Colorado's shortfall on Universal Pre-K and how one school district will step in
All around Colorado parents are getting emails like the one Jocelyn Barrientos got.
"I was for it. But then obviously that's all changed now," said Barrientos. Her 4-year-old daughter Aila was set to attend preschool with the help of Colorado's new Universal Pre-K program in two weeks.
"I mean I was good until I got that email," said Barrientos.
The email indicated that due to limited funding, not all families who want full-time Pre-K will get it covered by the state.
It will be up to families to pay the remainder. Phone calls didn't bring much relief or an answer. Aila's pre-school was to start in two weeks. Now Barrientos and her husband are not sure what to do.
"Frustrating on my part and I'm sure on their part because they didn't have answers to give," said Barrientos.
Conor Cahill, spokesman for Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement,
"To date, nearly 36,000 families are participating in Universal Preschool Colorado, of which 50 percent have at least one qualifying factor. While all participating students are guaranteed up to 15 hours of funding, due to a large number of enrollees, CDEC does not have enough funding to provide families with only one qualifying factor full-day preschool funding in the 2023-24 school year."
There are five qualifying factors, which are things like low-income, homelessness or an Individualized Education Program (IEP).
Gov. Polis has signed a new ballot measure up for a vote in November, Proposition II, required under TABOR which will ask voters to approve the idea of retaining more funding for universal preschool from increased taxes on cigarettes, tobacco and nicotine products approved under Proposition EE in 2020.
One community is stepping in on its own this year.
"We're honoring what we've told families that we would provide for this year," said Aurora Public Schools chief financial officer Brett Johnson. "The timing has been the biggest challenge as when that decision was made."
Knowing the demand for Universal Pre-K, they had expected it.
"We had a reasonably high expectation or looming thought that the funding would not be sufficient for what was on the table," he said.
It means covering the costs for families who will lose out on state funding for preschool beyond the 15 hours a week, which totals $6000 of state help per year. Aurora is supporting the concept of Universal Pre-K.
"We want to be the first one at the door to serve as many kids as possible," he said.
The district expects the cost this year will be close to an additional million dollars.
The future is another matter.
"In future years we're going to have to figure out how we're going to close the gap, whether it's through tuition, whether the district decides to backfill the shortfall on its own or whether the state legislature decides to shore up money especially for the at-risk side," said Johnson.
