DENVER — Preschool is a time to work through some basic skills.
Colorado’s universal preschool (UPK) has not perfected that yet.
The state does not open enrollment for universal preschool until next month.
Yet, some of Colorado's biggest school districts have started or will start this week.
“We asked to go back to our process that we had previously used with a lot of success, and after many meetings and collaboration with the new [Early Childhood] department, they have agreed to allow us to use our own ‘Choice and Enrollment’ process,” Denver Public Schools Early Education Executive Director Priscilla Hopkins said.
On Thursday, Denver Public Schools (DPS) will open enrollments for all grades, including preschool students. Last year, preschool students had to wait until the state’s new universal preschool portal opened.
“This year, the Colorado Department of Early Childhood has agreed to allow what they are referring to as a ‘pre-registration,’ which means that families can now participate, as they always have, through the pre-K through 12th grade choice and enrollment with their preschool child,” Hopkins said.
DPS is joining Jefferson County Public Schools (JeffCo) and Westminster Public Schools, which started enrolling 2024 school year preschool students, along with all grades, last month.
“This year, we have taken advantage of some of the liberties given by the Department of Early Childhood. We are direct enrolling our students,” Westminster Public Schools Learning Services Executive Director, Mathieu Aubuchon, said.
Aubuchon said it is a better system for parents.
“They may have a second grader and a fifth grader, as well as a preschooler. They're trying to get all their kids into the same school. I can't run a different enrollment process for the preschooler than I would for their older sibling, in the interest of providing good customer service to families,” Aubuchon said.
Direct enrolling by districts instead of the state is not what Gov. Jared Polis (D) wanted when we asked him in August about the problems parents and school districts voiced about placements with universal preschool.
“When you have public funding, you have this element of 'we want fairness rather than favoritism.' And who gets the coveted slots, right? So, if there's 20 slots and 30 people want them, we want to have a lottery,” Polis said in an Aug. 9 interview.
The lottery is the universal preschool portal’s BridgeCare system. Parents pick their top five schools, and the system uses an algorithm to place students.
What DPS, Westminster and JeffCo are doing bypasses the portal and directly enrolls students with the district.
“We are really grateful that we can do that this year, because we are hopeful that it will be a simplified process for families and that it will secure enrollment for them as early as possible,” Hopkins said.
In December, the Department of Early Childhood put out a timeline for the statewide portal.
• February-March: families trying to enroll a sibling or a student of a school employee would have first access
• March-July: Portal opens for all families
• July: Walk-in direct enrollment
Students with individualized education programs can direct enroll year-round.
DPS enrollment begins on Thursday, and we confirmed with the district that it is for all students, not just those with siblings already enrolled.
“Our understanding is that we will open our ‘Choice and Enrollment,’ and that all families can apply for preschool at that time. All families. That is our understanding. And that is what we are moving forward with,” Hopkins said. “They [the Department of Early Childhood] understand the way our ‘Choice and Enrollment’ process works. And we're working closely with them.”
In a statement provided to Next with Kyle Clark just before 6 p.m. on Tuesday, the Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) disagreed with what the school districts were moving ahead with.
“If true, it’s disappointing to see some districts already planning to give families preferential treatment for their preschool services in the coming school year. In response to family and provider feedback, CDEC created an enhanced enrollment process for 2024-25 that creates equity within the Colorado preschool system. When used appropriately, this process creates equal opportunities for families at all stages of their preschool journey to access high-quality early education for their children. We’re proud to partner with so many districts who share this vision and who use the system to benefit families first as intended. Gaming the system just harms parents and kids in the community and we strongly disagree with that choice,” the department said.
“They gave us permission back in August through December to direct enroll students,” Aubuchon said. “As we look at the rule, supposedly from CDEC, they are still not timelines that are written in stone. They are estimated timelines. And for me, as the director of this program, I can't justifiably tell a family in December, 'I think you can enroll in April.'”
If the direct enrollment happens, it is unclear how the statewide portal will account for the students previously directly enrolled.
“Once we enroll students, then we can send those names over to the universal preschool portion of the new department,” Hopkins said.
“We will be telling the state if we have 20 slots at a school, and we've registered seven students that are pre-registered, then we only have 13 slots left. How we're getting them into BridgeCare is still unclear,” Aubuchon said.
This is a developing story and will be updated following additional response from the state and school districts.
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