Boulder preschool raises concerns about new Universal Preschool model

Jan. 31—Editor's note: The story has been updated to reflect that the Colorado Association of School Executives advocated to keep at-risk 3-year-olds in school district programs when the Universal Preschool bill was being written. The source of the advocacy was incorrect in a previous version.

New Horizons Cooperative Preschool leaders are worried about the future of the small, bilingual preschool in north Boulder as funding changes for 3-year-olds under Colorado's new Universal Preschool program.

"Universal Preschool sounds great, and you hope it gives more access and opportunity to everybody," said New Horizons assistant director and lead teacher Eva Nisttahuz-Hathaway. "But this 3-year-old thing is definitely a big wrinkle."

The voluntary Universal Preschool program, established in a new state law approved in April, provides up to 15 hours of free preschool for 4-year-olds in the fall at school-based programs, community-based programs and home providers.

Three-year-olds with certain qualifying at-risk factors also can receive up to 10 hours of free preschool in the fall. But qualifying at-risk 3-year-olds generally will be served only by school districts — a change from how it worked under the previous model.

New Horizons is one of three community preschool programs currently contracted with the Boulder Valley School District to enroll at-risk 3-year-olds, whose tuition is covered by the state. With the start of Universal Preschool in the fall, all at-risk 3-year-olds will be served only by the school district.

"For our program, our goal is to really serve underserved communities," Nisttahuz-Hathaway said. "If we can't get funding for 3-year-olds, we have to find other ways to subsidize them. This year, a third of our enrollment is those 3-year-olds."

She said New Horizons also worries it will end up with fewer 4-year-olds, putting the preschool's future at risk if enrollment drops.

"Once they're settled in a (school) district program, they're not going to come back to a community program like ours," she said, adding many at-risk 3-year-olds need two years of preschool to get them ready socially and academically for kindergarten.

To qualify as at-risk, a 3-year-old needs to receive special education services, come from a low-income family, speak English as a second language or be homeless or in foster care.

For next school year, as the first year of Universal Preschool, the state agreed to a "hold harmless" provision for both school districts and the community preschool providers that previously contracted with. This means that if New Horizons receives less funding next year, the state will make up the difference.

That provision gives New Horizons and other community providers an extra year to figure out funding options for at-risk 3-year-olds, who will continue to be eligible for the state's Child Care Assistance program. Depending on a family's income, that program covers full to partial preschool tuition.

Ending the state's community partner rule, which had required districts to contract with community providers to serve some of their at-risk 3-year-olds, was a request made by the Colorado Association of School Executives as the Universal Preschool bill was written.

School districts, as well as state education officials, were concerned about how the Universal Preschool program could impact providing inclusive preschool programs.

Federal law requires school districts to provide services to 3-year-olds identified with disabilities in the "least restrictive" environment. School districts, which generally offer preschool programs with a mix of typically developing students and special education students, wanted to make sure they could enroll enough typical 3-year-olds to continue to provide the federally required inclusive environment.

Kimberly Bloemen, Boulder Valley's Early Childhood Education executive director, said both the district and community preschools are all subject to the new laws and are working to figure it out while the the state is still determining the rules.

"I don't know how many kids are going to come to us," she said. "This is a new program, and we're all trying to figure it out. We're all kind of learning as we go. We know that creates some anxiety out in the system."

The change led to some confusion for both families and providers as they tried to sign up 3-year-olds through the new state application, which went live Jan. 17.

While families of 4-year-olds can choose up to five preschool programs, the application only allows families of at-risk 3-year-olds to choose a school district. Once Boulder Valley receives the 3-year-old applications from the state, district employees will work with each family to place students at a district preschool, Bloemen said.

"We will work really hard to meet their top five choices," she said.

Families have until Feb. 14 to apply for the Universal Preschool program to be included in the first batch of acceptances. The state plans to match families with preschool programs around Feb. 17, sending the matches to the school district or private preschool. Once approved, the placement then goes to the family for final approval, around March 10.