Aurora will offer preschool to families that qualify for free universal childcare

Thanks to a new state law, Colorado kids from low and even middle-income families are eligible for free preschool this fall. The City of Aurora has offered public preschool for decades, now they are using the statewide program to help more kids gain a solid foundation of learning.

The Acting Preschool Senior Supervisor for the City of Aurora, Melisa Guggenmos says preschool is important if you want your child to have a successful academic career.

"Preschool is the beginning of their educational journey," she said. "We work on all of your basic skills we need to know for academics. When you look at a high school student and they are studying geometry, that starts with shapes."

Now that the Universal Pre-K bill has become law, all Colorado kids aged four and some aged three will get the opportunity to get a jump start on learning.

"Now all of a sudden preschool is free for everybody in the state," said Guggenmos.

She says interest in the city's program has skyrocketed.

"We're getting calls every day from families asking, "How do we sign up? Where do we go? How do I get my kid enrolled?'" said Guggenmos.

Enrollment is open in Aurora to all Colorado families, but to get the 10 to 15 free hours a week, the state is offering you have to qualify.

"With our programs will have approximately 300 slots for preschool students, about 200 of them will be designated for specifically 4-year-olds who want to come into our program, and about 100 of them will be designated through the school district for 3-year-old students who have a risk factor and need maybe two years of preschool to really get them ready to go into kindergarten," said Guggenmos.

Right now, in Aurora, there will be five schools offering Universal Pre-K, but Melisa says that could change in the future.

"If there's a huge demand and more and more students need placements, that's always a consideration that we can look at is where else could we provide preschool programs for the city," she said.

If you want to find out more about the city's preschool programs, you can find more information on the City of Aurora website.