State preschool program leaves some unsure

e Colorado Sun, noting that there were about two seats open for every

A preschool in Greeley that has shepherded countless kids through the rst years of their education over the past 21 years may welcome its last class of 4-year-olds next month, eyeing an uncertain future as it dives into the state’s newly expanded preschool program.

Nearby, a di erent preschool that caters to mostly children of lowincome families has only been able to ll a quarter of its classrooms for the start of the school year and is weighing its options — which could include closing its doors. Preschools across Colorado are sprinting to make nal preparations for the start of the state’s expanded preschool program, known as universal preschool. And with less than a month until the rst day of school, many question whether they’ll have enough state funding to stay open. at question has bubbled up in the past month, after Colorado’s new Department of Early Childhood changed the way it will calculate how much funding preschool providers will receive during their rst few months of the program.

Instead of paying a provider for the number of students it has the capacity to educate, as originally promised, the department will now dole out funding based on the number of students enrolled. It might seem like a subtle shift, but to preschool providers who already has 25 preschool sites across Weld County, six of which will participate in Colorado’s expanded preschool program. “ is is a system that providers have been hesitant to jump into because they haven’t gotten clear answers from the departments on how this is all going to go down.” e Early Childhood department, which has a $322 million budget for its inaugural year of the expanded preschool program, previously pledged to compensate preschools participating in universal preschool based on the number of 4-year-olds they had room to educate, regardless of whether they lled all their seats. at’s a much more predictable and reliable method of funding, providers say.

During a Jan. 12 meeting among members of the department’s Rules Advisory Council, M. Michael Cooke — then a universal preschool representative from Gov. Jared Polis’ o ce — said that through monthly state payment to providers from August through October, those providers would receive a dollar amount based on their capacity, regardless of whether providers could ll all their seats. en in November, she added, the department would reassess how many kids had actually enrolled in provider programs and adjust payments based on those numbers.

“We want to be helpful,” Cooke