Early education program raises concerns

something very quickly,” said Callan Ware, executive director of student services in the Englewood district south of Denver.

BY ANN SCHIMKE CHALKBEAT OF COLORADO

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.

ey 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 ocials 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 signi cantly 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

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.” e 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. e program will o er 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, execu- with children of parents who enjoy privilege.”

Preschool application poses challenges e 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. classes through thepreschool special education program. Another group factors — such as language delays or poor social skills — qualify for a state preschool program that will end after this school year.

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.

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 identi ed as toddlers, their plan has a di erent name and acronym than the one on the preschool application.

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. e 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 ag their concern when applying for universal preschool.

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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. ose who have Indi-

O cials 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 elded calls from parents whose 3-year-old children don’t qualify for free preschool according to the application system. ey say things like, “I’m really worried about my child’s language, they’re only speaking in one- or twoword phrases,” she said.

In such cases, Noblitt said, the district helps get the child evaluated