el PDF abajo.

Yesenia Robles es una reportera de Chalkbeat Colorado que cubre los distritos escolares K-12 y la educación multilingüe. Para comunicarte con Yesenia, envíale un mensaje a yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Four takeaways from the rocky rollout of Colorado’s popular new free preschool program

2023-12-13T23:03:04+00:00

With its new universal preschool program, Colorado joins a small but growing group of states that offer tuition-free preschool to all 4-year-olds.

So far, the program is popular with families, but there have been lots of bumps in the road, including three lawsuits against the state and the threat of a fourth. Some of the hiccups and headaches are usual new-program fare while others stem from the program’s rushed rollout by a new state agency.

Despite the problems, the $322 million program is a big deal. Funded partly with a nicotine tax that Colorado voters passed easily, it’s cutting preschool tuition costs for thousands of families and helping more Colorado children get ready for kindergarten. Nearly 50,000 preschoolers are enrolled this year, more than double the number served in the state’s previous smaller preschool program.

Universal preschool has long been one of Gov. Jared Polis’ signature initiatives and its launch last August represents the second and harder half of the governor’s ambitious early childhood agenda. Free full-day kindergarten, which kicked off in 2019, was the other major component.

Here’s a closer look at four key issues that have cropped up during the preschool program’s first six months.

A surge in demand led to tough decisions — and could again

More than 38,000 4-year-olds — 60% of that age group in the state — are enrolled in universal preschool this year. That’s about 8,000 more 4-year-olds than the state expected. In addition, the program includes more than 10,000 3-year-olds with risk factors.

The surge in demand meant state officials had to spread the money more thinly than planned. Last summer, just weeks before preschool was set to start, they told thousands of families that their children wouldn’t get free full-day preschool, only half-day, because there wasn’t enough funding. Some of the students who lost out — low-income students and English language learners — are those who stand to benefit the most from extra preschool.

The state has already taken steps to remedy this problem for about 3,000 children next year, specifically those living in poverty. A proposed rule would prioritize those 4-year-olds for full-day classes. At the same time, the state expects even more 4-year-olds — as much as 64% of that group — to enroll in universal preschool next year. With next year’s state budget not yet set, the possibility of another surge in demand, and a slew of new rules under consideration, it’s unclear how far the money will go.

State leaders promised high-quality preschool. It will take years.

One of the casualties in the race to stand up the new preschool program were rules governing program quality. State officials ran out of time to craft those rules, so they told participating preschools last spring to “keep doing what you’re doing.”

That means preschools are required to meet only basic health and safety standards this year, not other benchmarks of quality, such as small class sizes, highly trained teachers, and strong curriculum. Some participating preschools already embrace high-quality practices, but not all do. That leaves the current universal preschool landscape a mish-mash of superior programs, mediocre programs, and everything in between.

Experts say quality standards matter because when preschool is done well, it can have short- and long-term benefits for children — boosting academic skills, increasing the likelihood of graduating from high school, and even improving adult job and health outcomes.

Colorado officials are planning to adopt some quality rules for the 2024-25 school year and a separate set of rules on preschool staff credentials for the 2025-26 school year. But with some likely to be phased in over time, four or more classes of universal preschoolers may graduate from the program before a binding set of quality requirements take hold.

Colorado faces lawsuits as church-state legal landscape changes

Although faith-based preschools make up a tiny fraction of Colorado’s universal preschool providers, they’ve played an outsize role in recent legal challenges over the program’s policies.

Two of three lawsuits the state is facing over universal preschool revolve around a non-discrimination agreement state officials asked participating preschools to sign. The agreement bans discrimination based on various factors, including religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity, but a Christian preschool in Chaffee County and two Catholic preschools in metro Denver sued over the provision last summer.

In October, a federal judge blocked Colorado from withholding universal preschool funds or disciplining the Chaffee County preschool even though its policies on employee hiring and bathroom and pronoun use appear to violate the non-discrimination clause.

The lawsuit by the Catholic preschools, which is set to go to trial in early January, is broader. Like the Chaffee County case, it takes issue with the possibility of hiring staff who don’t reflect the schools’ religious tenets, but it also challenges the state’s mandate to accept all children and families regardless of religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity. The schools argue that enrolling all children conflicts with their religious beliefs and mission to provide a Catholic education.

There’s likely another battle over religion on the horizon. That’s because of a proposal to ban religious instruction during universal preschool classes starting next fall. The state intended to put that ban into place from the outset, but didn’t follow through — allowing participating faith-based preschools to incorporate religion however they see fit this year. That omission, set Colorado up for a conspicuous mid-stream flip-flop. The conservative group Advance Colorado has already threatened to sue if the state goes through with the proposed ban, citing a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing public funding for religious education.

Class size debate is another symptom of funding challenges

This year, universal preschool classes can have up to 24 4-year-olds. That’s higher than most early childhood experts recommend, so the state has proposed capping the number at 20 starting next fall. A related rule would require one staff member for every 10 children, down from one per 12 this year.

But some participating preschools literally banked on having 24 students per class and 12 students per staff member. (The state pays about $6,000 per child for half-day preschool.) If the proposed changes are adopted, these providers stand to lose tens of thousands of dollars next year and some have said they would pull out of the program altogether.

The class size dilemma, especially in a field known for razor-thin margins and low pay, is another example of the tension between Colorado’s promise of high-quality preschool-for-all and the reality of limited funding. Although universal preschool’s $322 million price tag sounds like a hefty sum, preschool providers, school districts, and lawmakers have questioned whether it’s enough to support the program Colorado leaders envisioned.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado free preschool program matches more than 27,400 families, seats still available

2023-06-21T23:24:04+00:00

More than 27,400 Colorado families have accepted preschool matches through the state’s new universal preschool program, according to the Colorado Department of Early Childhood.

That represents more than 32,000 children, more than half the state’s 4-year-olds, according to state estimates. The state had a goal of serving between 40% and 60% of eligible children in the program’s first year.

There are still plenty of seats available, though. The department currently reports more than 24,000 tuition-free preschool seats remain open across the state and are still available for families who apply by the July 13 deadline for the next round.

Beginning this fall, all Colorado 4-year-olds are eligible for between 10 and 30 hours of free preschool a week. Families who have certain qualifying factors are eligible for more hours of free preschool. Three-year-olds with qualifying factors may be eligible as well. Qualifying factors include low household income, speaking a language other than English at home, or having a disability.

Many participating preschools offer additional hours, but families have to pay tuition for that care.

According to a press release from the Colorado Department of Early Education, 90.7% of children have been matched to one of their preferred providers, with 78.6% of families being matched to their first choice.

Two additional rounds of matching are planned for the summer for new applicants or those who have not selected a provider yet. Families who applied in the third round will find out their match June 29. Families who apply by July 13 will find out later in the summer who their provider will be.

Enrollment in tuition-free preschool in Colorado is still open on a rolling basis. Out of Colorado’s 64 counties, all still have slots available. There are 1,930 participating preschool providers offering 56,866 seats, about 43% of which are still open.

Some rural counties have just one or two providers offering a few dozen seats, but even in those communities, the state reports open seats. Among populous Front Range counties, Denver still has more than 2,000 seats available, about 40% of the total and Arapahoe had almost 5,000 available seats, more than half the total.

The early childhood department estimates that families will save about $6,000 per year on average.

Sara Martin is an intern with Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Sara at smartin@chalkbeat.org.

These four states already have universal preschool. What can Colorado learn from them?

2022-04-27T21:19:58+00:00

When Colorado launches free preschool for 4-year-olds in 2023, it will join a half dozen other states that already offer universal preschool.

All of them have encountered the same tricky task Colorado leaders now face as they try to knit together a disparate patchwork of public and private preschools into an equitable and high-quality statewide system. We’ll take a look at some of the lessons learned in four states: Florida, Oklahoma, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

Some, like Oklahoma, have offered the program for decades, while others, like Vermont — one of the few places to offer free preschool to all 3- and 4-year-olds — have joined the club more recently. Wisconsin officials said they don’t consider their preschool program universal because school districts don’t have to offer the state-funded classes, though 99% do.

Colorado’s universal preschool program will offer 10 hours a week to all 4-year-olds, with children who have higher needs eligible for more. Funding will come from Colorado’s existing state-funded preschool program, which is for children from low-income families, or who have language delays, or other risk factors, and proceeds from a voter-approved nicotine tax.

Advocates in the four states cited ongoing challenges in everything from ensuring high-quality offerings to making part-day preschool work for families, but they also said the programs are generally popular. In all four states, at least 70% of 4-year-olds participated prior to the pandemic.

Sherry Carlson, chief program officer at the Vermont advocacy group, Let’s Grow Kids, said the state’s system is not perfect, but “usage is an indication that we’re on the right track.”

States	Year launched	Four-year olds enrolled	Quality benchmarks met	Min. hours/week	Bachelor's degree required for preschool teachers
Florida	2005	75%	2	15	No
Oklahoma	1998	70%	9	10-30	Yes
Vermont	2014	76%	7	10	In public school classrooms
Wisconsin	1984	70%	3	10-12	Yes

State-funded preschool in four states

Notes: The % of children served reflects this school year or the 2019-20 year. “Quality benchmarks met” is based on 10 standards used by the National Institute for Early Education Research. Oklahoma school districts have the option of providing 2.5 or 6 hours of preschool per day. Wisconsin provided funding for 4-year-old preschool starting in 1927. It was repealed in 1957 and reinstated in 1984. In Florida, families can choose a 540-hour school year program or a 300-hour summer preschool program.

The half-day problem

Colorado’s plan to offer 10 hours of preschool a week to most children is similar to preschool programs in states like Florida, Vermont, and Wisconsin. The problem is that half-day programs don’t work for a lot of families.

Professor Beth Graue, director of the Center for Research on Early Childhood Education at the University of Wisconsin Madison, studied Wisconsin parents’ preschool choices and found that many declined to enroll in the program because of the schedule.

“The half-day format is a nightmare for at least a third of all the parents we surveyed,” she said. “It’s curious to me in today’s day and age that people imagine that a half day would work.“

When universal preschool originally launched in Florida, the vision was to offer both a 3-hour and a 6-hour preschool day, but there was never enough funding for the longer day, said Madeleine Thakur, president of the advocacy group, The Children’s Movement of Florida. Some schools — those that receive federal funds for low-income students — cover the extra cost of full-day preschool for some students, but the coveted spots are in short supply.

In Vermont, momentum had been growing to increase the number of state-funded preschool hours beyond the current 10 a week, but the pandemic derailed that discussion, said Carlson.

“There is a lot of agreement, particularly among working families and schools, that more time would be better,” she said.

Teacher qualification conundrum

The four states profiled have various requirements for universal preschool teachers — Oklahoma and Wisconsin require them to have bachelor’s degrees, while Florida does not. Vermont is something of a hybrid — requiring bachelor’s degrees for universal preschool teachers in public school settings, but not for all teachers in private settings.

These differences reflect both ongoing national debate about whether teachers with four-year college degrees provide better preschool experiences than those without, and the reality that such requirements pose a major financial barrier in light of the field’s low pay.

The National Institute for Early Education Research, which ranks states annually on preschool access and funding, includes bachelor’s degree requirements among 10 benchmarks showing whether states have key quality standards in place. Experts say preschool can produce short- and long-term benefits for kids, but only if it’s high quality.

Colorado’s existing preschool program doesn’t require bachelor’s degrees and meets only four of the institute’s 10 benchmarks.

Carlson, who estimated that 60% of Vermont’s universal preschoolers are served in private settings, said the more lenient degree requirements for those classrooms was one of the concessions made when the program began. The state has put money toward helping preschool teachers further their education, but more needs to be done, she said.

Carlson’s advice to Colorado: “Be willing to compromise with a plan [that says] this is where we’re starting and we’re going to keep working to get to … where the vision was.”

Thakur, of Florida, said many wonderful preschool teachers don’t have bachelor’s degrees currently so it shouldn’t be a requirement at the inception of a universal program. Plus, with teachers in private preschool settings often paid much less than public school counterparts, it’s not fair to require the degrees, she said.

Who’s got access?

The idea behind universal preschool is to serve every child whose parents want a spot, but that can be hard to deliver on a consistent statewide basis.

Carlson said offering preschool in both public and private settings helps ensure access in Vermont, partly because private centers can often provide wraparound care that meshes with parents’ work schedules and locations. At the same time, some preschoolers with disabilities lose out on special education services if they attend preschool with private providers outside of their school districts, she said.

The goal should be to “put children and families at the center,” she said. “Then don’t let paperwork or artificial boundaries” get in the way.

Joe Dorman, CEO at the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy, said reaching rural children has been a struggle in his state. In some cases, it’s because of preschool staff shortages or a dearth of seats, but there are also some families who don’t see the value of preschool, he said.

“This has been one of our crown jewels,” he said. “It amazes me that people won’t take the time to look at the benefits and see the good that can come from it.”

Dorman said Colorado should educate parents about the free preschool program before children turn 4.

“Begin the promotional process early,” he said. “Ensure that families recognize this.”

Preschool and K-12: separate or together?

In some universal preschool states, school districts are in charge of overseeing the program locally and offer many preschool seats in public school classrooms. These factors make school districts a key player in the universal preschool discussion, but also raise questions about how close the association should be.

Experts from other states said it’s important that universal preschool be designed around the developmental needs of young children.

Thakur said Colorado leaders should be careful “not to bring the rigor of the K-12 system down into preschool.”

“You’ve really got to focus on relationships, making sure children learn how to communicate, cooperate, listen, and follow routines,” she said. “Those are the kinds of things that are a real down payment for the kindergarten teacher.”

Colorado’s existing preschool program is administered by school districts and 77% of students attend the program in public school classrooms, but planned changes could shake up public schools’ role in universal preschool.

Graue agreed that preschool should be developmentally appropriate, not narrowly focused on math and literacy, but also noted the downsides of divorcing preschool and K-12 policy.

During a statewide class size reduction effort in Wisconsin, for example, Graue said kindergarten classes went down to 15 children, but preschool classes in the same buildings were often much larger because they weren’t included in the state initiative.

In addition, although Wisconsin’s state-funded preschool classrooms in private settings must adhere to class size caps mandated by state child care regulations, public schools aren’t subject to those limits. Instead, each district establishes its own preschool class size rules.

“That’s the problem of the 4K [Wisconsin preschool] program working in this liminal space between K-12 and the child care system,” Graue said.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado universal preschool standards set low bar, experts say

2023-09-13T22:22:22+00:00

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Colorado’s proposed rules on preschool quality set a low bar, could hurt kids, and threaten to leave the state with one of the nation’s weakest public preschool programs, some experts say.

The draft standards say class sizes will be governed by current licensing rules, which means preschools can have up to 24 4–year-olds in each classroom. The standards also don’t address what degrees or credentials teachers must have. These are among the red flags cited by leaders at the National Institute for Early Education Research, who reviewed the draft rules at Chalkbeat’s request.

“It’s very difficult once you create a low-quality system to work your way out of that, because you create a constituency for it,” said W. Steven Barnett, senior co-director of the institute, which is housed at Rutgers University.

Colorado’s proposed quality rules, which will take effect in fall 2024, are already coming too late for the first class of universal preschoolers — about 38,000 4-year-olds and 9,000 3-year-olds so far this fall. While some of those children may be in top-rated preschools that keep class sizes small, use strong curriculum, and employ highly qualified teachers, many are attending programs that meet only basic health and safety standards.

This runs counter to what state leaders promised after the passage of a nicotine tax in 2020 to help fund tuition-free preschool for 4-year-olds statewide. They said the new program would provide the kind of high-quality preschool that research shows has positive short- and long-term impacts on children.

But now, it’s unclear whether the state will make good on that pledge — and if so, how long it will take.

“In my opinion, this is stuff they should have been nailing down three years ago,” said Meg Franko, director of early childhood initiatives at the University of Denver’s Butler Institute for Families. “It’s frustrating that so much is happening at the last minute.”

She sees some bright spots in the proposed standards, including that preschools would be required to have an on-site evaluation by the state or another approved evaluator every three years. She also said the standards include features that will bring more consistency so that “parents can feel like they’re getting a similar product no matter where they go.” These include requirements for preschools to have a curriculum, promote child health, and engage with families.

“I don’t think this totally solves that problem, but I think it starts to help with it,” she said.

State officials say they are collecting feedback on the proposed quality rules through at least Sept. 22 and that the standards could change before they are adopted in January.

Separate rules for preschool teacher qualifications will take effect in fall 2025, though state officials have already confirmed that teachers will not need a bachelor’s degree as that is enshrined in state law. Those standards are still in the concept phase and no date has been set for their release.

Ian McKenzie, a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, which is running the universal preschool program, said in an email that the draft standards are based on state and national best practices and feedback from more than 670 Coloradans.

He said the goal was to strike a balance between designing an accessible system that supports the work preschool providers are already doing and lifting them to the next level of quality.

Given that Colorado has prioritized offering universal preschool in various settings — public schools, private preschools, and state-licensed homes — McKenzie said the state wouldn’t be able to lower staffing ratios beyond what’s currently allowed without hurting private providers, which are small businesses. State child care rules require at least one staff member for every 12 preschoolers, along with a 24-student cap.

Low-quality preschool is bad for kids

Colorado’s universal preschool program, which offers 10 to 30 hours of class time a week at no cost to families, appears likely to fall short on most of the 10 quality benchmarks used by the research institute at Rutgers. The institute rates state preschool programs annually using its quality checklist. States like Alabama, Mississippi, and Hawaii meet all 10 benchmarks.

Institute officials estimated that Colorado could meet up to four benchmarks — based on the state’s proposed quality standards — but said they’d need additional information from the state to confirm compliance.

Even if Colorado’s universal preschool program meets four benchmarks — the same number its previous smaller state-funded preschool met — it’s a lackluster showing for a state that touted high-quality preschool for all.

McKenzie said the state is addressing the institute’s push for quality in other ways — for example, through early childhood coaching initiatives — outside of the preschool quality standards.

The institute’s benchmarks are meant to guide state preschool policy, not to gauge quality at individual preschools. Colorado has its own five-level rating system for preschool and child care providers, known as Colorado Shines, but there’s no requirement, including for universal preschool providers, to advance beyond the lowest Level 1 rating, which simply means a program meets state licensing standards.

Eighty percent of Colorado’s universal preschool providers have one of the lowest two state ratings. The other 20% have one of the top three ratings, designations considered high-quality.

Barnett said low-quality classrooms can negatively impact children long term, effects seen in research on early childhood programs in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Quebec.

He said of Quebec’s child care program, “When they went universal, they went for cheap so they could give it to everybody. Fifteen years later, kids were doing worse in school. They were more likely to be involved in crime and delinquency.”

“In particular, middle income kids were induced out of relatively good home or out-of-home programs into worse programs because they were free,” Barnett said. “You could see this happening in Colorado.”

Advocates differ on Colorado’s proposed quality standards

Lauren Corboy, an early childhood analyst for the advocacy group Colorado Children’s Campaign, described the state’s quality standards draft as “really strong” and said it “hits on the most important elements that make a quality program.”

For example, the standards say preschool should be developmentally appropriate and mentions the importance of play, she said.

The research institute’s 10 benchmarks represent only one of a variety of ways to measure preschool quality, Corboy said. “The goal is not to pick one set [of standards] and 100% align.”

Asked about potential class sizes of 24 preschoolers — as is allowed currently and in the draft standards — she said the Campaign has not yet developed talking points on that topic.

Rebecca Armentrout, executive director of Nebula Early Childhood Collaborative, a nonprofit that provides early childhood coaching and advocacy, said the state’s proposed preschool standards are vague.

For example, she said the standards call for the creation of a resource bank that includes “approved and vetted” curriculum, but it’s not clear what curriculum will be acceptable, who will vet the curriculum, and whether universal preschool providers will get funding to replace curriculum that doesn’t make the cut.

Like other early childhood advocates and leaders, including a group of school districts that recently sued the state over universal preschool, Armentrout worries there’s not enough money to properly run the new program.

She also expressed frustration over the analogy that state officials have repeated countless times through the universal preschool planning process.

“How offensive it’s been to hear this entire time, ‘We’re building the plane as we fly it.” said Armentrout. “Why would we trust these quality standards when we’ve heard that so many times?”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado’s Prop II election results: Voters back nicotine tax measure to fund preschool

2023-11-08T03:32:32+00:00

Colorado voters easily approved a ballot measure that will send more than $20 million to the state’s new universal preschool program.

Proposition II (pronounced “eye-eye”) will allow the state to keep all the money raised through a nicotine tax Colorado voters approved in 2020, even though the tax raised more money than originally predicted. The state is required by the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, commonly called TABOR, to ask voters if it can keep extra revenue generated by taxes — in this case $23.7 million. The state will get to keep any excess revenue in future years as well.

Prop II had no organized opposition. A similar measure that allowed the state to keep excess marijuana tax revenue above what officials predicted they’d collect passed with nearly 70% of the vote in 2015.

The additional nicotine tax money will go toward Colorado’s universal preschool program — the same place most of the nicotine tax money from the 2020 ballot measure is already going. The $322 million preschool program is one of Gov. Jared Polis’ signature initiatives.

Polis said in a statement Tuesday evening, “I am thrilled people voted in favor of providing more funding for our free universal preschool program that is saving families money, and this voter-approved measure will help fund more preschool for kids. Thank you to all voters who made their voices heard, and thank you for continuing Colorado’s clear history of supporting early education.”

The preschool program launched in August and provides tuition-free classes to about 38,500 4-year-olds and 10,300 3-year-olds this year. While the program has proven popular with families, its rollout has been rocky at times.

In July, thousands of families who expected tuition-free, full-day preschool found out their children would get less because the state didn’t have enough money. In August, school district officials sued over the program, claiming the state is harming students who have disabilities and breaking funding promises to families and schools.

Some of the $23.7 million available through Prop II could help solve these problems.

The money will help pay for additional half-day and full-day preschool spots next year. This year, full-day spots are available to 4-year-olds from lower-income families who also have a second risk factor. Those factors include being an English learner, having a special education plan, being homeless, or being in the foster care system. About 3,600 children are enrolled in free full-day classes this year.

Next year, state officials want to make free full-day classes available to 3,000 additional 4-year-olds, specifically those from very low-income families.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Smaller class sizes in Colorado’s latest draft of universal preschool rules

2023-10-31T03:27:35+00:00

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Colorado officials want to cap preschool class sizes in the state’s new universal preschool program at 20 students next year and require at least one staff member for every 10 children in the room.

These proposed limits represent a notable change from an earlier plan that allowed classes sizes of 24 preschoolers and staff-student ratios of 1 to 12. Both are higher than what leading early childhood groups recommend.

National experts panned the earlier draft of Colorado’s universal preschool quality rules, saying that the state’s proposal set a low bar and could lead to bad outcomes for kids. The new draft rules, released Monday, are set to be finalized next spring and will take effect in the fall of 2024. A state advisory committee will weigh in, but Lisa Roy, executive director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, will make the final decision.

The new draft rules reflect the balance state officials are trying to strike between ensuring the high-quality program they promised and making the requirements attainable to a wide range of providers in a low-wage, high-turnover field. Universal preschool is available in lots of settings: school district classrooms, private child care centers, faith-based preschools, and licensed home-based programs.

State officials launched the $322 million universal preschool program in August without establishing rules on quality in part because they ran out of time. State preschool leaders told providers last spring to “keep doing what you’re doing.” That means wide variations in quality this year for the more than 48,000 children getting tuition-free preschool through the program.

Some children attend preschools with top scores on the state’s child care and preschool rating system, Colorado Shines, while others attend low-rated programs. Research shows that high-quality preschool produces positive short- and long-term outcomes for children.

Colorado’s rules on preschool quality, which will spell out requirements around curriculum, staff training, and child health screenings, will eventually bring more consistency to the universal preschool program, but it could take till 2026 or after to fully phase in all the requirements.

Aside from the lower class sizes and staff-student ratios, the new draft is largely similar to the first one. As in the original, it generally requires providers to use a curriculum from a resource bank approved by the state. In addition, preschool providers would be subject to on-site evaluations every three years. It also specifically states that faith-based preschools can’t include religious instruction in hours funded by universal preschool — a rule that is not in place this year, according to a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood.

Training requirements for preschool staff are a bit different in the new draft, with employees only required to have completed four hours of training on some topics next year, down from eight in the previous draft rules. The new draft institutes the 8-hour training requirement in either 2025 or 2026 — either the third or fourth year of the program — depending on the training topic.

The new draft also delays requirements for providers to offer or coordinate health and developmental screenings for preschoolers until the 2025-26 school year.

The new draft rules don’t address preschool teacher qualifications. A separate set of rules that will take effect in the fall of 2025 will set those requirements.

The state is collecting feedback on the latest draft of the universal preschool quality rules through at least Nov. 22.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org

Colorado rule change would give more universal preschoolers full-day classes

2023-10-26T15:00:03+00:00

About 3,000 more Colorado 4-year-olds will qualify for free full-day classes through the state’s universal preschool program next year under a draft rule that aims to better serve families in the lowest income bracket.

The proposed change would make 4-year-olds from families with incomes at or below the federal poverty level — about $30,000 a year for a family of four — eligible for full-day preschool at no cost to their families starting next August. This year, many children in this group lost out on tuition-free full-day classes because of a state funding shortfall. However, if voters approve Prop II on Election Day, the state would get more than $23 million, which could help cover the extra full-day preschool costs next year.

“This rule would provide crucial support to Colorado’s most vulnerable populations,” said Lisa Roy, executive director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, in a press release that cited high-quality preschool as a tool against poverty.

Colorado’s $322 million universal preschool program launched in August and offers free half-day preschool to 4-year-olds statewide, with some eligible for full-day classes. Some 3-year-olds also participate.

The proposed rule, announced Thursday by the early childhood department, represents the state’s effort to fix a key problem that surfaced last summer during the new preschool program’s tumultuous rollout.

State officials originally planned to give full-day preschool to a wide swath of 4-year-olds. That group included children with any of five risk factors, including those from lower-income families — defined as households with earnings up to 270% of the federal poverty level, or about $81,000 a year for a family of four. It also included English learners, children with special education plans, those in foster care, and those who are homeless.

But in July, just weeks before the first day of school, thousands of families were blindsided when they learned the state wouldn’t pay for full-day preschool as they’d expected. More families had applied for the program than state officials expected, triggering stricter eligibility requirements for full-day classes.

The longer days were thus offered to a much smaller group: children from families who met the income threshold and had a second risk factor. A group of school districts cited this 11th-hour shift among several grievances in their subsequent lawsuit against the state over universal preschool.

The tighter eligibility rules meant many children with only a single risk factor, including many from very low-income families, were out of luck. In some cases, school districts decided to cover the cost of the extra hours. In others, parents scraped together the money to pay the difference, settled for the free half-day program, or dropped out altogether.

The proposed rule is designed to more carefully target children with the greatest needs, a population that research shows stands to benefit the most from quality preschool.

The rule creates a sixth risk factor — “living in poverty” — that includes any preschooler from a family living at or below the federal poverty level. These children will then automatically fall into the more expansive “low-income” risk factor group, which includes all low and some middle-income families. Together, the two risk factors will make children eligible for full-day classes.

About 3,600 or 7% of Colorado’s more than 48,000 universal preschoolers are getting tuition-free full-day classes this year. That number could jump to about 6,600 next year under the proposed rule, according to state estimates.

With funding for universal preschool partly dependent on how much money the state’s nicotine tax brings in and how many children opt in, there’s still a chance the state could face a funding pinch in future years and limit the number of children who get full-day preschool at no cost to their families. However, the proposed rule would give children from the lowest-income families higher priority for full-day funding than they get now.

In addition, state forecasts on preschool participation and funding for next year indicate there’s enough money to serve the additional 3,000 4-year-olds expected to qualify for full-day classes.

State officials are collecting public comment on the proposed rule at least through Nov. 22, and expect to finalize it by the end of January.

Correction: Due to incorrect information provided by the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, an earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the number of children enrolled in universal preschool this year. It is more than 48,000 not 37,000. It also incorrectly stated the percentage of universal preschoolers who get full-day preschool this year. It is 7% not 10%.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado seeks dismissal of universal preschool lawsuit brought by school districts

2023-10-13T02:31:17+00:00

Attorneys for Gov. Jared Polis and other officials say a lawsuit filed against the state over Colorado’s new universal preschool program is based on a flawed interpretation of special education law and the state constitution.

That argument came in a motion to dismiss the suit filed Thursday in Denver district court. The motion represents the state’s response to an August lawsuit brought by six Colorado school districts and two statewide education groups claiming the universal preschool program is harming children with disabilities and breaking financial promises to families and school districts.

The motion to dismiss argues that the plaintiffs disapprove of the state’s choices on how to run the universal preschool program, but that state officials have the latitude to make those choices under the law.

“Plaintiffs’ concerns should be addressed through the policymaking process, not the judiciary,” the motion states.

During a press conference announcing the lawsuit on Aug. 17, several school district leaders said they’d tried to give feedback to state officials during the universal preschool planning process, but were ignored.

The lawsuit was filed by the Colorado Association of School Executives, the Consortium of Directors of Special Education, and the 27J, Cherry Creek, Harrison, Mapleton, Platte Valley, and Westminster school districts.

In the suit, the plaintiffs alleged that children would miss out on vital special education services or full-day preschool classes, or would miss preschool altogether, because of problems with the state’s online application and matching system. The lawsuit named Polis, who’s long championed the universal preschool program, and leaders at the Colorado Department of Early Childhood and the Colorado Department of Education as defendants.

The $322 million universal preschool program, funded partly through a state nicotine tax, launched in August and offers 10 to 30 hours of tuition-free preschool a week to all Colorado 4-year-olds, and 10 hours a week to some 3-year-olds.

More than 45,000 children are enrolled in the program, including in school district preschools, private preschools, and licensed home-based programs.

BridgeCare, the state’s online application and matching system, is at the center of the lawsuit. Starting last winter, preschools listed their offerings on the platform and families used it to apply for a spot. A computer algorithm then matched kids to seats.

But according to the lawsuit, the system didn’t always work, leading to confusion and frustration. In some cases, it led to preschool matches for students with disabilities that meant school districts couldn’t fulfill the requirements spelled out in federal special education law.

But Thursday’s motion to dismiss argues that federal special education law makes it the state’s obligation to ensure students with disabilities are properly served — and that school districts’ legal obligations to such students start only after the state matches the children to district preschools.

The motion also argues that while the Colorado Constitution’s local control provision gives school districts authority over things like instruction and teacher employment, it doesn’t grant them “unmitigated control over how students apply to and are matched in a state-funded preschool program.”

Finally, the motion asserts that the school district plaintiffs speculated they would see enrollment drop, lose funding, or have to turn preschoolers away on the first day of school, without concrete proof that those things happened.

At the August press conference on the lawsuit, a Westminster district leader described how the district had been forced to turn away a 3-year-old preschooler that morning.

The state is facing two other lawsuits over the universal preschool program, both brought by religious preschools claiming that state’s anti-discrimination requirements violate their religious beliefs.

The state has addressed some of the problems cited by the plaintiffs in the school district lawsuit in recent weeks. For example, in late September, the state began allowing preschools to enroll “walk-ins” on the spot instead of making them wait until they’d been matched through the state’s online system, a process that can take days or weeks.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org

Parents: Colorado’s universal preschool program now allows walk-in enrollment

2023-09-29T20:48:09+00:00

A recent change to Colorado’s universal preschool rules now permits “walk-in” enrollment, allowing children to start classes more quickly — potentially the same day their families show up at a local preschool.

The state made the change in late September after some preschool providers complained that they were forced to turn away families who showed up without having first filled out the online application and received a preschool match through the state’s computer system. Under that process, preschoolers sometimes waited a week or more to start class.

Now, as long preschools have open spots, children will be able to start the day they walk in or shortly thereafter. Their families still have to fill out the state’s universal preschool application, but generally they’ll be able to do that on the spot, and their child will be placed immediately. Preschools may also require parents to provide key documents, such as the child’s birth certificate, proof of address, and immunization records.

The rule change is one of the ways state officials have tried to address criticism from some preschool providers, advocates, and lawmakers that the program’s application process is confusing for families and limits how much preschool providers can help them.

Ian McKenzie, a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, said of the new rule in an email, “We are delighted to show it as a sign of the work [the department] is doing to meet the needs of families throughout the school year.”

Since the year is already well underway, the new walk-in rule won’t affect most universal preschool families. However, it will help those who have recently relocated or are just finding out about the program.

Currently, about 38,000 4-year-olds and 9,000 3-year-olds get 10 to 30 hours a week of tuition-free preschool through the new state program — more children than the state initially expected. The program is open to all 4-year-olds statewide. They can attend in public schools, private preschools, child care centers, and state-licensed homes. Three-year-olds with certain risk factors are also eligible for the program, with classes generally provided only in public schools.

Families can still apply for universal preschool this year, either by filling out the online application or going to a participating preschool provider directly.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Voter guide: Prop II asks Colorado voters to spend extra nicotine tax revenue on preschool

2023-09-28T23:15:01+00:00

Should Colorado be allowed to keep $23.7 million raised through a state nicotine tax to help fund preschool? Or should that money be refunded to sellers of nicotine products?

That’s the gist of Proposition II (pronounced “eye-eye”), one of two statewide ballot issues voters will consider this election season. If voters approve the measure, the money will go toward the state’s new universal preschool program.

The preschool program began this fall and serves 38,000 4-year-olds and 9,000 3-year-olds with 10 to 30 hours a week of tuition-free class time. While the program has proven popular with families, its rollout has been rocky at times.

In July, thousands of families who expected tuition-free full-day preschool found out their children would get less because the state didn’t have enough money. In August, school district officials sued over the program, claiming the state is harming students with disabilities and breaking funding promises to families and schools.

Some of the $23.7 million up for grabs through the ballot measure could help solve these problems, though there’s not enough to address all of them.

Here’s a closer look at Proposition II.

Will Prop II raise taxes?

No. It simply allows the state to keep $23.7 million raised through a nicotine tax Colorado voters approved in 2020. Because the tax raised more money than originally predicted, the state is required by the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, commonly called TABOR, to ask voters if it can keep the extra revenue generated.

If voters say yes, the state will get to keep any excess revenue in future years as well.

Voters easily approved a similar measure in 2015 that allowed the state to keep extra marijuana tax revenue.

If voters reject Prop II, the $23.7 million would be refunded to wholesalers and distributors of nicotine and tobacco products, and the tax rate on nicotine products will go down by 11.5%.

How would Prop II money be used?

If voters approve Prop II, the money will go toward Colorado’s $322 million universal preschool program — the same place most of the nicotine tax money from the 2020 ballot measure is already going.

Leaders of the campaign backing Prop II say the additional $23.7 million will help pay for half-day preschool spots next year, as well as for full-day preschool for some children with risk factors. Such children include 4-year-olds who come from lower-income families, English learners, students with special education plans, and those who are homeless or are in the foster care system.

Who supports Prop II and who opposes it?

Dozens of elected officials, community leaders, and organizations support Prop II, according to leaders of “Preschool for all Coloradans,” a campaign backing the ballot measure. Supporters include Children’s Hospital Colorado, the American Lung Association, Colorado Children’s Campaign, Colorado PTA, Great Education Colorado, and Executives Partnering to Invest in Children.

So far, there’s no organized opposition to Prop II.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org

Colorado parents: Need help paying for preschool? Check out these programs.

2023-08-29T20:00:33+00:00

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Starting this fall, Colorado is offering 10 to 15 hours of tuition-free preschool to all 4-year-olds as part of the state’s universal preschool program. More than 40,000 families have already applied, but the application process is still open and will be available throughout the year.

But what if you need more class time for your child than just 10 to 15 hours a week?

There are several ways to get financial help for those extra hours. The universal preschool program will pay for up to 30 hours of preschool a week for some children. They must be from low-income families and fall into one of the following categories: English language learner, homeless, in foster care, or have a special education plan. Simply being from a low-income family is not enough to qualify for 30 hours.

We’ve compiled a list of other programs that may help cover extra hours of preschool, including Head Start, the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program, and, for Denver residents, the Denver Preschool Program. Summit County also offers tuition assistance for preschoolers, through its Summit Pre-K Program, though the application window generally runs from May 1-31.

Military families may be eligible for financial help through the Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood program, which is for families who can’t access military-operated child care programs because of waitlists or the distance from their homes.

Finally, it’s worth asking your child’s preschool if they offer scholarships or discounts that could help lower the cost of care.

For questions about universal preschool or adding extra hours, contact the universal preschool help desk at 303-866-5223 or the local group in your county that is helping run universal preschool.

Here’s a quick look at some of the programs that can be combined with universal preschool to provide students with full-day classes.

Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP)

What is it: A state program that helps low-income families pay for child care, including preschool. Parents must be working, looking for work, or attending school.

Who’s eligible: Families whose children are citizens or legal permanent residents and whose household income is 200% to 270% of the federal poverty line. That’s $60,000 to $81,000 for a family of four. Each county sets its own income criteria, so check here for details based on where you live.

Financial aid: CCCAP covers most of the cost of child care for qualifying families, with the amount varying based on how much care a child needs above their universal preschool hours. Families who qualify also have to pay a parent fee — a co-pay that varies based on income, family size, and the number of children in child care.

How to apply: Online in English or Spanish, or contact your county’s department of human services.

What to know about combining with universal preschool: Only some preschools participate in the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program. Ask the universal preschool provider you selected if they take CCCAP, or find the provider name in the universal preschool application and click on the “View More Information” link. A pop-up box will tell you more about the provider, including if they take CCCAP or offer other financial help.

Some families who qualify for CCCAP may not receive assistance because of funding shortfalls — particularly once federal COVID stimulus dollars run out in 2024.

Denver Preschool Program

What is it: A Denver program that provides sliding-scale tuition help for 4-year-olds in preschool regardless of family income.

Who’s eligible: Denver residents who have 4-year-old children attending preschool regardless of immigration status.

Financial aid: Tuition credits range from $36 to $1,227 a month for up to 12 months, and are paid to the school on the family’s behalf. Use the Denver Preschool Program’s tuition credit calculator to estimate your monthly tuition credit. Credits are based on family size, income, and the quality of the preschool selected.

How to apply: Online any time in English or Spanish, or contact the Denver Preschool Program at (303) 595-4377 or info@dpp.org. Applications in PDF form are available in Chinese/Mandarin, French, Russian, Vietnamese, Somali, Amharic, and Nepali.

What to know about combining with universal preschool: Apply to universal preschool first and once your child is enrolled in a preschool, apply to the Denver Preschool Program. This is necessary because the Denver Preschool Program application requires that families list the preschool their child is attending. Most Denver preschools participating in universal preschool also participate in the Denver Preschool Program, but there are a few that don’t. Check here to find preschools participating in the Denver Preschool Program.

Head Start

What is it: A federally funded program that provides free preschool, health services, and family support to children from low-income families, regardless of immigration status.

Who’s eligible: Children who are 3 to 5 years old in families with a household income at or below the federal poverty guideline. That’s $30,000 a year for a family of 4. Children who are homeless, in foster care, or whose families receive public assistance are also eligible regardless of income.

Financial aid: Head Start is a free preschool program that provides part-time or full-time hours to the children it serves.

How to apply: Search here for providers near you and contact the center directly to apply. For help finding a Head Start provider, call 866-763-6481.

What to know about combining with universal preschool: Only certain preschool providers offer Head Start. The universal preschool application also shows whether providers participate in Head Start. For help, contact the Head Start provider you’re interested in or the local group that helps run universal preschool.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Marshmallows vs. chocolate: Kids tackle first day of school amid Colorado’s universal preschool launch

2023-08-23T18:03:20+00:00

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“Would you rather eat only chocolate or only marshmallows?” teacher Jordan Parsons asked the gaggle of preschoolers sitting on the rug in front of her.

Most of the 13 kids bounded to the left side of the rug, several gleefully jumping and shrieking at the thought of a marshmallow-only diet. A few chocolate-lovers drifted to the other side of the rug.

When Parsons asked which group was bigger, a member of Team Marshmallow confirmed the obvious: “This one,” he said brightly.

It was the first day of preschool at Denver’s Auraria Early Learning Center and part of the rolling launch of universal preschool in Colorado. The new $322 million program offers 10 to 30 hours a week of tuition-free preschool to 4-year-olds statewide and 10 hours to some 3-year-olds.

Up to 40,000 4-year-olds are expected to participate in the program this school year, double the enrollment of Colorado’s previous state-funded preschool program.

Many parents and early childhood advocates are excited about the state’s effort to help more families with preschool costs and prepare kids for kindergarten. At the same time, some aspects of universal preschool rollout have been rushed, confusing, and punctuated by eleventh hour changes.

Thousands of families who had expected the state to cover full-day preschool based on meeting certain criteria found out in late July the program would only pay for half-day classes. Most recently, school district officials sued over the program, claiming the state is harming students with disabilities and breaking funding promises to families and schools. Religious preschools also have sued, alleging that anti-discrimination requirements violate their religious beliefs.

But on Monday morning, the kids in Parsons’ classroom were unconcerned with legal questions and logistics. They were too busy with playground time, the “Would you rather?” game, and a story about a dinosaur named Penolope who ate her classmates.

The problems they did have were child-sized: A forgotten water bottle, outdoor playtime cut short by the melting heat, and a few pangs of homesickness that called for a break in the “cozy cove” — a large wooden hideaway stocked with a basket of toys.

A little girl in a pink and green sundress said her favorite part of preschool is “using scissors” — purple glittery scissors, to be exact.

A boy who proudly announced he’d just turned 4 in July, said he enjoys drawing — especially rainbows, like the one on his first-day-of-school shirt.

“I picked it out from Target,” he said of the green top.

Preschool students at Auraria Early Learning Center in Denver line up to go outside on their first day of school.

For her part, Auraria Early Learning Center Director Emily Nelson said she’s pleased with how universal preschool is shaping up. There have been challenges, but that’s true with any new system, she said.

“I feel good with where we’re at,” she said. “I feel like parents have the information they need.”

She’s heard some parents express relief that the state is helping defray tuition costs. Under universal preschool, the state covers the cost of 15 hours a week at the center, dropping monthly full-day tuition from $1,531 to $921. Some parents get additional assistance through campus scholarships or a taxpayer-funded tuition credit program called the Denver Preschool Program.

Like many providers across Colorado, Nelson had empty universal preschool seats on the first day of school — eight between her two 4-year-old classrooms. Statewide, about 56,000 4-year-old seats are available, well above the number that will be needed even if more families sign up in the coming months.

Nelson said having a few open seats is typical at this time of year, especially being on a college campus where classes are also just beginning. The center serves the children of students, faculty, and community members.

When the semester starts, parents think, ‘Oh child care, I need to figure that piece out,’” she said.

On Monday, the children at Auraria Early Learning Center had their own challenges to figure out. A ponytailed girl announced during storytime that she felt sad. Then she went into the cozy cove and emerged rejuvenated — ready to get back to her first day.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org

Colorado school district leaders sue state over free preschool program rollout

2023-08-17T19:05:37+00:00

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Six Colorado school districts and two statewide education groups sued the state Thursday, claiming Colorado’s universal preschool program is harming children with disabilities and breaking financial promises to families and school districts.

The Colorado Association of School Executives, the Consortium of Directors of Special Education, and six districts filed the lawsuit against Gov. Jared Polis, the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, and the Colorado Department of Education in Denver district court on Thursday. The districts include Brighton-based 27J, Cherry Creek, Harrison, Mapleton, Platte Valley, and Westminster.

The groups allege that children will miss out on vital special education services, full-day preschool classes, or any preschool at all because the state’s online matching system is rife with problems. In several of the plaintiff districts, the first day of preschool was this week, but lots of children were missing from class rosters.

The Colorado Department of Early Childhood is running the new preschool program, but the Department of Education is in charge of ensuring that preschoolers with disabilities are served according to special education laws. Launching universal preschool has been one of Polis’ signature priorities since he hit the campaign trail in 2018.

The lawsuit marks the latest and probably most significant bump in the rocky rollout of the preschool program, which offers 10 to 30 hours of tuition-free preschool a week to all 4-year-olds in Colorado and 10 hours to some 3-year-olds. Technology problems, poor communication, and last-minute changes have left many preschool providers and parents confused and frustrated in the run-up to the program’s launch this month.

The lawsuit touches on many of the same issues, with one of the school districts’ most pressing concerns being how the matching system functions — or doesn’t.

Mat Aubuchon, executive director of learning services for the Westminster district north of Denver, described a mother who showed up to preschool Thursday with a three- and a four-year-old — and the school had to turn away the three-year-old because they couldn’t verify the child was correctly placed.

These problems could have been avoided, superintendents said at a press conference, if district administrators had been included years earlier in the preschool planning process.

“I’m saddened that we’re here today,” said Cherry Creek Superintendent Christopher Smith. “All we’re asking is to be part of the solution.”

Thursday’s lawsuit is the third one the state has faced over universal preschool. In June, a Christian preschool in Chaffee County sued the Department of Early Childhood, alleging that a non-discrimination agreement the state requires from universal preschool providers would prevent it from operating in accordance with its religious beliefs. Two Catholic parishes that operate preschools filed a similar lawsuit on Wednesday.

But the school districts’ lawsuit touches more directly on one of universal preschool’s stated purposes: to help children who need it most get a strong foundation for school.

A spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood said the department would not comment on pending litigation.

In an emailed statement, Polis spokesman Conor Cahill lamented that the plaintiffs were distracting from the successes of universal preschool and pledged to defend the program “vigorously” in court.

“While it’s unfortunate to see different groups of adults attempting to co-opt preschool for themselves, perhaps because they want to not allow gay parents to send their kids to preschool, or they want to favor school district programs over community-based early childhood centers, the voters were clear on their support for parent choice and a universal, mixed delivery system that is independently run, that doesn’t discriminate against anyone and offers free preschool to every child no matter who their parents are,” Cahill said.

Jeremy Meyer, a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Education, said officials there are still reviewing the complaint.

“It is important to us to emphasize that CDE fundamentally values serving all students, and we are absolutely committed to ensuring preschool students with disabilities receive all the services they are entitled to under federal law to prepare them for success in school,” he said in an email.

A glitchy preschool algorithm creates district headaches

The state’s online preschool matching system — called BridgeCare — is at the center of the latest lawsuit. Starting last winter, preschools listed their offerings on the platform and families used it to apply for a spot. A computer algorithm then matched kids to seats.

But the system doesn’t always work. That’s led to long waits for parents on the state’s helpline, time-consuming manual fixes by regional groups tasked with helping run the new program, and preschool spots that go unfilled despite high local demand, according to the lawsuit.

In addition, district officials’ access to the platform is so limited they sometimes can’t properly place children with disabilities or even contact their families, according to the lawsuit. As a result, public schools can’t fulfill their legal obligation to such students and their parents, the plaintiffs said.

The lawsuit describes a last-minute effort in late July to give districts additional access to BridgeCare. In the Harrison district, it yielded days of fruitless back-and-forth between state and district staff about erroneous or missing sign-ups. Although district officials expected 124 students with disabilities to be matched with their classrooms, zero showed up on the list. State officials suggested the district “do some family outreach,” according to the lawsuit.

“We have failed students and we have failed their families,” Harrison Superintendent Wendy Birhanzel said during the press conference. “They will continue to lose instruction until changes are made.”

Bret Miles, executive director of the Colorado Association of School Executives, said part of the reason for problems with BridgeCare is that the state didn’t spend the money needed to get a system with more capabilities.

“They bought a cheaper version of it,” he said.

Bret Miles, executive director of the Colorado Association of School Executives, center, talks about his organization’s lawsuit at a press conference. He was joined by CASE Deputy Director Melissa Gibson, left, and CASE General Counsel Michelle Murphy, right.

Besides the matching system, the lawsuit alleges several instances in which state officials rolled back funding pledges, inappropriately diverted money for students with disabilities to the general education preschool fund, or are delaying payments.

The suit cites a promise by the state to pay for full-day preschool for students from low-income families, or who have one of four other risk factors. State officials announced in late July that only a fraction of those students — those from low-income families who also have a second risk factor — are eligible for tuition-free full-day classes.

The Westminster district north of Denver, where many students come from low-income families, will spend $2 million this year to ensure more than 170 4-year-olds whose families expected full-day classes will get them at no cost, according to the lawsuit. The Harrison district, which also has many students from low-income families, estimated it will have to spend several million dollars to cover full-day preschool for children the state now won’t cover.

The suit also claims the state reappropriated $38 million that was supposed to be used for preschoolers with disabilities into a pot of general education preschool dollars. In addition, it alleges the state plans to hold back some money until next June that districts need this year.

Scott Smith, Cherry Creek’s chief financial and operating officer, said when he and other district leaders raised concerns to state officials more than a year ago that there wouldn’t be enough money to fully fund the new preschool program, “We were continually disregarded.”

“That funding isn’t there and wasn’t there,” he said.

About 39,000 Colorado 4-year-olds have been matched with a preschool through the universal program so far. Most families were able to choose from a variety of preschool settings, including schools, child care centers, or state-licensed homes, but parents of students with disabilities were not. Such students — about 12% of the total — will generally be served in public schools, which have a legal responsibility to provide services spelled out in each child’s federally mandated special education plan.

The new $322 million preschool program is funded with proceeds from a voter-approved nicotine tax and dollars from the state’s previous, smaller preschool program, which was only for students from low-income families or who had other risk factors.

Through last school year, Colorado preschoolers who had diagnosed disabilities were served through the state’s “early childhood special education” program. School district teams placed the vast majority of those children in classrooms where at least half of students were typically developing kids.

This year, under the universal preschool program, integrating students with disabilities and their typical peers is still the goal, but the state’s electronic platform has taken over the role district officials used to play. That’s led to some children being matched to settings that don’t make sense or classrooms that don’t have the right balance of children, requiring convoluted change requests that have often further frustrated parents.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Fact-checking Gov. Polis’ statements on universal preschool and full-day classes

2023-08-16T00:14:45+00:00

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Thousands of Colorado families believed their 4-year-olds would get tuition-free full-day preschool through Colorado’s new universal preschool program. In July, they found out it wasn’t true.

The state didn’t have enough money for every child from a low-income family or with another risk factor to get full-day classes. Instead, only a fraction of them — those with low-income status and a second risk factor — would get the longer school day at no cost to their families. The rest had to come up with the extra tuition money themselves, drop down to a half-day program, or bow out altogether.

It was a blow to families, but also a blow to the $330 million universal preschool program that Gov. Jared Polis has made a signature priority of his tenure. For months, critics have charged that the program’s rollout has been rushed, messy, and confusing.

In a recent interview with 9News reporter Marshall Zelinger, Polis tried to explain why some children with risk factors wouldn’t get the 30 hours a week their families thought they were promised.

He provided a variety of answers: There’s not enough space. Families seeking full-day classes just want child care. Half-day preschool is better for kids.

So, what’s true?

Chalkbeat fact-checked some of the claims Polis made about universal preschool. Here’s what we found.

Is there enough space?

What Gov. Polis said: “There’s nothing even close to the space for full-day preschool.”

Fact check: This is partially true, but misleading. There are more than 24,000 full-day seats offered by Colorado’s universal preschool providers this year, according to April numbers from the state’s Department of Early Childhood. That’s more than enough for the more than 14,000 4-year-olds who have at least one risk factor and whose families were initially told their children would be eligible for tuition-free full-day classes.

The reason many of those 14,000 children are not being offered full-day preschool as their families expected is because the state doesn’t have enough money, not because it doesn’t have enough space. In some cases, full-day classes may be unavailable in a particular preschool or community, but on a statewide basis there are full-day seats available.

Polis is correct that there’s not enough physical space for full-day preschool for every 4-year-old who will participate in the universal program this year — more than 30,000 kids — but that was never the plan to begin with.

Child care vs. preschool

What Gov. Polis said: “Are you saying you want to pick your kid up at 2:30? Or five, right? If they say 2:30, then they’re in it for the full-day preschool because they value that academic experience. If they’re saying five, because I work and I can’t pick up my kid until five, they need a child care solution.”

Fact check: This is misleading. Polis’ comments suggest that parents wanted something out of universal preschool that wasn’t being offered, namely child care. But the state has long planned to offer full-day preschool hours to some families, clearly stating that in the application and other messaging. In some cases, the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, which is running the new program, even used the word “care” to describe the extra hours of preschool. (On Facebook, for example.)

Finally, giving children educationally enriching experiences and supervising them while parents work aren’t mutually exclusive. It’s also worth noting that preschool classrooms, like infant and toddler classrooms, are governed by state child care rules — so in that sense, preschool is child care.

Is half-day preschool best?

What Gov. Polis said: “This is a half-day universal preschool program. That’s what the voters approved. It’s also developmentally appropriate. Kids benefit the most in that 15-to-20-hour range.”

Fact check: Not necessarily. A 2019 experimental study of preschoolers in the Westminster district north of Denver found that full-day students outperformed half-day students in early literacy, math, physical, and socioemotional development. Full-day students attended for 30 hours a week and half-day students attended for 12 hours a week.

The study was particularly notable because it used gold-standard methodology, with students randomly assigned to full-day or half-day classes. The authors, including Allison Atteberry, who was then at the University of Colorado Boulder, concluded that the study provided compelling evidence “that a full-day, full-week preschool supports young children’s development, at least among a sample of primarily low-income, Latinx children.”

Is universal preschool high-quality?

What Gov. Polis said: “We are funding high-quality preschool.”

Fact check: This is not true. While many participating preschools may offer high-caliber programming, state officials are not requiring providers to meet any particular quality standards during the program’s first year. All providers must meet basic health and safety standards, but those have long been necessary to get a state child care license. The state told providers in April to “keep doing what you’re doing,” and said rules on quality will be added for the 2024-25 school year.

Experts say preschool can produce short- and long-term benefits for kids, but only if it’s high quality. Class-size limits, staff credentials, teacher training requirements, and curriculum choice are often among the criteria used to measure preschool quality.

The universal preschool program has already backed away from class-size rules used in Colorado’s previous targeted preschool program, which was for students with risk factors. The targeted program, which ended in June, capped class sizes at 16 children, while the universal preschool program will allow classes of up to 24.

Elementary students get the same hours. Should preschoolers?

What Gov. Polis said: “I view preschool much like I view first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade. We don’t give more fourth grade hours to low-income families.”

Fact check: This is misleading. It may be true that fourth graders from low-income households don’t get extra hours of school, but they already get six or seven hours of class a day.

Since the inception of Colorado’s universal preschool program, state leaders have talked about giving students with the highest needs more preschool to help them get ready for kindergarten. The 2022 law creating universal preschool says to ensure equity, the state “must” invest in extra preschool for children in low-income families. As details of the new program unfolded last year, state officials spelled out what that additional programming would entail: 15 extra hours a week, for a total of 30.

Colorado has long made a point to provide extra help to children who face barriers to educational success — providing extra funding to their schools or direct support to their families. In fact, until the universal preschool program launched this month, Colorado’s publicly funded preschool program targeted only students from low-income families or who had other risk factors. In short, the state recognizes that some kids need more help than others and routinely crafts policy based on that distinction.

Letter informing parents their children won’t get tuition-free full-day preschool

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado backtracks on full-time preschool for 11,000 kids with risk factors

2023-08-02T23:12:28+00:00

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Nikki Spasova expected her 4-year-old son to get free full-day classes through the state’s new universal preschool program since he’s still learning English.

But just two weeks before Kristian was set to start preschool, Spasova learned that wasn’t the case. Instead, the state program will cover just 15 hours of preschool, the same hours offered to Colorado children who don’t face barriers to success in school.

Colorado’s universal preschool plan called for children like Kristian to get up to 30 hours a week at no cost to their families, provided there was enough money. It turns out there isn’t.

In the final weeks before school starts, that shortfall triggered a provision in state law that tightened eligibility requirements so that only children who are low-income and have a second risk factor will receive full-day classes.

Instead of half of 4-year-olds being offered free full-time preschool, just 13% will.

Some of the affected children are learning English, like Kristian. Many more are from low-income families — and money for additional child care subsidies is limited, too. Meanwhile, the state is sticking to its plan to offer 15 tuition-free hours to all 4-year-olds, even those from well-to-do families — more hours than required by state law.

“To cut back on the ones who really need it does not feel fair,” said Jean Doolittle, the owner of Southglenn Montessori Preschool in Centennial where Kristian is enrolled. “Instead of taking a little bit from everybody, they took a lot from those who need it most.”

The decision illustrates the trade-off Colorado leaders made in designing the new preschool program, which launches this month. Many early childhood advocates cheered Colorado’s move from a preschool program that targets certain kids to one that’s open to all 4-year-olds, but as the program rolls out, some providers are concerned the universal model shortchanges children facing the toughest odds.

Four-year-old Kristian, whose native language is Bulgarian, is among nearly 11,000 Colorado children who won’t be offered tuition-free full-day preschool this fall. The news has left families and providers scrambling with only days or weeks before school starts.

At least one district — Aurora Public Schools — has decided to cover the cost of full-day preschool for families the state rejected for the extra help.

But many families will either have to come up with the extra tuition money, switch their child to a half-day program, or bow out altogether.

For Kristian’s parents, the last-minute switch means they’ll have to pay $428 a month more than they’d planned.

“We can barely make it,” said Spasova.

Preschool funding gets spread more thinly

When state officials asked voters in 2020 to approve a nicotine tax to help pay for universal preschool, they promised 10 tuition-free hours a week to any Colorado 4-year-old whose family wanted it. Last fall, they decided to offer 15. At the same time, state officials planned to provide 30 hours a week to children with the highest needs — those from low-income families, with limited English skills, with a special education plan, are homeless, or are in foster care.

The state’s online application told parents that extra hours for students with any one of the five risk factors “will be added” after their application is reviewed,

But when demand for the new program exploded, there wasn’t enough money for everything.

Dawn Odean, Colorado’s universal preschool director, said Colorado’s 2022 preschool law dictated which groups would get prioritized for preschool funding and didn’t guarantee that students with risk factors would get extra hours.

State officials expected about half of Colorado 4-year-olds — around 30,000 — to participate this year, but is on track to exceed that.

Conor Cahill, a spokesperson for Gov. Jared Polis, said in an email Wednesday that sign-ups have hit 36,000.

That’s a number legislative staff worried about as far back as February, estimating it would cost $30 million more than the $322 million budgeted for universal preschool to serve all those additional children, according to a budget memo. To avoid too many signups in the first year, they recommended no extra funding for marketing universal preschool. The governor’s office used its own funds to pay for marketing and now touts that the state has surpassed its goals for enrollment in the first year.

Additionally, Cahill said the governor wants to offer 18 hours of preschool a week to all 4-year-olds by the end of his second term in 2026.

Odean, when asked how she would respond to families whose children have risk factors and who feel misled, said “that’s a hard one” and that the department is always looking at how they can give families more clarity.

“Are we getting to our most vulnerable?” she said. “I don’t think we know that at this point, but there is definitely all eyes on that consideration.”

In the Aurora district, officials expected about 1,200 universal preschool students to qualify for full-day funding because they have a risk factor, but only around 300 met the new criteria. Cynthia Cobb, Aurora’s early childhood education director, said the district will cover the cost of full-day classes for families the state rejected for extra hours.

“I’m grateful that the district has made the commitment that at this point we’re not changing any of their programming.”

Like other providers, she said the state application wasn’t clear. Since it indicated that families would get extra preschool hours if they had one risk factor, some families simply checked a single box even if they had multiple risk factors.

“So they may have said we speak another language at home and I’m done, I’ve got my risk factor,” said Cobb.

A pandemic baby faces language struggles

When the pandemic hit, Kristian had just turned one. He ended up spending lots of time with his parents on empty playgrounds or family hikes, but little time with people who might have exposed him to conversational English, Spasova said.

When he started at Doolittle’s home-based child care program a couple years ago, he knew two English words: “OK” and “hi.” Although he was shy, he started making big strides with English after about six months.

But his English still needs work and Spasova said she doesn’t feel confident enough to do it on her own.

“His head is jumbled. He will speak half a sentence in English and half a sentence in Bulgarian,” Spasova said. “It’s imperative for him to go to preschool so he can go to kindergarten next year and he will actually know some English.”

Kristian’s first day of universal preschool at Doolittle’s home was Monday. He’s among five children there who are participating in the state-funded program this year and one of two with a state-recognized risk factor.

Doolittle said the other family whose child has a risk factor opted for half-day preschool, but not Kristian’s family.

“That language obstacle is still humongous,” she said. “Him being here more hours is a huge benefit to him.”

Low-income families could lose out

Most of the 4-year-olds who have a single risk factor — and won’t qualify for 30 free hours of preschool a week — come from families considered low-income.

Michelle Dalbotten, who heads Step by Step, a Northglenn child care center, said some of her families fall into that category and recently found out their kids will only get 15 tuition-free hours a week.

“That’s where they may feel duped,” she said.

Under the universal preschool program, families qualify as low-income if they make less than 270% of the federal poverty level — about $81,000 for a family of four. That threshold means there’s nothing distinguishing very low-income families from families on the cusp of middle income.

Odean, from the Department of Early Childhood, said officials first need to see which preschoolers show up this fall, and then can use that data to make tweaks for next year.

She said the state officials could consider lowering the income threshold or establishing multiple tiers within the low-income category.

Melissa Mares, director of early childhood initiatives for the Colorado Children’s Campaign, said she’s hopeful that low-income families who aren’t offered full-day preschool through the universal program, may be able to use state child care subsidies or other funding sources to get the extra hours they need.

The subsidy application is separate from the universal preschool application this year, but the state plans to combine them in the future, she noted.

“What we’re hearing from families is they want it to be easy,” she said.

But Heather O’Hayre, Larimer County’s director of human services, worries that the subsidy program can’t compensate for the shortfall in the universal preschool budget — especially once federal COVID stimulus money runs out in 2024.

Already, there’s only enough money to provide child care subsidies to about 10% of eligible children, she said.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Letter informing parents their children won’t get tuition-free full-day preschool

Colorado offers free community college for prospective early childhood teachers

2023-07-18T20:40:56+00:00

Colorado residents interested in early childhood and five other high-demand careers can get training for free starting this fall at more than a dozen community colleges around the state.

It’s part of a new $40 million state program called Career Advance Colorado that’s intended to mint thousands of workers in shortage areas. Besides early childhood education, the program will cover tuition, course materials, and fees for up to two years of training for students studying education, construction, law enforcement, nursing, and fire and forestry.

“All these fields are in need of great folks to fill jobs that are open today and that are critical for our state’s success,” said Gov. Jared Polis in a recorded announcement about Career Advance.

The program is open to new students and those currently enrolled in one of the six target areas. For those already enrolled, the state will pay for their remaining coursework.

The offer of free training for prospective early childhood employees comes amid an ongoing shortage of child care and preschool teachers that’s led to shuttered classrooms at some centers. The need for qualified staff has become even more pressing as Colorado prepares to launch a major expansion of tuition-free preschool in August. More than 31,000 4-year-olds are expected to participate.

Career Advance is the latest effort by state policymakers to beef up the anemic pipeline of early childhood teachers. In recent years, the state used COVID stimulus money to pay for two introductory early childhood classes for hundreds of college students. It also offered scholarship and apprenticeship programs for students seeking early childhood credentials.

In Colorado, where the median preschool teacher wage is around $15.25 an hour, it’s hard to make a living in the early childhood field. The cost of college classes or student loan debt makes the barrier to entry even higher.

State officials and advocates recently have taken tentative steps towards addressing the field’s abysmal pay. As part of an effort to pay preschool teachers a living wage, the state pays a higher per-student rate in the new universal preschool program than it pays public schools for each K-12 student. In addition, the state recently unveiled a report recommending a series of statewide early childhood salary scales that would significantly boost pay. For example, the suggested rate would be at least $22 an hour for early childhood teachers in metro Denver and some mountain communities. The salary scales are not binding for preschool and child care providers, but show what workers in different regions would need to earn to make a living wage.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado’s free preschool program has 19,000 families signed up with at least 15,000 more expected

2023-05-16T21:09:12+00:00

Nearly 19,000 Colorado families have accepted their children’s preschool matches for next fall when the state’s new universal preschool program launches.

It’s the latest milestone in the sometimes chaotic journey toward one of Gov. Jared Polis’ signature priorities: tuition-free preschool for any 4-year-old whose family wants it. State officials expect more than 30,000 4-year-olds, which represents about half of Colorado kids that age, to participate in the program next year.

The state’s universal preschool program will be funded in part with a voter-approved nicotine tax and offered in school district classrooms, private child care centers, church-based preschools, and homes licensed by the state. Children will get 10 to 30 hours a week of tuition-free class time, depending on what schedules are available in their area and whether they come from lower-income families or have other risk factors.

The 19,000 families that have accepted their preschool matches so far all applied for a universal preschool seat in the first round, which closed at the end of February. The second application window closes Wednesday at 5 p.m. It’s open to families who have not yet applied for universal preschool, families who applied in the first round but didn’t get matched with a provider, and families who declined their first round preschool match.

More Colorado preschools have opted to participate in the universal program since the first application window closed, so there may be choices available now that weren’t available in January and February.

Families who apply by Wednesday will learn their preschool matches on June 1 and must accept or decline them by June 8. Once families accept their matches, they fill out the standard enrollment paperwork required by their preschool. State officials expect 4-year-olds from about 15,000 additional families to be matched with preschools in the second round.

After the second round closes, families can still apply for a universal preschool seat on a rolling basis.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org

Are there enough free preschool seats for Colorado 4-year-olds? It depends.

2023-04-26T11:00:00+00:00

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering schools in communities across America. Sign up for our free monthly newsletter The Starting Line to keep up with news about early childhood education.

Since Colorado leaders began planning a major expansion of state-funded preschool more than two years ago, parents and advocates have wondered: Will there be enough seats for everybody who wants one?

The answer: It depends.

On paper, there are plenty of seats. State officials expect only about half of Colorado’s 4-year-olds — around 31,000 children — to participate in the first year. Meanwhile, a Chalkbeat analysis found more than 56,000 preschool seats available for next fall.

“Right now, it’s looking really good,” said Dawn Odean, the state’s universal preschool director.

But things get stickier at the county level. Some parts of the state are awash in preschool seats and others don’t have nearly enough. Some families may also struggle to find preschools with the schedules and programming they want.

“The physical number of slots versus what parents actually need doesn’t necessarily align,” said Kelly Esch, who’s both the parent of a preschooler and executive director of an organization that provides early childhood coaching and resources in western Colorado’s Garfield County.

While Chalkbeat’s county-by-county analysis provides a snapshot of preschool availability across Colorado, there are plenty of factors it doesn’t account for — families who cross county lines for preschool or the uneven distribution of seats within counties. Plus, it’s possible more providers will join soon, adding new seats to the tally.

Odean said state officials plan to dig deeper into the data for trouble spots once parents select preschools for the coming year. Families of about 26,000 4-year-olds who applied for seats by the end of February will find out Wednesday what preschools they matched with and will have two weeks to accept or decline the offers. (Families can continue to apply through the summer and fall.)

The new preschool program will offer 10 to 15 hours a week of tuition-free preschool to 4-year-olds statewide, 30 hours a week to 4-year-olds who come from lower-income families or meet other criteria, and 10 hours a week to some 3-year-olds. The program is funded in part with a voter-approved nicotine tax and will be offered in school district classrooms, private child care centers, church-based preschools, and homes licensed by the state.

Esch, who lives in the small town of Newcastle, is pretty sure her son Oliver will land a universal preschool seat in the home of the beloved child care provider he’s been with since he was 10 weeks old. Not only does she offer hard-to-find all-day and summertime care, the provider runs a top-notch program, Esch said, and for a while even adjusted Oliver’s nap schedule so she could work with him one-on-one to overcome a speech delay.

Although Oliver should get priority for one of the provider’s two universal preschool spots, Esch still feels uncertain about how things will play out under the state’s new system.

“Are we in? Did it work?” she wondered as she awaited the official notification email.

Preschools have big decisions to make

While around 1,700 preschools have signed up to offer universal preschool classes next fall, the exact number of seats is still in flux at many programs. In some cases, that’s because of unfolding expansion projects or difficulty finding teachers to staff classrooms. In others, preschool providers are still considering whether to offer full-time or part-time slots or are uncertain about whether they can release unfilled seats reserved for students with disabilities or children of employees to the general public.

At Springfield Preschool, a highly rated school district program in southern Colorado, leaders haven’t yet decided how many hours a week to offer 4-year-olds next year.

Director Debbie Sharpe said the preschool will probably have enough spots for all interested families if it continues with half-day classes. But she knows Baca County is a child care desert and that full-day preschool would be a godsend to many locals. District officials will decide which schedule to offer in the next few weeks.

If the preschool moves to full-day, there won’t be enough seats for every child, Sharpe said. “Space is going to be a problem.”

Stacy Petty, who heads the group coordinating universal preschool in Garfield, Pitkin, and Lake counties, and part of Eagle County, expects shortages too.

“We didn’t have enough seats to support everyone in our region before [universal preschool].” she said. “We do have some expansion going on, which is going to help, but we still know we don’t have enough seats for everybody.”

Petty said based on preliminary interest, she expects 80% of eligible families in the area to seek a universal preschool seat — well above the 50% uptake Colorado leaders anticipate statewide.

In the Garfield RE-2 school district, based in Rifle, preschool expansion projects are underway at two elementary schools. Together, they’ll add around 80 new preschool seats, some by August and the rest by January.

Emily Kielmeyer, the district’s early childhood coach and coordinator, said she’s hopeful the expansion, which will bring the total number of preschool seats to 300, will be enough to accommodate every family that wants a spot.

“We knew the time was right with universal preschool coming,” she said of the expansion.

District officials say there’s been lots of residential growth in the area — people who left cities in search of smaller communities and outdoor space during the pandemic or who’ve gradually been priced out of “up-valley” housing in cities like Aspen.

“We have housing starts through the roof out here,” said district spokesperson Theresa Hamilton.

Thousands of families may still apply

It’s likely most families who want a universal preschool spot next year have already applied, but providers and advocates say they’re still fielding questions from families who are confused about the process.

Kelli Gabehart, the preschool director for the Elbert County school district southeast of Denver, discovered some parents haven’t applied because they erroneously believed universal preschool provides only 15 tuition-free hours a month. (It’s actually 15 hours a week.)

They’d say, “Oh, it’s not even worth applying for,” she said.

Some providers say they’ve provided computers and on-the-spot help for parents filling out the universal preschool application after finding that some longtime clients hadn’t signed up.

That’s the case at Family Star Montessori, which will offer a total of 36 universal preschool slots at its two Denver locations next year. Most are reserved for children from low-income families, but private pay families can enroll too.

Julia McConnaughey, the program’s senior director of community partnerships, said Family Star still has a few open spots for next year, and had even more earlier in the application process.

“I don’t think there was enough outreach to the public without schools doing the heavy lifting,” she said. “We had to personally ask every parent, ‘Hey did you apply? Did you choose Family Star as your first choice?’”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org

No new quality rules for first year of Colorado’s free preschool program

2023-04-07T21:06:34+00:00

Colorado won’t require preschools to make quality improvements during the first year of the state’s new universal preschool program, which launches in August.

State officials have consistently pledged that the new program will provide high-quality preschool, which experts say can produce short- and long-term benefits for kids. But they announced this week what they called “keep doing what you’re doing” guidance. That means preschool providers can continue with their current practices and policies.

The decision to hold off on mandating new preschool quality standards is more evidence of Colorado’s rush to roll out the major new program on an extremely tight timeline — an issue that providers and advocates have raised repeatedly in the last year.

The universal program will offer 10-30 hours a week of tuition-free preschool to 4-year-olds statewide and 10 hours a week to some 3-year-olds. It’s funded in part with a voter-approved nicotine tax.

Dawn Odean, the state’s universal preschool director, said in a statement Thursday the new guidance was created to alleviate provider concerns about “the unknown” and allow them to prepare for the program launch.

The state’s decision means that next fall, more than 30,000 Colorado children who’ve signed up for universal preschool will attend preschools that vary widely in quality. Some will attend programs with the state’s top Level 5 rating, which indicates excellence in several categories. Others will go to preschools with the lowest Level 1 rating, which indicates the program is licensed by the state and meets basic health and safety standards.

There are various ways to measure preschool quality, but class size caps, staff credentials, teacher training requirements, and curriculum choice may be among the criteria. The National Institute of Early Education Research at Rutgers University rates states using 10 benchmarks of preschool quality. Colorado’s existing state-funded preschool program, which serves about 15,000 4-year-olds, only meets four of the benchmarks.

Colorado is allowing some providers to have 24 students per class this fall, higher than the 16-student maximum the current state preschool program allows and the 20-student maximum the institute’s benchmark recommends.

Leaders from the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, which is running the universal preschool program, said they’ll adopt quality standards in the fall that will take effect in the summer of 2024.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Is Colorado ready to serve English learners under new universal preschool?

2023-04-05T22:39:35+00:00

Every morning, students in the Early Excellence Program in north Denver start their day with a song in Spanish and English. Story time and reading circles also happen in the two languages. Kids are encouraged, but never forced, to speak both.

These are some of the ways teachers at this highly-rated preschool try to give students a strong foundation in their home language as they prepare for school — something researchers agree is helpful for young bilingual learners.

As the state prepares to roll out universal preschool, a new taxpayer-funded program starting in the next school year that offers preschool hours for free to all 4-year-olds and some younger children, officials have given priority to children who don’t speak English at home. The state will offer those children more hours of tuition-free preschool and is promising — for the first time — that programs will need to use teaching strategies proven to help multilingual learners.

But with the launch just months away, big questions still remain about whether enough is being done to get the word out, what programming will look like, and what help providers will get to improve their offerings.

Early Excellence leader Jennifer Rodriguez-Luke says the families she works with are confused about how to apply or if they qualify. She has assigned a staff member to help them through the process, but has had limited success in getting new applicants.

So far, the only preschoolers that appear will match to her program are the ones it already serves, who they have helped walk through the application.

“For a level 5 in the heart of Denver, we were hoping to at least have 10 new students,” Rodriguez-Luke said.

She’s worried it means vulnerable families across Colorado may not be applying for universal pre-K — and may miss out on learning that has been shown to set children on the path to educational success.

Under Colorado law, 4-year-olds identified as English learners are eligible for additional hours of preschool. The additional hours — 30 instead of 15 — are dependent on state funding. The state first has to make sure it can cover the cost of some preschool for all 4-year-olds who apply. Three-year-old multilingual learners can qualify for 10 hours per week of free preschool.

English language learners are among the children who could most benefit from preschool, which is one of the reasons these students are eligible for more preschool hours.

But in the current school year, only 29 preschool students statewide are currently identified as English language learners, according to data provided by the Colorado Department of Education.

Although it’s unclear what the new system will look like this fall, creating a process to identify multilingual learners and establishing standards for how they are taught will be a benefit for students, even if it’s still a work in progress, researchers say.

“You’re trying to create a system that I don’t even know is there,” said Guadalupe Díaz Lara, assistant professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Studies at California State University. “If we’re thinking of these investments, why don’t we do it in the way that’s the most high quality for kids?”

Number of families with multilingual learners applying is still unclear

Colorado leaders have rushed to set up new universal pre-K, which will replace a smaller state-funded preschool program for children from low-income families or who have other risk factors.

But even as applications opened in January, critical parts of the program are still not in place.

The law that created universal preschool also directs the new state department to establish quality standards that participating preschool providers will have to meet. Those will include standards on identifying, testing, and serving students who are dual language learners. But those standards haven’t been created yet.

Previously, under various state and federal programs for preschool age children, providers followed different rules for educating the youngest English learner students. Preschool, unlike K-12, has had no consistent requirements for identifying children in need of language support and no standards for how they should be taught.

The state’s new department overseeing the rollout of universal preschool has not been able to provide numbers on how many children so far enrolled for the fall checked the box indicating limited English proficiency. Officials say they are asking each provider to speak to families to verify that parents correctly checked those boxes.

A different way to screen students may be required eventually. It’s one of the requirements the law lays out for universal preschool.

When families, including those who indicate their child has limited proficiency in English, apply for universal free preschool, they can search providers and list their top choices. They can also search providers and learn which have bilingual staff or programs. The online application is available in three languages: English, Spanish, and Arabic.

The matching process will prioritize a family’s preference, regardless of whether that program has bilingual staff or programs. That means providers who have not previously been expecting to serve this population of children could end up with students enrolled identified as English learners. Depending on what standards are created, they may have further to go to meet the children’s needs.

State leaders say preschool providers will not be allowed to deny a child a spot because of language proficiency, but recognize that some won’t be prepared right away.

While much of the system is still being created, the infrastructure for English language learner students is furthest behind because research, standards, and practices have previously been limited.

Dawn Odean, the state’s universal pre-K director, said the state creating a system from nearly nothing represents opportunity.

“We do have a unique opportunity here to make more significant gains in the multilingual environment,” Odean said. She wants the department to help providers, she said, and won’t penalize them for not immediately meeting the standards.

“We can make it an act of compliance but that’s not what’s going to serve students well,” Odean said.

Instead, Odean said, the department will focus on helping all providers improve.

Families face confusion about their eligibility

Ana Paola Burrola Bustillos has two kids in Jeffco, including a 4-year-old enrolled in preschool at Foster Dual Language PK-8. She said she didn’t know the state was rolling out free universal preschool, and thinks it’s a good thing even though her daughter, who is moving on to kindergarten this fall, won’t benefit.

Burrola Bustillos said she likes Foster for her children because she believes they’ll benefit from being bilingual.

“I feel that if they can learn in both languages they’ll be better off when they’re older, in everything, in communicating with other people, in their jobs, in everyday life,” Burrola Bustillos said.

Patricia Lepiani, president of The Idea Marketing, said her group was contracted in January to market universal preschool, just days before the application opened.

Lepiani said that 25% of the $527,000 marketing budget is dedicated to reaching non-English speaking families — a larger percent than most projects would allocate, she said. In Colorado, Lepiani estimates, 21% of the state population speaks Spanish, though not all are monolingual.

The fastest thing to set up, she said, were social media ads, and later some banners that were set up at local dentist offices and shops such as the Carniceria/Mercado Los Dos Toros in Denver, the Panaderia Contreras in Denver, and Ay Wey Snack in Aurora.

The large banners say “Medio día de preescolar gratis para todos los niños de Colorado” — “Free half-day preschool for all Colorado kids” — and include a QR code and a link to the state’s preschool homepage. A smaller Spanish-language poster notes that kids who start kindergarten unprepared tend to stay behind and urges parents to “make sure your kids are ready.”

A large banner on the side of an ice cream counter at Neveria la Unica in Aurora promotes universal preschool.

The budget wasn’t enough to cover any radio or television ads, Lepiani said.

The larger campaign Idea Marketing has planned includes having community navigators and ambassadors trained to help get the word out and help families fill out the application. That part of the work launched mid-March. Among the organizations they’re partnering with are Latinos Unidos of Greeley, The Rocky Mountain Welcome Center, and Padres Adelante Family Services.

The focus is also on educating families on the importance of preschool.

“We have been doing everything we can as fast as we can, in the smallest amount of time,” Lepiani said. “The deployment of boots on the ground across the state takes a bit more time.”

Part of the work needs to be reaching out to community leaders to get the message to families about why preschool is important and about how their children can be supported, Díaz Lara said.

In California, many of the families Díaz Lara works with mistakenly think that putting their children into bilingual programs might confuse them and lead to developmental delays. But home language support can benefit students, she said, and preschool staff just need to know how to support that development.

At Early Excellence, where a staff member helps walk families through the application, some families think they won’t qualify because they think they make too much money or are already bilingual and don’t consider their children to have limited English proficiency. Some who are undocumented or have mixed immigration status are unsure if they are allowed to apply.

“It’s already scary to get on a website and give so much information,” Rodriguez-Luke said. “We just don’t want them to get lost in the system.”

So now, Rodriguez-Luke is working on also translating the school website into Spanish, hoping to put out more information, and offering an open invitation to help walk families though the application for free preschool.

From left, Ava Gabriella Garcia Seleey, 5, and Andrea Gonzalez Robles, 5, are learning names of architecture materials from teacher Rosario Ortiz at Early Excellence Program of Denver.

Researchers say teacher preparation will be key

More studies are necessary to identify the best strategies to teach multilingual preschool students, researchers say, but some things are clear.

“Being bilingual is not enough,” said Cristina Gillanders, associate professor in early childhood education at the University of Colorado Denver. “You have to have the preparation to teach these children. You have to understand bilingualism and how bilingual children learn languages.”

Some preschool providers that serve children who don’t speak English do focus primarily on having bilingual staff to help.

Joe Ziegler, education director at The Family Center/La Familia in Fort Collins, which serves a primarily Spanish-speaking population, said his program for children from six weeks old up to age 5, isn’t officially bilingual based on his curriculum, but he’s focused on hiring diverse and bilingual staff. About 50% to 70% of the young students start off only understanding Spanish.

When the program first started, he said, the school often had to rely on older siblings to help staff communicate with families. They’ve since been able to move away from that by hiring more bilingual staff, and now the focus is on making sure all staff understand inclusive best practices.

“We’re more intentional now,” Ziegler said. “There’s more of an emphasis now on understanding what a family and a child’s experience is.”

In Aurora Public Schools, preschools have long been using a test to identify how students progress in their acquisition of the English language. The district says 54% of the district’s 2,100 preschool students are English language learners.

Researchers say traditional tests used with older students are difficult to administer to 3- and 4-year-olds who may not be able to sit still long enough, use a computer, or hold a pencil.

Cynthia Cobb, the early childhood education director for the Aurora district, said the test teachers use in Aurora preschools aren’t sit-down tests. Teachers observe students in the classroom to track progress in many areas, including language skills.

“Young children are usually terrible test-takers. Their development is fluctuating all the time,” said researcher Gillanders. “In order to have a much more complete picture of the child’s development, you have to be with them for a longer period of time.”

That’s why teacher training to understand what they’re seeing in children is key.

Cobb said the Aurora district strongly believes that being able to identify and support students is a benefit. And, she said, students are more likely to eventually be proficient in English when they begin education in preschool.

While there may be changes preschool providers need to make, Cobb said it should all be for the best.

“It’s a learning process,” she said.

Ziegler knows the standards the state is likely to create for educating students like his will probably include additional training for staff, which he knows can be a good thing, but he said that accessing additional training for his staff has been a challenge.

He has partnered with the local school district to do some professional development for his teachers around supporting students who might not yet understand English. But when teachers seek out additional classes themselves, many are only offered in Denver, about a 90-minute drive away.

Other staff, who primarily speak Spanish, struggle to find classes offered in Spanish. Ziegler said his center is working with a community college to try to develop some classes for staff that can be offered in Spanish.

“In our community, I don’t really see those resources,” Ziegler said, who believes a universal pre-K program will eventually be beneficial. “But right now, it’s very stressful. We’re building the plane as we go.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

First lady Jill Biden visits Colorado, calls the state a model for workforce training

2023-04-03T21:02:13+00:00

First lady Jill Biden praised Colorado lawmakers for working across party lines to become a model in providing residents options to get workforce training in a visit Monday to the state’s Capitol.

Biden visited Colorado as part of a national tour to highlight President Joe Biden’s investments and commitment to workforce training and how states have used federal money to prop up programs to help Americans.

First lady Biden, a community college educator, focused mostly on Colorado’s community college programs during her talk with lawmakers at the Capitol. Over the last several years, the state has created programs to get more students to attend college and provide free training for in-demand fields. Biden said the state has become an example for others.

In recent years, Colorado leaders have focused more on educating and training residents, especially because it has relied heavily on bringing in educated workers from other states.

“I ask you to keep going,” she said. “Keep innovating.”

President Biden has made connecting workers to jobs a key part of his presidential agenda and has focused on investments that include pandemic relief money to develop job training in states. The administration has said its goal is to create more good-paying jobs for Americans.

Jill Biden also touted spending in the president’s 2024 federal budget proposal to improve workforce training.

Colorado has used federal money to create several programs in the last year that help residents connect to job training, especially with two job openings for every employee. Gov. Jared Polis has highlighted the need to get residents the skills they need to land jobs.

For example, she highlighted the $26 million in federal relief money Colorado is using to get students free training in health care fields.

The state plans to also expand the program primarily at community colleges over the next two years. A bipartisan bill backed by Polis would spend $40 million over two years to provide free workforce training for other in-demand jobs such as manufacturing, law enforcement, and teaching. Another bill would provide about 15,000 high school students from the Class of 2024 with a $1,500 scholarship to use toward approved training.

The state also put together a committee to focus on how to improve Coloradans’ access to jobs. One of the recommendations, called the Opportunity Now Grants program, provides $85 million to create or expand ideas that bring together industry and schools to create opportunity for students.

First lady Biden also highlighted that universal preschool is a major part of the birth-to-career pipeline that the Biden administration has pushed.

Colorado is set to start its universal preschool program this summer. Colorado also has supported apprenticeship programs, and offers high school students the ability to graduate with a college certificate or degree.

Biden said Colorado has shown there are people on both sides of the aisle who want to help employers find the workers they need.

“There aren’t red ideas or blue ideas,” she said. “They’re American ideas. And you all have been investing in these programs for years.”

State Sen. Jeff Bridges, a Greenwood Village Democrat, said Biden’s visit validates Colorado’s efforts to provide opportunities to more students in the state. He said the state has tried to innovate to get more residents the training they need. He hopes more states look at what Colorado is trying to do.

“It was time that we solved this problem in new and innovative ways,” Bridges said, “and that’s what we’re doing.”

Jason Gonzales is a reporter covering higher education and the Colorado legislature. Chalkbeat Colorado partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage. Contact Jason at jgonzales@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado delays free preschool program matching date to April 26

2023-03-29T03:04:31+00:00

It will be another month before Colorado families know where they can send their children for preschool under the state’s new universal preschool program.

Families were supposed to learn which programs they had matched with on Thursday. But on Tuesday, officials with Colorado’s Department of Early Childhood announced they plan to tell families on April 26.

As reported by Chalkbeat, more than 20 education and early childhood groups had asked the state to push back initial matches due to problems with the algorithm that meant some families might miss out on top choices and other families might be offered seats that didn’t meet their needs. They feared the program was being rushed, and families would end up frustrated.

State officials held firm to the initial March 30 matching date until just two days prior. Denver Public Schools even sent an email to parents Tuesday afternoon telling families to watch their texts and emails for state notifications this Thursday.

Tuesday evening, state officials said in a press release that to “maximize the likelihood of families receiving their first or second choice, allow for additional time that will enable providers to fully consider their capabilities to expand their offerings in the coming school year, and give families the opportunity to fine-tune their preferences, the department is extending the release of the first round of matching until April 26, 2023.”

More than 29,000 families have signed up for a free 4-year-old preschool spot, and more than 1,800 providers are participating, according to the Department of Early Childhood.

The initial enrollment period closed Feb. 24, but families can still apply.

The program, a major policy initiative of Gov. Jared Polis, will offer 10 to 15 hours a week of tuition-free preschool to every 4-year-old in the year before they enter kindergarten. Some children, including those from low-income households, those who are learning English, and those with disabilities, are eligible for 30 hours a week. Some 3-year-olds are also eligible for 10 hours a week of free preschool.

The program is funded in large part by a voter-approved nicotine tax.

Providers and school district officials identified a number of problems with the March 30 match date. Some providers struggled to reach families with incomplete applications, worrying they might lose out on priority points that would increase access to their top choice. Families who got priority at one program were given the same boost for all their choices, potentially displacing other families. State officials said that happened because they did not pay for a more sophisticated algorithm that could have better ranked preferences.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Free preschool program’s matching system not ready for prime time, Colorado education groups worry

2023-03-24T22:15:20+00:00

On March 30, about 26,000 Colorado families are scheduled to find out what preschool their children can enroll in next fall as part of the state’s new universal preschool program.

But more than 20 education and early childhood groups have unsuccessfully sought to delay those notifications because they see too many problems. An inadequate computer algorithm and confusion about the process mean some families might lose out on top choices and others might be offered seats that don’t meet their needs. It’s also not clear Colorado will have enough money to offer all the hours many families believe are guaranteed.

The groups spelled out their concerns in two letters sent last week to the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, the new state agency in charge of the universal preschool program. Echoing critiques that have bubbled up consistently over several months, they said the rushed rollout has left too many unanswered questions and could tarnish public perception of the program during its first year.

“It’s our first time. Let’s do this right,” said Diane Smith, executive director of the Douglas County Early Childhood Council, which was one of 16 groups to sign one of the letters.

The other letter, which raised similar issues, came from five groups, including the Colorado Association of School Executives, the Colorado Association of School Boards and the Colorado Rural Schools Alliance. Chalkbeat obtained copies of the letters through a public records request.

Lisa Roy, executive director of the Department of Early Childhood, said state officials are working with the groups that signed the letters to address their concerns, but aren’t planning to change the March 30 notification date because it would push other key deadlines back.

She said about 86% of approximately 26,000 4-year-olds who applied for universal preschool by late February have been matched with their first-choice preschool. The rest — around 3,600 children — either didn’t match with any preschool or got matched with a lower-ranked choice.

“There’s high expectations I know for a new state government department to know everything, but … we’re a startup department and this is a startup initiative,” Roy said.

Some families face more challenges with preschool applications

Both preschool providers and representatives from groups that signed the letters agree that many Colorado families applying for the universal preschool program will get matched with their top choices. But they worry about families who face more barriers in navigating the brand-new process.

Once Colorado families are notified and begin accepting their matches on March 30, seats will fill up rapidly — leaving fewer options for families who had problems applying.

Elsa Holguin, president and CEO of the Denver Preschool Program, a group that signed one of the letters, said her staff has tried to reach families who skipped checkboxes or made other errors on the universal preschool application. But some parents didn’t list email addresses and their voicemail boxes are full, so staff must call repeatedly. She said more time before the match notification would help ensure such families are contacted and matched with a preschool.

One of the two recent letters noted that state preschool officials have called this year a “learning year” and asked for patience and grace from preschool providers.

But families “don’t have the same ability to count next year as a learning year when they are depending on us to serve their students and ensure a positive educational experience,” the letter said. “We are very concerned about the frustration and questions we’re already hearing from them.”

Kari Thibodeau, director of Parker Landing Child Development Center in Douglas County, has been on the receiving end of such questions after she contacted 11 families whose children she expected would be matched with her next year, but weren’t on the list she received.

Some of the parents became so worried about losing the chance to stay at the center their kids have attended since infancy, they’ve offered to send Thibodeau screenshots of their universal preschool application to prove they chose Parker Landing.

Thibodeau sympathizes, but tells them she doesn’t control how the state’s matching system works.

“I just want to make sure I’m not going to frustrate my families because they get paired with another school,” she said. “They’re all nervous.”

Families can still apply for a universal preschool seat now, but they may have fewer choices and will find out their matches later.

Problems with computer algorithm and funding uncertainty

Another issue raised by the letter writers is that the computer matching system erroneously pushed some families to the front of the line for all five of their preschool choices. While families are supposed to get that boost for a preschool their child already attends, a program a sibling attends, or one where a parent works, the algorithm applied those priority points to every preschool choice on a family’s application.

“To allow families to have preferred placement in the lottery system for five providers when their preferred status should only apply to one site unfairly prioritizes those students over all other applicants in the system,” the letter from the five education groups stated.

Roy said the computer algorithm gives families priority points for all their preschool choices because the state didn’t pay to make it more specific. That may be fixed next year.

“It costs a lot of money,” she said. “We plan on shifting that but have to have the funding to do so.”

There are also questions about whether the state will have enough funding to provide 30 hours of preschool a week to certain 4-year-olds as universal preschool messaging indicated. Eligible children include those who come from lower-income families, are English learners, are homeless, or are in foster care.

Roy said because of higher-than-expected interest in universal preschool the state is analyzing the cost now and won’t have an answer about which preschoolers will get the 30 hours until weeks after the March 30 matches go out.

The letter from five groups including the Colorado Association of School Executives warned that telling parents after the fact they won’t get the hours they expected could create “credibility issues.”

That could leave preschool providers “facing the ire of parents when programs have to charge them tuition or to refer to other funding sources when the 30-hour programs are not funded as advertised,” the letter said.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that while some of the state’s promotional materials suggest qualifying families will get 30 hours of preschool, the state has not actually promised to provide those hours.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado extends free preschool application deadline, allows revisions

2023-02-15T00:45:07+00:00

Colorado has extended the deadline for families to apply for free preschool to Feb. 24.

The original deadline was Feb. 14, but state officials announced Tuesday that they would extend it by 10 days. They also said they would reopen already-submitted preschool applications starting Feb. 17 so that families can re-rank their five preschool choices or make different choices. The deadline for those families to make changes is also Feb. 24.

The last-minute extension and revision decisions come amid several stumbles that have led to confusion and frustration among parents and preschool providers as the state rushes to roll out universal preschool by next fall. The new program, one of Gov. Jared Polis’ signature priorities, will offer 10 to 30 hours a week of tuition-free class time to 4-year-olds statewide and 10 hours a week to some 3-year-olds.

A spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, which will run the free preschool program, said last week the state decided to reopen all preschool applications because some participating preschools didn’t realize they had to list the number of seats they have in each category — half-day morning, half-day afternoon, full-day, and so on. Those errors meant that families may have signed up for preschool offerings that don’t exist.

Although the errors affected a subset of the nearly 28,000 applicants, the department is letting all families who submitted applications make revisions because some incorrectly believed it was a first-come, first-served system and rushed through their preschool applications the day the system opened Jan. 17. In addition about 150 more preschool providers signed up to offer preschool through the new program after the application first opened, so early birds may have had fewer choices than later-submitting families.

The state has promised to send families who submit their preschool applications by Feb. 24 an email on March 30 informing them which preschool their child matched with and what steps they should take to enroll. Families can still apply for preschool after Feb. 24, but they’ll be informed of their matches at a later date.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado to reopen all preschool applications to families because of errors

2023-02-09T00:52:06+00:00

State officials will allow nearly 25,000 families who’ve submitted applications for Colorado’s new free preschool program to reopen them and make changes on them because the application system initially showed incorrect offerings for some preschools.

Families will be notified by email — possibly as early as Thursday or Friday — that their applications have been unlocked and that they can re-rank their five preschool choices or make different choices altogether, said Hope Shuler, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood.

They’ll have until Feb. 14, the last day of the first application window, to make changes and resubmit their applications.

The decision to reopen preschool applications for thousands of parents represents a bump in the rollout of the state’s universal preschool program, which some providers and parents have criticized as rushed and confusing.

Shuler said some preschools participating in the new program didn’t realize they had to list the specific number of seats they have in each category — half-day morning, half-day afternoon, full-day, and so on. Those errors meant that families may have signed up for preschool offerings that aren’t available.

“I’m not placing blame on providers. I’m not taking all the blame on us as a department for not being more specific,” Shuler said. “It’s a new program and there are growing pains.”

The state notified preschools on Jan. 30 that they needed to update their seat numbers by Feb. 6. Staff working for the state have manually made those corrections this week.

Although the errors affected a subset of the nearly 25,000 applicants, she said the department is allowing everyone to make revisions because some parents incorrectly believed it was a first-come, first-served system and rushed through their preschool applications the day the system opened Jan. 17.

Since then, 151 more preschools have signed up to participate, so parents who make revisions now may have more choices than they did the first time.

The new preschool program launches next fall and will offer 10 to 30 hours a week of class time to 4-year-olds and 10 hours a week to some 3-year-olds.

The first application window for universal preschool runs through Feb 14. Families who submitted applications during that window will find out around March 17 what preschool their child was matched with. The state plans to offer a second application window starting Feb. 15, but hasn’t decided on the end date yet.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Fears flare that Colorado free preschool could shortchange kids with learning delays

2023-02-06T11:00:00+00:00

As state leaders prepare to launch Colorado’s free preschool program next fall, some educators and advocates fear young children with disabilities will lose out under the new system.

They say 3-year-olds could be rejected for a spot and 4-year-olds could receive less preschool than they’re due because of the narrow way the state asks about children with disabilities on its preschool application form.

In addition, school district officials say that unanswered questions about special education funding and confusion over how two state agencies will work together on the preschool program are a troubling sign for a major new program that will start in a matter of months.

While many early childhood advocates and providers have praised Colorado’s plan to significantly expand publicly funded preschool, there’s ongoing concern that the rollout is being rushed.

“I think the [Colorado Department of Early Childhood] was pushed into something very quickly,” said Callan Ware, executive director of student services in the Englewood district south of Denver.

Ashley Stephen, business services director for the Platte Canyon district, said she’s excited about universal preschool, but also nervous because communication from the state “so far has been a little bit harried and a little bit unclear.”

The 7-month-old Department of Early Childhood is responsible for running the new preschool program, with the Colorado Department of Education overseeing some aspects related to students with disabilities. The program will offer 10 to 15 hours a week of tuition-free preschool to 4-year-olds statewide, with some eligible for 30 hours. Some 3-year-olds will be eligible for 10 hours a week.

Despite concerns about how the preschool program is unfolding, there’s no option to slow things down. In the last 2½ weeks, more than 22,000 families have applied for a seat and thousands more are expected to join them in the coming months.

Amid this surge, advocates worry that some children with disabilities, especially those from marginalized populations, could slip through the cracks as their families encounter confusing terminology, bureaucratic barriers, and uncertainty about their rights.

“I support and appreciate the idea of universal preschool programming,” said Pam Bisceglia, executive director of Advocacy Denver, an advocacy group for people with disabilities. “My question is whether those programs are going to be filled with children of parents who enjoy privilege.”

Preschool application poses challenges

Children with disabilities are supposed to get priority for 10 hours a week of class time at age 3 and 30 hours a week at 4.

But Heather Hanson, whose 9-year-old son was diagnosed with a speech delay as a toddler and later with dyslexia, believes the state’s new preschool program will make it even harder than it is now for young children with disabilities to get the help they need.

The universal preschool application is part of the reason. It asks parents if their child has “an active Individualized Education Program” — a fancy name for a federally required learning plan for students 3 and older with disabilities.

But many children don’t get such plans until after they enroll in school. A young child with a delay may not even have been evaluated or received a diagnosis. Even when children are identified as toddlers, their plan has a different name and acronym than the one on the preschool application.

Hanson, who served on a special education subcommittee during the universal preschool planning process, called the wording on the application “horrible” and “discriminatory.”

“All of those really big words should not be used,” she said. Even the word “disability” might deter some parents.

Lucinda Hundley, who heads the Colorado Consortium of Directors of Special Education, said, “We don’t want to miss children because of an answer on a computerized registration system.”

Risk factors change under universal preschool

Currently, Colorado children with disabilities can be routed to state-funded preschool in one of two ways. Those who have Individualized Education Programs get classes through the preschool special education program. Another group of children who have one of 10 risk factors — such as language delays or poor social skills — qualify for a state preschool program that will end after this school year. Kids in that second group don’t have to have a diagnosis or special learning plan to qualify for free preschool.

But under the new universal preschool program, the state will use fewer risk factors to decide who can attend for free at age 3 and get extra hours at age 4. One of them is the Individualized Education Program. The others consider whether the child is homeless, an English learner, in foster care, or comes from a lower-income family.

Hundley said there’s no way for a parent who suspects their child might have a disability to flag their concern when applying for universal preschool.

Officials from the early childhood department and education department said in an email that state law requires the Individualized Education Program criteria on the universal preschool application. Hundley said it’s unlikely the law would disallow additional criteria that might help capture students with potential disabilities.

Several advocates said the wording should be simpler and more general: “Do you think your child could use some extra help?” or “Do you have concerns about your child’s speech or behavior?

Laurie Noblitt, director of elementary and early learning for the Fountain-Fort Carson district, said her district has fielded calls from parents whose 3-year-old children don’t qualify for free preschool according to the application system. They say things like, “I’m really worried about my child’s language, they’re only speaking in one- or two-word phrases,” she said.

In such cases, Noblitt said, the district helps get the child evaluated and into preschool, but she worries about the families who don’t make that phone call.

Three-year-olds whose parents don’t know how to navigate the system stand to lose out on free preschool altogether and 4-year-olds with disabilities could get just 15 hours a week, half what they’re supposed to.

Hanson said those extra hours can make a big difference since students with disabilities sometimes need double or triple the repetition and exposure to classroom learning compared with their typically developing peers.

The low number of hours offered to 3-year-olds also puts a burden on parents, said Elisa Aucancela, executive director of El Grupo Vida, a nonprofit that supports Hispanic families who have children with disabilities.

Her brother, who has a 3-year-old daughter with a disability, is “still struggling due to the part-time [hours] for 3-year-olds” she said. “It’s a really difficult challenge for some families because what are they going to do for the other half of the time when they need to work?”

Special education funding in question

Several school district leaders worry about how the state is handling $33 million that used to go to school districts to help cover preschool special education costs. They fear the money — which amounts to $36,000 a year in small districts like Englewood and up to $4 million in large districts — now will be mixed into the general universal preschool funding pot, and won’t be set aside for services for students with disabilities.

If that happens, districts will have to use local dollars to cover lost state money since they’re legally required to cover special education services. Hundley said that means funding for staff like psychologists and speech therapists who provide mandated services to students with disabilities gets diverted from other district priorities.

Even though state funding for special education has increased in recent years, districts still cover about two-thirds of those costs out of their local budgets.

State officials estimate they’ll spend at least $33 million — and possibly more — on what they call “general education” seats for students with disabilities. But Hundley said school districts want the state to direct that money specifically to special education services, which is how it has been used in the past.

Beyond money, the uncertainty about funding raises questions about how two state agencies — the early childhood department and the education department — are divvying up overlapping responsibilities.

In response to Chalkbeat’s questions about funding for preschoolers with disabilities, the education department first referred questions to the early childhood department. After the two agencies signed an agreement this week outlining how they’d work together, the early childhood department referred questions to the education department. On Friday, the two departments released emailed answers together. Neither granted an interview.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

17,000 and counting: Families apply for free preschool in Colorado

2023-01-25T22:12:59+00:00

Around 17,000 Colorado families have applied for the state’s free preschool program in the week since the application opened on Jan. 17, a state official announced at a Wednesday meeting.

The early burst of interest in the new preschool program could mean enrollment will exceed the 30,000 children state officials estimated would participate during the first year. The initial application window runs through Feb. 14, though families can still apply after that.

The universal preschool program, one of Gov. Jared Polis’ signature priorities, launches next fall. It will offer 10 to 15 hours a week of tuition-free preschool to 4-year-olds statewide, with some eligible for 30 hours a week. In addition, some 3-year-olds will be eligible for 10 hours a week.

At Wednesday’s online meeting of more than 100 early childhood leaders and advocates,, Michael Cooke, the state’s early childhood transition director, said 2,100 of about 16,800 applications submitted so far are for 3-year-olds.

She described the application’s opening day as a doozy, but said, aside from a brief slowdown early on, “the system managed it beautifully.”

While many families have submitted applications, many have lingering questions about what preschools their children will be matched with. State officials have said children will be prioritized at preschools where they’re already enrolled, where a sibling is enrolled, or where a parent works. But families won’t find out their preschool matches till at least mid-March.

On social media and elsewhere, parents have raised small and large concerns since the application opened. Some have wondered how to ensure their preschoolers continue in dual-language classrooms or get assigned to specific teachers who stay with students for multiple years.

Some parents are upset that they can’t enroll “redshirted” children — those who they plan to hold out of kindergarten next fall — for the state’s free preschool program. (The program is primarily for children the year before they are eligible for kindergarten.)

Cooke said on Wednesday that 1,600 preschool providers across Colorado have opted to participate — with at least one in all 64 counties. That’s a jump from the 1,027 providers that were signed up shortly before the application launched.

Providers will get around $6,000 per child for providing 15 hours a week of class time for the school year. They include schools, churches, child care centers, and state-licensed homes.

Do you have a question about Colorado’s universal preschool program? Let us know at co.tips@chalkbeat.org and we’ll do our best to find an answer.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis budget update: money for workforce development and math instruction

2023-01-04T00:37:47+00:00

Colorado residents could get access to free training for jobs in education, health care, construction trades, and other sectors that have more openings than qualified workers, under an updated budget proposal from Gov. Jared Polis.

Expanded workforce training — including some free college — was among several education proposals from Polis. He also proposed a major expansion of after-school tutoring focused on math and science skills and state money to help employers offer on-site child care.

Polis announced the proposals at a press conference Tuesday. They expand on his November budget request and address areas of growing concern for employers, workers, parents, and education advocates.

Polis, who will be sworn in for his second term next week, said there are more job openings in the state than people qualified to fill them, part of a growing skills gap. Polis wants to spend $70 million over two years providing free training primarily at community colleges to get residents the skills they need for in-demand jobs.

In math, Colorado faces a worsening trend of students falling behind. Polis’ proposal would provide a short-term fix, with $25 million to expand after-school programs focused on science, technology, engineering, and math. The budget would also set aside $3 million in state and federal money for math instructional materials and teacher training — a step toward a longer-term solution.

Tuesday’s announcement adds to the $42.7 billion budget Polis proposed in November. He also proposed updates that include property tax changes, housing relief, and clean energy tax credits.

The November budget included $9 billion next year for K-12 education and $86 million more for student financial aid and college and university operations. Polis’ budget serves as a starting point. Six lawmakers on the Joint Budget Committee will craft a budget proposal for their colleagues in the House and Senate to vote on.

Money would help address a growing crisis

In prioritizing workforce development, Polis hopes to expand on work last year to train more qualified workers.

“Price is a barrier, especially in these challenging professions,” Polis said.

Lauren Larson, Polis’ budget director, said the money would go to address an “arising crisis.” Even doubling the number of high school students with the necessary training wouldn’t meet workforce needs, she said.

And the state has a large pool of older adults who could benefit from training. Colorado is a highly educated state, but many of its low-income residents have trouble getting the education and training they need to get in-demand jobs that pay well. The pandemic has caused fewer residents to attend college or get training, worsening the problem.

To address the labor shortages, lawmakers, education, nonprofit, and business leaders last year released a report on how to spend $100 million in one-time federal pandemic relief money to boost workforce training. Colorado leaders noted that the state would also need to continue investments over the long term.

The $70 million in new state money that would be spent over the next two years would provide free training in early childhood education, teaching, law enforcement, fire and forestry, construction trades, advanced manufacturing, and nursing fields — all experiencing shortages, Polis said.

The governor wants the money to help educate more than 35,000 students and expand short-term community college programs to train more than 250 additional nurses annually, according to a Polis spokeswoman.

The proposal builds off $61 million the state invested last year to train and support health care workers, with about $26 million going to the Colorado Community College System.

The free training has paid for tuition, fees, and books, but students can also use federal and state grants and scholarships to offset living costs like day care, transportation, and other life expenses, Larson said.

Polis wants $25 million to improve math skills

State and national test data shows K-12 students lagging in math skills.

Colorado has made a concerted effort in recent years to improve reading instruction: making sure all early elementary teachers have special training, requiring school districts to update their curriculum, and pushing university programs to give teacher candidates the best practices for teaching reading.

But the state has made no similar push on math instruction — and evidence shows math skills suffered more during remote learning than did language arts. State and national test scores show larger declines in math and slower recovery, with the declines more significant among older students.

Polis’ $28 million for after-school programs and math resources is not on the same scale as the effort Colorado mounted in reading.

Still, he said, “We want to make sure we turn around this trend in Colorado.”.

Polis offers a preschool update

Polis also included $10.5 million to expand work-place child care initiatives. He added that the state will be able to provide more hours of free preschool than originally expected.

The state should be able to provide at least 15 hours of free preschool for families, he said. Low-income families will be eligible for more, he said. The original goal was 10 hours.

Polis included $10 million in his November budget to help with the rollout of universal preschool.

“There could of course be a few areas where because of capacity there’s still 10-hour programs, but in general, most families will be able to benefit from 15 hours of free preschool for their 4-year-olds next fall,” he said. “We’re very excited about getting that right.”

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

La temporada de solicitud para preescolar gratis empieza en enero

2022-12-22T17:21:13+00:00

Muchos padres de Colorado han empezado a seleccionar las escuelas K-12 de sus hijos para el próximo año en plataformas en línea operadas por sus distritos escolares.

Pero ese no es el caso de los padres de niños que estarán en preescolar.

Esto cambió; en años anteriores, los padres podían usar el mismo proceso de solicitud para inscribir a sus hijos de 4 años en programas preescolares de los distritos.

Ahora que el preescolar universal gratuito del estado empezará el próximo otoño, la mayoría de los padres solicitarán el preescolar usando una nueva y separada solicitud en línea que estará disponible el 17 de enero. Las publicaciones y preguntas recibidas por los funcionarios del distrito en medios sociales sugieren que este proceso separado de solicitud y el cambio en el plazo ha confundido a algunos padres de preescolar.

“Están confundidos. No entienden por qué es diferente”, dijo Mackenzie Nickum, que dirige los servicios de inscripción en el distrito Jeffco (donde el periodo de inscripción en K-12 es del 6 de diciembre al 13 de enero).

Todo esto se debe a que el estado está haciendo algo completamente nuevo — este es un programa de preescolar financiado por impuestos de sus contribuyentes y estará abierto a todos los niños de 4 años y algunos más pequeños. El programa nuevo reemplazará un programa de preescolar más pequeño financiado por el estado y que estaba disponible únicamente para niños de familias con pocos ingresos o que tuvieran otros factores de riesgo.

Los líderes de educación en la niñez temprana de Colorado llevan meses trabajando para preparar el programa nuevo, y esto incluye un sistema de solicitud a nivel de estado que asignará a los niños a los proveedores de preescolar participantes que sus padres hayan elegido.

La solicitud será “casi tan fácil como hacer un pedido en Amazon”, dijo Lisa Roy, directora ejecutiva del Departamento de Niñez Temprana de Colorado. “Es un proceso nuevo, pero realmente tomamos en cuenta qué cosas funcionan para los padres”.

El próximo año, todos los niños de 4 años serán elegibles para 10-15 horas semanales de preescolar gratuito en escuelas, iglesias, centros de cuidado y hasta hogares licenciados por el estado. Algunos niños de 4 años serán elegibles para 30 horas semanales, y algunos de 3 años serán elegibles para 10 horas.

Roy dijo que el sistema de solicitud de preescolar del estado les dará prioridad a factores como el deseo de que el niño continúe en el mismo programa en que está inscrito ahora, querer que asista a la misma escuela que sus hermanos, o para conseguir espacio donde trabaja uno de sus padres. Además, no se trata de un sistema “en orden de llegada”, dijo ella, y por lo tanto quienes soliciten primero no tendrán prioridad automáticamente sobre las familias que soliciten después.

Las familias también podrán optar por no aceptar un programa de preescolar si su situación cambia. Por ejemplo, dijo Roy, si un preescolar consigue espacio en la escuela en que sus padres pensaron que su hermano de tercer grado estaría, no están obligados a aceptar el espacio si el estudiante de tercer grado luego asiste a otra escuela.

Algunos distritos escolares de Colorado, incluso Jeffco, han publicado notas en sus páginas web para avisar a los padres que este año la inscripción en los preescolares del distrito no se hará a través de los sistemas de inscripción internos.

De todos modos, hay muchas preguntas.

Una madre publicó en un grupo de madres de Lakewood en Facebook: “Voy a inscribir a mi hija en preescolar, y estoy bien confundida. Espero hasta enero de 2023 para solicitar, ¿y qué pasa si no la aceptan?”

Nickum dijo que las inquietudes de algunos padres surgen porque los espacios en los preescolares de distrito históricamente son altamente codiciados y demasiado pocos en algunos horarios o lugares. Este año, el distrito de Jeffco inscribió unos 2,200 preescolares.

Ella dijo que el próximo año el distrito tendrá más espacios de preescolar, en parte porque el tamaño de las clases subirá de 16 a 20 estudiantes.

En Denver, el periodo de school choice empieza el 13 de enero, cuatro días antes del periodo de solicitud para preescolar.

Priscilla Hopkins, directora ejecutiva de educación temprana del distrito, dijo que el distrito se comunicará con los padres a principios de enero para explicarles que el preescolar no será parte del proceso y que ellos deberán esperar a que la solicitud del estado esté disponible.

Los funcionarios del estado también lanzarán una campaña de información a principios del año.

Hopkins dijo que está sumamente entusiasmada con el cambio a un preescolar universal, pero dijo que la transición es complicada y que todavía se están resolviendo muchos detalles.

Ella espera que Denver tenga suficientes espacios en el preescolar universal para cada familia que necesite uno, aunque no todas las familias obtengan espacio en su programa preferido. Actualmente, el distrito tiene unos 5,400 preescolares.

Ann Schimke es reportera senior en Chalkbeat y cubre temas de niñez temprana y alfabetización temprana. Para comunicarte con Ann, envíale un mensaje a aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado recruits providers for its free preschool program. Parents are next.

2022-12-20T23:42:23+00:00

Jennifer Piper, a longtime home-based child care provider in Loveland, is brimming with questions about how Colorado’s new universal preschool program will work when it launches next fall.

She recently sent a bulleted list of 14 questions to local officials, including basic ones about teacher qualification and curriculum requirements.

The state needs to win over providers like Piper to meet its ambitious goal of quickly building a preschool program capable of serving every 4-year-old in the state as well as some 3-year-olds.

And there are early signs that they are ready to sign on. More than 250 preschool providers, offering a total of 12,000 seats, have signed up for the universal program so far, according to state officials.

Colorado’s universal preschool program is one of Gov. Jared Polis’ signature priorities and represents a major expansion of tuition-free preschool in the state. The $335 million program is slated to serve 30,000 4-year-olds next year and even more in future years, according to state estimates. It will replace a smaller state-funded preschool program that currently serves about 19,000 children from low-income families or who have other risk factors.

In addition to serving more children, the new universal program will provide more class time to most students and, in most cases, pay preschool providers a higher per-pupil rate than the current program does. The state’s early childhood department, which was created less than a year ago, will run the universal program, with early childhood councils or other groups administering it locally.

For many early childhood leaders and advocates, recent rapid-fire decisions on the new program have prompted excitement and hope that more Colorado children will benefit from high-quality preschool. When the preschool application opens for families on Jan. 17, officials hope to offer a variety of placement options — in schools, churches, child care centers, and state-licensed homes.

But some key questions remain, including what quality standards universal preschool providers will have to meet. Those rules won’t be out until spring.

It’s a “building the plane as we fly it situation,” said Christina Taylor, CEO of the Early Childhood Council of Larimer County, which will run the preschool program in the county.

“I’m feeling optimistic but … this first year is kind of a crapshoot,” she said.

A key money question answered

One major question about the program has already been answered.

In mid-November, state officials released the per-pupil dollar amount they’ll pay to providers in the universal preschool program. The annual rates will play a major role in determining whether providers join the universal preschool system, and whether they’ll be able to pay their staff a living wage, as state leaders promised.

On average, providers will get $4,834 for preschoolers attending 10 hours a week; $6,040 for 15 hours a week; and $10,646 for 30 hours a week. Preschool classes will run 9 months a year on a similar schedule to K-12 grades.

Generally, preschool providers are pleased with the rates, which vary somewhat by county or region.

“I do think some places are going to be able to increase pay for their staff with this funding,” said Diane Smith, director of the Douglas County Early Childhood Council, which will coordinate universal preschool programming in the county.

Mark Arbitrio, who owns Ivybrook Academy in Castle Rock, said the rates are about the same as the tuition he currently charges for 15 hours a week of preschool. He hopes to fill all 48 of his center’s 4-year-old seats as part of the universal program next year.

Arbitrio, whose own 4-year-old son will be in the inaugural universal preschool class, opened his Ivybrook franchise in 2020 after he got laid off from General Electric. He’s hopeful the offer of free preschool for 4-year-olds next year will boost enrollment for younger children too — potentially convincing parents to enroll the siblings of 4-year-olds who otherwise would have stayed at home because of the cost.

“We’ll get a lift from this,” he said.

Taylor said Larimer County providers have mostly been positive about the rate, which is more per child than what the state currently pays for 10 hours — although one corporate-run preschool leader told her it “wasn’t quite as attractive as they were hoping.”

But the bigger issue is finding enough staff to lead preschool classes, she said. Ongoing worker shortages, exacerbated by the pandemic, have forced some local preschools and child care centers to close classrooms even when they have enough children to fill them.

In rural Elbert County, all five school districts plan to participate in universal preschool, said Llan Barkley, executive director of the county’s early childhood council, which will coordinate universal preschool there.

But the county’s preschool rate — $4,724 per child for 10 hours a week — is less than what most of the districts there get for preschoolers in the state’s current program. Unlike the universal preschool rate, the current preschool rate is based on the K-12 school finance formula, which gives some small rural districts substantially more per-pupil funding than most urban or suburban districts.

Barkley said she’s emphasized to district officials that despite the lower per-pupil rate next year, they’ll be able to have preschool classes of 20 children instead of the current 16, which will bring in additional funding. She expects most districts will stick with the current 10-hour-a-week schedule next year even though universal preschool rules allow 4-year-olds to get 15 tuition-free hours a week.

Schools in Elbert County, like those in many rural areas, operate only four days a week. Barkley said it will be more feasible for the districts to stick to a 10-hour-a-week preschool program so schools have time to offer morning and afternoon sessions.

Getting the message to parents

Colorado officials estimate that half of the state’s 4-year-olds will attend free preschool next year, but with the application set to open in less than a month, many Colorado parents know little to nothing about the program.

Barkley described a typical parent reaction this way: “What? What is this? Can you explain it? I don’t understand.”

She said local districts have sent informational fliers home in students’ take home folders, but it can be hard to answer parents’ questions when some details aren’t yet available from the state.

Piper, the home-based child care provider in Loveland, said the vast majority of her families haven’t paid much attention to universal free preschool because they already get free or nearly free child care. That’s because they qualify for state child care subsidies for low-income families. Some pay nothing. Others pay $24 to $240 a month, she said.

Leaders from the Larimer County early childhood council have already sent out postcards about universal preschool to all county families with 3- or 4-year-olds, and plan to send out another in January. State officials said they’re planning to launch a public awareness campaign about universal preschool in early 2023.

Arbitrio, of Ivybrook Academy, said, “I think our families are going to be thrilled.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

It’s school choice season in Colorado, but applying for universal preschool comes a bit later

2022-12-16T21:55:47+00:00

Many Colorado parents have begun to select their children’s K-12 schools for next year through online platforms operated by their school districts.

But not preschool parents.

That’s a change from years past, when parents could use the school choice process to enroll their 4-year-olds in district-run preschool programs.

Now, with the state’s universal preschool launching next fall, most parents will apply for preschool using a new and separate online application that opens Jan. 17. Social media posts and questions fielded by district officials suggest the separate application process and timeline has jangled the nerves of some preschool parents.

“They’re confused. They don’t know why it’s different,” said Mackenzie Nickum, the director of enrollment services in the Jeffco district, where the K-12 enrollment window runs from Dec. 6 to Jan. 13.

The short answer is that the state is doing something brand new — rolling out a taxpayer-funded preschool program open to all 4-year-olds and some younger children. The new program will replace a smaller state-funded preschool program for children from low-income families or who have other risk factors.

Colorado early childhood leaders have been working for months to build the new program, including a statewide application system that will match children with participating preschool providers their parents choose.

The application will be “almost as easy as buying on Amazon,” said Lisa Roy, executive director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood. “This is a start-up, but we have really taken into consideration what works for parents.”

Next year, all 4-year-olds will be eligible for 10-15 hours a week of tuition-free preschool in schools, churches, child care centers, or state-licensed homes. Some 4-year-olds will be eligible to attend for 30 hours a week and some 3-year-olds will be eligible for 10 hours.

Roy said the state preschool application system will prioritize factors such as the desire for preschoolers to continue in the program where they’re enrolled now, or to get a spot at the school a sibling attends, or where a parent works. Also, it’s not a first-come, first-served system, she said, so early applicants won’t automatically get priority over families who apply later in the application window.

Families will also be able to reject a preschool match if their situation changes. For example, Roy said, if a preschooler lands a spot at a school parents thought their third grader would attend, they aren’t obligated to accept the seat if the third grader ends up elsewhere.

Some Colorado school districts, including Jeffco, have posted notes on their websites alerting parents that enrollment in district-run preschools won’t happen through in-house enrollment systems this year.

Still, questions abound.

One mother posted in a Lakewood moms Facebook group, “I’m so confused with enrolling my daughter into preschool. Do I wait until January 2023 to apply and what if she doesn’t get in?”

Nickum said some parents’ concerns stem from the fact that historically, preschool spots in district classrooms have been highly coveted, with too few seats to meet demand in some locations or time slots. This year, Jeffco has about 2,000 preschool seats.

The district will offer more preschool spots next year — nearly 2,800 — in part by raising preschool class sizes from 16 to 20 students.

In Denver, the school choice window opens on Jan. 13, four days before the preschool application window opens.

Priscilla Hopkins, the district’s executive director of early education, said the district will communicate with parents in early January to explain that preschool won’t be part of that process and parents will have to wait for the state application.

State officials will also launch a preschool awareness campaign early next year.

Hopkins said she’s excited about the shift to universal preschool, but said the transition is complicated and lots of details are still unfolding. She expects Denver to have enough universal preschool spots for every family that wants one, though not every family will get its first choice. Currently, the district serves about 5,400 preschoolers.

“We’re all in this boat of change management,” she said.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado proposal boosts universal preschool hours, sets per-child funding

2022-11-16T23:19:27+00:00

All 4-year-olds who enroll in Colorado’s free preschool program next fall could be eligible for at least 15 hours a week of tuition-free classes, and some students could be eligible for double that if Colorado’s early childhood chief approves a new proposal next week.

Previously, state leaders had promised families only 10 hours of preschool a week — an amount many worried wouldn’t do much to help working parents who need longer stretches of care for their children. Besides upping the base hours, the latest proposal also gives a sizable subset of 4-year-old preschoolers — those from lower-income families, who are dual language learners, or who have disabilities, for example — 30 hours a week of preschool.

“We’re very excited about the opportunity there to see all children afforded an opportunity for half-day preschool programming, and [for] those children who need those extra supports the most, to get them to full-day preschool programming,” said M. Michael Cooke, the state’s early childhood transition director during a meeting with county officials Wednesday morning.

The proposed rules, which also include detailed information on how preschool funding will be parceled out, represent the latest step in the state’s flurry of preparations for the launch of universal preschool next fall. Funded in part with a voter-approved nicotine tax, the new program will replace the state’s smaller current preschool program and give children access to tuition-free spots in public school classrooms, private preschools, and home-based settings.

A state advisory committee will review the proposed rules Thursday afternoon and a public comment session will be held Monday. Lisa Roy, executive director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, then will decide whether to approve the rules. It’s possible she could make changes based on the committee’s recommendations or her own judgment.

The state also revealed this week how much it will pay providers for each preschooler they enroll next fall. For students who attend 15 hours a week, it will be an average of $6,040 a year and for students who attend 30 hours a week it will be $10,646 a year. (Some 3-year-old preschoolers will get 10 hours a week under the program and providers will get $4,834 a year for them.)

Those dollar amounts, which will vary by location, are derived from an elaborate formula that takes into account factors such as regional cost of living, staff costs, county poverty rates, and costs associated with rural settings.

“We’re very pleased with where this came out,” Cooke said. “We think this is a win for families and for providers.”

One of the big questions about the formula’s payments is whether they will enable providers to pay preschool staff a living wage, as state leaders promised last winter. Currently, some preschool teachers, particularly those who work in private settings, make so little they qualify for public assistance.

In Colorado, the median preschool teacher wage is around $15.25 an hour.

The proposed rates are higher than what preschool providers would have received if the rates were tied to the K-12 school finance formula.

The proposed full-time average of $10,646 per preschooler is about $1,000 more than what schools get paid for each K-12 student on average. But preschool is inherently more expensive to operate.

For example, under the universal preschool program, classes will be capped at 20 students and required to have one staff member for every 10 students. In contrast, K-12 classrooms can have a single teacher for 30 or more students.

The answer to the living wage question remains unclear — in part, because the state released average per-pupil funding, not more locally specific numbers. In addition, it’s possible that preschool providers who have mixed-aged classrooms will receive the rate for only some children — diluting the power of universal preschool money to boost pay.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

State backs off extra 10 hours of preschool — for now

2022-10-14T19:07:50+00:00

After proposing that some children get 10 extra hours of preschool a week when Colorado’s universal preschool program launches next year, state officials backed off that plan this month.

The proposal would have allowed a large subset of children, including those from low-income families, or who have disabilities or are learning English, to get double the 10 hours a week guaranteed by law to all 4-year-olds — for a total of 20 hours a week.

But now those extra hours are in question after Lisa Roy, the executive director of the state’s early childhood department, removed the number from a new rule she authorized.

That decision represents a bit of a flip-flop by Roy’s department, which proposed the extra 10 hours in the first place. It also illustrates the challenge of launching a major new early childhood program when so many details are still in flux.

A committee charged with advising Roy on early childhood rules approved the 10-extra-hours provision as part of a broader rule late last month. Roy, who has the final say on rules, took out the 10-hour number early this month.

She explained in a public memo that she did so “to allow for further conversation and to consider the number of hours in coordination with the discussion related to rate-setting, which will happen later this fall.”

It’s possible, but not certain, the 10 additional hours will be reinstated at that time. The number of additional hours could also be decreased or increased.

Rate-setting refers to the process for deciding the amount of money the state will pay preschool providers for each universal preschool seat. State leaders say they want to ensure the rate reflects the true cost of providing high-quality programming and ensures preschool teachers make a living wage.

Both are lofty goals that some experts say, if realized, could mean a per-pupil rate at least double the nearly $4,500 per seat average the state paid last year to providers participating in Colorado’s smaller preschool program serving students with certain risk factors.

Colorado’s new universal preschool program, which will be tuition-free, could eventually serve about three-quarters of the state’s 4-year olds.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Wider range of Colorado kids could get 20 hours of free preschool

2022-09-13T22:29:58+00:00