DENVER — The people in charge of universal preschool think they have a solution to give no-cost, full-day preschool to thousands of families in need.
The change will have to wait until next year, though.
Under a rule change proposal, the Colorado Department of Early Childhood wants to add a new qualifying factor that would guarantee full-day pre-K to children living in poverty.
“It’s unfortunate that I was the recipient of the first year and all the kinks had to be worked out,” Shawn Thomas, a preschool mom, said.
Thomas thought she had earned full-day coverage for her son, Christian, until about a month before preschool started.
“It was very stressful, because I think I only got a month’s notice that my bill would be $500-something a month,” Thomas said.
Her family met the “low-income” qualifying factor, as defined by universal preschool.
But during the summer, the Colorado Department of Early Childhood determined that families must be “low-income” and meet at least one of the following qualifying factors:
- IEP (individualized education program)
- Homelessness
- Dual language learner
- Foster/kinship care
Under the rule change proposal, a new qualifying factor would be created for families “living in poverty.”
Universal preschool’s definition of “low-income” includes families that make up to 270 percent of the federal poverty level. That means 2.7 times poverty. The proposal creates a “living in poverty” qualifying factor that is up to 100% of the federal poverty level.
Families that are “low-income” and “living in poverty” would be guaranteed full-day funding for school year 2024-25.
“I think if they implemented it this year, I could have benefited from it, so I think it would have saved me a lot of stress,” Thomas said.
Jefferson County Schools ended up covering the funding for the second half of the full-day preschool for her son, but he has since moved back to a half-day classroom.
“I think it is one part of a solution and a particularly important of the solution,” Alan Greening, a preschool dad, said.
Greening is the first parent who spoke with Next with Kyle Clark in August after he was notified that the full-day funding he thought his son, Grant, would receive was instead half-day.
“It’s fabulous, now,” Greening said.
After that story, Adams 12 Five Star Schools decided that it would cover the cost of the second half of the full-day preschool class for Grant and 95 other preschoolers.
“As a low-income family, what you can do is you can make some plans. Whether that’s running errands, looking after other children or going out and finding some work that you can do during that time, it actually makes it really worthwhile and useful for a family,” Greening said.
He has another child who will be ready for preschool in a few years. His family currently meets the “low-income” definition, but not the “living in poverty” factor that would guarantee full-day funding.
“I’m happy for them to be singled out first, but I think, then at that point, the school districts and the state need to get together like they ended up doing in certain instances this year, to make additional money available for people a little further up that ladder, like ourselves. Fairly low-income, where one parent is out working and the other parent, essentially, has to stay at home,” Greening said.
The Colorado Department of Early Childhood believes that there will be enough funding in 2024-25 to cover full-day funding for all families that qualify as “low-income” and “living in poverty,” as well as all families that qualify as “low-income” and one of the other qualifying factors.
Written comments can be filled out on the Colorado Department of Early Childhood website and are accepted until Nov. 22.
The public hearing will take place on Jan. 25, 2024.
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