Many 3-year-olds in Universal Preschool Will Likely End Up In School Districts. Will That Shutter Colorado’s Community Providers? continued from page 10...

ability to also care for infants and toddlers.

“If someone wanted to remove infant toddler opportunities from communities in Colorado, one of the quickest ways to do it would be to pull 3- and 4-year-olds out of child care centers,” he said. “Whether the state or school districts know it, they are undermining the ability for providers to provide infant toddler care to families and communities by pulling them.”

New Horizons Co-Op Preschool in Boulder, which opened after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated and has since evolved into a bilingual center for Spanishspeaking families, currently cares for 33 children, with 19 students funded by the Colorado Preschool Program, 12 of them who are 3 years old, Nisttahuz-Hathaway said.

The preschool, which has become even more diverse by serving local Nepalese children, did not learn that 3-year-olds in the expanded preschool program would not receive funding to attend its center until staff members attempted to help families try to register their 3-year-olds and were unable to enroll them.

For instance, state rules dictate that one staff member can oversee five infants while one staff member is needed for every five to seven toddlers, depending on their ages. Meanwhile, one staff member can care for 10 children from 3 years old to 4 years old and 12 children from 4 years old to 5 years old.

“They need that full balance, that full spectrum of children in their program to be able to provide them the ability to sustain and offer those services,” she said.

Moving 3-year-olds out of community providers and into school districts could pinch community providers and jeopardize their sustainability at a time parents are already struggling to find infant and toddler care, Alexander said.

“It threatens our entire state economy,” she said.

A growing list of community providers and parents want to see legislative changes that would allow families of 3-year-olds in the expanded program to choose the type of preschool they see fit for their child. They are advocating for those changes to be included in a “clean up bill” the Department of Early Childhood is drafting to refine language in the law that created universal preschool that is outdated or ambiguous.

A survey initiated by the Early Childhood Education Association of Colorado two weeks ago has drawn more than 315 responses from concerned providers and families, Alexander said. About 140 providers and families have indicated they will give written testimony, and about 90 providers and families are willing to give inperson testimony to lawmakers.

Community providers and teachers are equally concerned about how much shuffling kids between child care and preschool programs in school districts and those housed by community providers could hurt their development. Children thrive on routine and consistency, experts say.

“Quite honestly, I haven’t heard any real good reasons as to why it’s set up that way in the first place,” Bright said. “If you think about it very logically, 2-year-olds are in a mixed delivery setting; 3 year olds are being pushed to school districts; 4 year olds go back to mixed delivery; and 5 year olds go back to the school district.”

Community providers also wonder why the state is mandating that 3-year-olds in the expanded preschool program be automatically routed to district-run preschools when state leaders have been touting a mixed delivery system since first setting out to open up preschool to more families. That system draws on a variety of preschool settings — school districts, community providers and home-based providers — so that parents have options and can place their child in an environment best suited to their learning needs.

Nisttahuz-Hathaway, the assistant director and a lead teacher, believes that parents of 3-year-olds who enroll in the expanded preschool program should have a full menu of schooling options.

“That shouldn’t only be extended to 4-year-olds,” Nisttahuz-Hathaway said. “The 3-year-olds who qualify, they need a lot of support. They need two years of preschool. They should also be able to choose the program that best fits their needs.”

She also worries that losing 3-year-olds next year will impact the preschool’s future classes of 4-year-olds in universal preschool.

“Most people will do what’s most convenient, which is staying in the place where they are,” she said.

The state has created something of a financial safety net for community providers who have partnered with a school district to educate children through the Colorado Preschool Program, offering them “hold harmless” funding for one year, Shuler said. That means that if a community provider receives less funding under the state’s expanded preschool program in its first year than the amount they received this school year under the Colorado Preschool Program, the state will pay them the difference.

It will help community preschools like New Horizons Co-Op Preschool, but it won’t guarantee they will be able to keep their doors open long term.

“It doesn’t change the sustainability problem over time,” Nisttahuz-Hathaway said. “So it buys us a tiny bit of time to try to figure things out, but it doesn’t solve the sort of fundamental issues that are at the heart of that.”

Colorado Sun staff writer Jesse Paul contributed to this report.

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported news organization that covers Colorado people, places and issues. To sign up for free newsletters, subscribe or learn more, visit ColoradoSun.com

Toddlers play on bikes on Feb. 13, 2023, at New Horizons Co-Op Preschool in Boulder. New Horizons, founded in 1968, utilizes a bilingual preschool program for up to 16 children at a time. (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)

“It was obviously important to legislators to put 4-year-olds in mixed delivery settings,” said Bright, who also is on the board of the Early Childhood Education Association of Colorado and serves on the Rules Advisory Council, which advises the Department of Early Childhood. “It confuses me as to why it wasn’t as equally important to leave 3-year-olds in mixed delivery settings and instead push them through school districts.”

State officials say the way they are serving 3-year-olds in the expanded preschool program falls in line with state statute and does not interfere with the mixed delivery system set up for 4-year-olds.

Bright’s centers cater to about 1,000 3- and 4-year olds, with about two-thirds of those children funded through the Colorado Preschool Program and Preschool Special Education.

He fears that losing 3-year-olds from community providers will compromise their

How could we have the comfort to make everyday decisions without our local law enforcement, paramedics, fire department, veterans, and active military? These groups of people have worked together in defending and keeping peace across America. Our newest addition to law enforcement, the Keenesburg Police Department, will now be contributing to this peacekeeping mission in our town. The police have helped rescue me from an extremely traumatic and deadly home for which I am very grateful and thank them. We truly are a very peaceful community, and the people in the new police department will help keep it in order. Next up, our paramedics and the local fire department have been doing a great job responding to emergencies in a timely manner and helping whenever they are called. These courageous people have also taught me how to save lives through a CPR and First /aid course. And for that and much more, I thank them. The veterans who have fought for us in wars and battles past had given me my first inspiration and the military was all that I could ever think about since they were around me all the time. And I thank them for their past sacrifices and support to keep our country free during international conflicts. We wouldn’t have the freedoms we love today without them. Finally, the active military members who are currently serving our country and our citizens keep us all secure from international threats and attacks. Thank you for keeping us safe and sound even when we don’t know it. We must do all we can to thank these diverse groups of people today and every day who protect and help us. Thank you all for your service!

Mike

9,000 Children don’t show up in Colorado School Data. Are They Missing or in Private School? continued from page 7...

they can do to really support them,” she said.

Public school approaches on everything from math instruction to gender have alienated conservative parents, Craig said. Families want an education tailored to their child and their faith.

“For too long we’ve put education in its own box and said 2 plus 2 is 4 and that’s not religious,” he said. “And that’s just not true. Our world view is in everything.”

Tracking these students is tricky. Some families may not report. Craig’s group advises families they are not legally required to report if one parent is a licensed teacher — an interpretation of the state’s compulsory attendance law that state education officials disagree with.

Colorado’s public school enrollment data also includes thousands of home-school students who take a class or receive a service from a local public school. That means the real number of home-school students is higher and the real number of public school students lower than publicly available data suggests.

Fall 2020 saw hundreds of thousands of Colorado students learning at home. Some of them stayed there.

RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post

Enrollment declines are cause for concern

Regardless of the exact number, missing students and disengaged families demand attention, observers said. Schools connect students not just with education but also with meals, medical care, and community. Schools with fewer students also get less money. Many Denver metro area districts have closed schools or plan to.

Polling data that the conservative education group Ready Colorado expects to release this month shows a big increase in parents concerned that schools are on the wrong track. That aligns with a Magellan Strategies poll from last spring — though the reasons for dissatisfaction were diverse.

Ready Colorado President Brenda Dickhoner said she knows more families who thought private school was out of reach but re-examined their options as they grew less satisfied with their local public school.

“I’m less concerned with whether Joey is in private or public school, but I’m really interested in understanding the parent motivations,” she said.

Colwell of the Children’s Campaign said she worries that more families may be opting out — even though the vast majority of Colorado families continue to enroll in public school.

“We want kids to be connected to high-quality learning opportunities,” she said. “For families to make the choice that they’ll disengage entirely, to see an increasing number of families making that choice in the wake of the pandemic and the political environment, is concerning.”

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

“Leadership in Agriculture: Meet Amy McFarland”

by Madison Richmann

Amy McFarland, a Keenesburg local, is doing her part in the community to advocate for agriculture. Amy grew up outside of Alliance, Nebraska on a small ranch. Along with her siblings, Amy was a 4-H member showing market lambs and steers, dairy goats, and horses. After high school, she stepped away from agriculture a bit, earning a double degree in business administration and journalism. After earning her degree Amy worked for Sandhills Publishing where she started to get back into agriculture; she worked here for nearly 2 years before moving out here to Colorado where she started work as an Adams County 4-H Agent. Amy was not looking for a job when the opening at Aims came up. She had been working beside the former ag instructor who saw Amy the perfect fit for her position when she moved out of state. Amy laughed that she was afraid she was not even qualified for the job she had been convinced to apply for; however she now has two master degrees, one in management and the other in agriculture education. The rest is history, as Amy is currently in her seventh year teaching at Aims.

Although she never imagined teaching in her future, Amy firmly believes Aims Community College is where it is meant to be. Amy is currently the Agriculture Sciences and Technology Department Chair and Faculty at Aims, teaching multiple agriculture business and animal sciences courses. The Agriculture Communications course offered by Aims was created by Amy herself, making the class her favorite to teach. Amy says that this class really played to what she considers her skill set and passion for communicating more effectively about agriculture.

“The better we can communicate about our industry, agriculture, to bridge the gap between consumers and producers, the more our industry can thrive. I integrate communication in all of my courses to equip students with the skills to thrive in agriculture. The key to success when communicating in agriculture is creating a relationship of trust and respect.

Although she loves teaching the Agriculture Communications class, Amy says the course she feels to be the most beneficial is Farm and Ranch Management. She feels that this class impacts students the most as it focuses on the business aspect of agriculture. During the course of Farm and Ranch management students create a business plan start to finish that they can then take with them to use after, making this class very applicable for students wanting to pursue an agriculture career.

When asked her favorite part of working at Aims, Amy said “I have a passion for agriculture and feel strongly about defending it as an industry but also really love teaching to help students grow their passions. I am very fortunate to be able to do both things that I love in this position.” Although Amy teaches at a collegiate level, agriculture is taught as an elective curriculum through high school.

“Even a minor understanding of agriculture is as important as health, science, math, etc. It is becoming very evident that we need to better educate on where our food comes from; making agriculture a part of a core curriculum would do this and have so many benefits. ” Amy feels very strongly that agriculture education should be expanded beyond an elective curriculum.

“Statistics show that we are on average three generations removed from agriculture. Kids often educate parents as much as the latter in my opinion, so if we are teaching kids at an early age about where their food comes from, where it is made, etc. that is going to have a ripple effect. In a backwards way, we could fill those three generations back and then have a great model moving forwards so that everyone has a better understanding of agriculture and its importance.”

Agriculture impacts every single thing we do. In any of her courses you may take, you will hear Amy say, “Ag is ag is ag,” which she says is one of her favorite quotes.

“It puts into perspective how agriculture truly makes the world go round, and shows that we are truly a united industry.” She also mentions that only 2% of the world feeds and clothes 100% of the population, which gives the gravity of how impactful agriculture is for every single person.

“I am lucky enough to know and feel that I am making an impact everyday.”

As an agriculture based community we are so thankful we have people like Amy to educate others about such a predominant and important industry in our world. She is definitely making a difference, as she not only teaches, but inspires and encourages the best out of her students.

“We are so fortunate to live in Weld County, a true agriculture powerhouse. The future of agriculture is bright, but we have to continue to advocate for the industry and get more people interested and educated. If you want to make a difference, agriculture is the place to be.” - Amy

McFarland