Bezos Academy will open a tuition-free, full-day preschool in Lakeland in 2025

Polk County Public Schools announced a step Wednesday toward filling a local need for free, voluntary Pre-K opportunities to district families.

The district said in a news release that a tuition-free, full-day preschool, the Bezos Academy, will be setting up in a section of Oscar J. Pope Elementary, 2730 Maine Ave. in Lakeland.

The partnership is one of several steps the Polk school district is taking to provide needed pre-kindergarten learning opportunities to district families.

Superintendent Frederick Heid told the county commissioners during a Nov. 3 discussion that 1,000 students are on the waitlist to attend voluntary pre-kindergarten in Polk County, and the demand is growing as parents learn about the benefits of preschool.

“Students that attend VPK outperform students who do not attend VPK by over 20 percentage points by the time they reach third grade as far as their overall reading proficiency,” Heid said during the commissioners' agenda review in Bartow.

He said the percentage of Florida students attending VPK is 61%, but in Polk County only 40% of the district’s youngest potential pupils are enrolled. “And part of that is access.”

There are two existing schools that are being assessed for feasibility to renovate them and eventually serve as instruction space for full-time pre-kindergarten.

All new elementary schools in Polk County now have a pre-K learning center built in, Heid said. Another option will be partnerships such as the Bezos Academy, which had approached the district about a Pre-K learning center.

“We have to get more comfortable with recognizing we don’t have all the solutions all the time,” Heid said of the third-party partnership.

“There are a lot of opportunities to maximize our (return on investment) rather than just building more schools in existing areas,” he said of the overall effort to improve Pre-K access.

The tuition-free academy at Oscar J. Pope will operate year-round, according to a news release issued Wednesday by the school district.

The five-classroom preschool will accommodate up to 100 students ages 3 to 5. The Academy will approach learning with a Montessori-inspired curriculum that “focuses on hands-on activities to teach literacy, math, sensory development, social-emotional learning, and more,” the release said.

Bezos Academy will cover its own expenses for preschool programs at no cost to the families served. The hiring, training and educator pay will be provided by the organization, as well as breakfast-to-dinner meals and snacks.

Beyond its programing, Bezos Academy provides students with educational supplies and support services, including Montessori materials, books, arts and crafts, field trips and meals.

“This partnership will help expand access to high-quality preschool education for our most underserved families,” Heid said in the district's release. “Children who participate in this program will build a strong foundation for lifelong learning.

“Research shows that children who successfully complete preschool are more likely to graduate from high school,” Heid said. “In addition, they develop important socialization skills, including how to follow rules, share, and communicate with others.”

The president of Bezos Academy, Mike George said, “When I visit our schools, I’m always struck by the impact that a tuition-free, full-day preschool can have on a community. Preschool gets children get off to the right educational start, while also helping parents and families make time and space for their own careers.

“We’re grateful to have found partners in Superintendent Heid and the Polk County School Board who know firsthand the difference that preschool can make to a child’s future, and who are deeply invested in expanding access to early childhood education in Lakeland,” George said.

Families earning up to 400% of the federal poverty level (about $120,000 per year for a family of four) with children aged 3-4 are eligible to apply, the release said. The preschool is expected to open in 2025. Once the opening date is set, more information and an application for the lottery-based selection process will be posted at www.bezosacademy.org.

The Bezos Academy is a nonprofit organization that is building a network of tuition-free preschools, it said. As of November, Bezos Academy had 19 schools operating across Washington, Texas and Florida. The organization also has agreements to open more schools across those states and others, including Hawaii, Kentucky and Arizona.

Polk County Public Schools is one of the largest school districts in the nation, serving more than 116,000 students.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Bezos Academy partners with Polk County Schools to provide new Pre-K