Chalkbeat

Colorado’s preschool program is reaching lots of kids but needs to focus on quality, new evaluation says

2026-07-30T23:05:29+00:00

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Colorado’s free preschool program has been popular with families since it launched three years ago, but state leaders need to raise the bar on quality.

That finding from a state-mandated evaluation of the $349 million program echoes concerns long raised by advocates that universal preschool started with minimal standards on class size, curriculum, and teacher training, among other things.

The evaluation, conducted by Child Trends and released in early July, provides the first comprehensive look at what’s gone well and what hasn’t in the universal preschool program’s initial two years. One of Gov. Jared Polis’ signature initiatives, the program provides 10 to 30 hours a week of tuition-free preschool to about 70% of the state’s 4-year-olds.

State officials rushed to roll out the preschool program in 2023, shortly after the state’s new Department of Early Childhood was created. The tight timeline meant more than 40,000 children were soon getting half- or full-day preschool for free — a relief for many families. But the fast pace contributed to some initial problems cited by the evaluation.

Those include confusion about enrollment processes, frustration over how state officials communicated about the program, and concern that the state didn’t prioritize quality.

The evaluation says the concern about quality is exacerbated by a report from the National Institute for Early Education Research showing that Colorado’s universal preschool program meets only two of 10 benchmarks meant to promote preschool quality.

“The optics of it are not good,” said Heather Tritten, president and CEO of the Colorado Children’s Campaign, a Denver-based advocacy group. “You see the two out of 10, and you think, ‘Oh my gosh, that must not be a good program.’”

But the reality is more complicated, she said. That’s because some of the research institute’s benchmarks may not attainable or desirable in Colorado — for example, one that requires a bachelor’s degree for lead preschool teachers.

Other benchmarks include class size caps of 20 students, teacher-student ratios of 1 to 10, and a requirement that assistant teachers have a widely recognized credential called a Child Development Associate or the equivalent.

Tritten said state officials should spell out the quality standards they strive to hit.

“Without having our own set of standards or defining it within (the research institute’s) standards, we’re not communicating why our universal pre-K program is high quality,” she said. “I think that might be the biggest problem.”

Dawn Odean, Colorado’s universal preschool director, said the state is focusing on preschool quality, with several changes set to take effect in the next couple years.

They include requirements that universal preschool providers use either a state-vetted curriculum or an approach that meets certain state standards. They’ll also have to use an observation-based assessment to monitor preschool students’ skills and progress.

State officials will begin piloting a tool this coming year that will assess teacher-student relationships and interactions during in-person visits, Odean said.

Alma Wiley, who runs an in-home child care business in El Paso County and participates in universal preschool, likes that idea.

“From centers to family child care homes to school districts, having those relationships is what children thrive on,” she said. “If we don’t have those bonding relationships in the first five years, we’re just not building the foundation for them.”

But Wiley, who cares for nine children including two children in the state-funded preschool program, thinks the program should require lower class sizes and teacher-student ratios. She unsuccessfully pushed for that as a member of a state council that advises the Colorado Department of Early Childhood.

Under state rules, universal preschool classrooms can have up to 22 students and a teacher-student ratio of 1 to 11 if providers have a Level 1 or Level 2 rating, the lowest two of five state ratings in the state’s Colorado Shine’s system. Providers with higher ratings can have up to 24 preschoolers and teacher student ratios of 1 to 12.

“They need one-on-one with the caregiver … to build those relationships, to build that foundation,” said Wiley, whom the children call Miss Alma. “So, having 12 kids in one classroom to a teacher, I don’t think is beneficial to a child at this age level.”

Of the more than 2,000 preschool providers in the state-funded program, 54% have the lowest two state ratings, according to the evaluation.

Odean said the state will unveil a five-year strategic plan for universal preschool in November.

“We have to show child outcomes,” she said. “That’s the point of this program. It isn’t just a subsidy,”

Odean said she expects the state’s preschool program to meet several of the 10 benchmarks recommended by the National Institute for Early Education Research in the coming years.

“Are we specifically, intentionally trying to hit a 10?” she said. “Not necessarily.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Voter guide: Where the 2026 Colorado Republican Party gubernatorial candidates stand on education

2026-06-12T21:44:46+00:00

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Where do Colorado’s gubernatorial candidates stand on education issues?

Chalkbeat Colorado analyzed the education records of the candidates ahead of the primaries on June 30. The field includes two Democrats and three Republicans.

Read about each of the three Republican Party candidates below:

State Rep. Scott Bottoms

What is Bottoms’ record on education?

Bottoms, 55, has served as a Colorado state representative since 2023. The Colorado Springs resident is pastor of the Colorado Springs Church at Briargate and a U.S. Navy veteran.

Bottoms called the state’s education system “broken” in an interview with KUNC.

During his three years as a state representative, Bottoms has sponsored three bills related to transgender youth, including one that would have banned the participation of transgender students in gendered sports unless they were co-ed. All three bills failed.

Voter guide: Where the 2026 Colorado Democratic Party gubernatorial candidates stand on education

In a Colorado Sun questionnaire, Bottoms has said he supports Initiatives 108, 109 and 110.

Initiative 108 would require a person convicted of trafficking a child for sexual servitude to serve life in prison. Initiative 109 would require student athletes to participate on teams that match their sex assigned at birth. And Initiative 110 would prohibit surgeries for children under age 18 that alter their biological sex characteristics.

The Bottoms campaign did not respond to requests for an interview before deadline, or say whether he would enroll Colorado in the new federal education tax-credit program.

What is Bottoms’ platform for education?

Supporting parents’ right to direct their child’s education.
Offering tax incentives for stay-at-home parents and caregivers.
Pushing for curriculum transparency and allowing for school boards to reject “state-imposed ideologies.”
Protecting kids from politicized content, boosting online safety, and ensuring students can only compete in gendered sports based on their sex assigned at birth.
Reforming family courts, education, and healthcare, as well as addressing grandparents’ rights, after-school programs, and parental issues.

State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer

What is Kirkmeyer’s record on education?

Kirkmeyer, 67, is a Weld County resident who has a bachelor of science in education from the University of Colorado Boulder. She’s spent most of her career working as a dairy farmer and small business owner.

Kirkmeyer’s first year in the Colorado Senate was in 2021, and she has served on the Senate Education Committee. She also spent four years on the powerful Joint Budget Committee, which helps craft the state budget.

Kirkmeyer has been an active member of the state legislature, filing over 300 bills. Many have involved education.

Kirkemeyer sponsored bipartisan laws to create a task force to study the statewide K-12 education accountability system, establish a grant program to help schools affected by the mineral and gas industry create park-like environments at schools, and allow high school students to take four-year university courses off campus.

She’s often talked about the need to protect state education funding through difficult budget cuts, although she’s against tax increases.

This year, she was part of a group of lawmakers that filed the state’s School Finance Act ahead of the state budget. The school funding bill didn’t get considered until after the state budget, but district leaders said the early filing allowed them to provide more feedback on their needs before its passage.

Kirkmeyer has said she will vote yes on Initiatives 108, 109 and 110.

In a Colorado Public Radio interview, Kirkmeyer highlighted that she helped end the budget stabilization factor, which allowed lawmakers to divert money away from education for other priorities. Lawmakers ended the practice in 2024, though Kirkmeyer said the state still underfunds education.

Kirkmeyer’s campaign didn’t respond to requests for an interview before deadline, and didn’t answer a question about her position on the new federal education tax credits.

What is Kirkmeyer’s platform for education?

Requiring at least 65% of state funding to be spent in the classroom.
Ensuring programs are backed by evidence before funding can continue.
Supporting district efforts to ban cellphones in classrooms.
Ensuring every high school has a police officer on site.
Equipping schools with camera systems that have artificial intelligence weapons-detection systems to speed up threat detection and public safety officials’ reaction times.

Victor Marx

What is Marx’s record on education?

Marx, 60, is the founder and CEO of All Things Possible, a nonprofit humanitarian ministry. The Colorado Springs resident is also an author who has written two books about his life.

In interviews, Marx has focused on his leadership experience as a political outsider. He has little documented experience with education issues and hasn’t said much about them in interviews.

In an interview with Colorado Public Radio, Marx said he wants to make it easier for families to pay for childcare. And in campaign videos, Marx has said he wants to help young people stay in Colorado after they’ve gone to college.

Marx said in a Colorado Sun candidate questionnaire that he supports Initiatives 108, 109 and 110.

Marx’s campaign didn’t respond to requests for an interview, and didn’t say what his position is about the new federal tax credits for education.

What is Marx’s education platform?

The one major mention of an education policy on his campaign website calls to direct the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment to expand apprenticeship programs, as well as create workforce pipelines in construction, technology, energy, and other fields.

His website says Marx wants to provide incentives to employers that sponsor apprenticeships through tax benefits and recruitment support. He also wants to guarantee that apprentices have pathways to enter various fields.

Jason Gonzales is a reporter covering higher education and the Colorado legislature. Chalkbeat Colorado partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage. Contact Jason at jgonzales@chalkbeat.org.

Voter guide: Where the 2026 Colorado Democratic Party gubernatorial candidates stand on education

2026-06-12T21:42:10+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat Colorado’s free daily newsletter to get the latest reporting from us, plus curated news from other Colorado outlets, delivered to your inbox.

Where do Colorado’s gubernatorial candidates stand on education issues?

Chalkbeat Colorado analyzed the education records of the candidates ahead of the primaries on June 30. The field includes two Democrats and three Republicans.

Read about each of the Democratic Party candidates below:

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet

What is Bennet’s record on education?

Bennet, 61, who resides in Denver, has served as a United States senator since 2009. Education has been a pillar of his political career, including during an unsuccessful 2019 presidential campaign.

Bennet’s education experience started in 2005, when he was hired as superintendent of the state’s largest school district, Denver Public Schools.

Under Bennet, Denver Public Schools shut down low-performing and underenrolled schools, expanded school choice, and allowed more charter schools to operate in the district. The changes he made helped improve student academic achievement, but some remain controversial to this day.

Voter guide: Where the 2026 Colorado Republican Party gubernatorial candidates stand on education

Bennet left Denver Public Schools when he was appointed to fill an open U.S. Senate seat in 2009. In Congress, he helped usher in the Every Student Succeeds Act, which succeeded the No Child Left Behind Act and is the primary federal law governing K-12 education.

He serves on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and notably voted against the appointment of Betsy DeVos to be U.S. education secretary in 2017.

Bennet has said Colorado needs to make childcare more affordable, including by creating a dedicated funding source and using underenrolled schools to house early childhood programs. He also said he believes Gov. Jared Polis’ focus on kindergarten and early childhood has been a success.

Bennet’s campaign said he doesn’t support private school vouchers or public funds going to private or religious schools.

But Bennet believes rejecting a federal program that would provide tax credits for donations to scholarship-granting organizations “could be short sighted and put millions of dollars that could help kids in Colorado at risk.” He believes Colorado should wait until rules for the programs are finalized before making a decision, his campaign said.

What is Bennet’s platform for education?

Raising wages for Colorado educators.
Increasing the number of educator training programs, including apprenticeships.
Improving statewide resources and training for teaching math and reading.
Tackling student mental health challenges, curbing violence in schools, and creating more opportunities for kids to get outdoors.
Making Colorado the first state where every student will earn a living wage after high school by increasing the number of career training and college classes offered in high school, and boosting access to apprenticeships and industry credentials.

Bennet said he wants to be an education governor

In an interview, Bennet said he would be an education governor who understands that school district officials need state funding and support.

He highlighted his record in Denver Public Schools, where he said he helped raise academic achievement, improved graduation rates, and curbed the dropout rate. A 2024 study by the University of Colorado Denver’s Center for Education Policy Analysis backs up some of his claims.

Bennet said he still believes that the state’s education system needs changes.

“I think in Colorado we have the opportunity for the whole country to pursue quality at scale, pursue rigor at scale, and give teachers and school districts the support they need to be able to deliver for our kids,” he said.

Attorney General Phil Weiser

What is Weiser’s record on education?

Weiser, 55, who lives in Denver, has served as the state’s attorney general since 2019. As attorney general, Weiser has focused on school safety and student mental health.

Weiser’s office leads the state’s Safe2Tell program, which allows students to anonymously report violent threats. He’s also helped oversee the program’s expansion.

Weiser issued grants to help curb student cellphone use in schools, even before state lawmakers required districts to create policies about it.

He also oversees the Office of School Safety and the Office of Gun Violence Prevention and sought to provide training to teachers and school administrators as gun laws have evolved.

Weiser recently backed a state law that requires school districts to publicly display how they help at-risk students and issued grants to combat youth vaping.

He’s also said that technical education should expand to more districts. He backed the creation of youth apprenticeship program CareerWise Colorado a decade ago.

Weiser has been active in suing the Trump administration, including several lawsuits related to education and childcare.

And Weiser has said he would not participate in the federal tax credit program if elected. He said he believes it would take money away from public education.

What is Weiser’s platform for education?

Preserving funding for effective prenatal and early childhood programs.
Creating strategies for childhood mental health.
Increasing funding for childcare access to make it more affordable.
Increasing funding for teacher pay.
Expanding apprenticeships, career and technical education, and low-cost job training options.

Weiser wants to support schools and student safety

In an interview, Weiser said the state is not spending enough money to help students.

He said kids are struggling with mental health issues, a lack of access to early childhood education, and scant career and technical educational offerings.

Weiser said he would fund new education programs through changes to the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. These shifts would require taxpayer approval.

As governor, he hopes to also increase the number of mentorship opportunities that benefit kids.

“When I’m governor, I’m going to make a full-throated commitment to invest in our kids’ future from cradle to early childhood education to career workforce skills,” he said.

Student math proficiency rises but literacy results are mixed, preliminary Colorado test scores show

2026-05-29T22:50:19+00:00

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The share of Colorado students who met or exceeded state standards on state math tests rose from last year to this year in nearly every grade. But when it comes to literacy, it’s more of a mixed bag.

Those are two major takeaways from the preliminary results on the Colorado Measures of Academic Success, or CMAS, which were released Friday by the Colorado Department of Education. They roughly match nationwide data from last year showing that students’ math performance is ticking up, but that reading scores are stagnant. Explaining those and related trends is not an easy task.

The state also released PSAT and SAT results, with encouraging signs for younger high schoolers.

“These results show both progress and areas where we must continue to improve,” said Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova in a news release about the data.

The preliminary data gives an overall picture of the percentage of students in each grade meeting or exceeding state standards on math, literacy, science, and social studies tests. But it doesn’t show results from specific groups of students, like English learners or students with disabilities. It also doesn’t include district or school level results.

The full data will be publicly released in August, according to an education department news release.

The data released Friday shows math proficiency in elementary and middle schools continues to steadily improve after dropping dramatically during the pandemic.

Nine of the 10 grades tested showed improvements. For example, 39% of fourth graders and 37.8% of eighth graders met or exceeded state standards on the CMAS math exam. That’s a slight improvement over last year.

Literacy proficiency increased for fourth and fifth graders, with students in fourth grade making the greatest strides. The data shows 49.9% of fourth graders were proficient in literacy, up five percentage points from 2025, although proficiency rates for third graders fell.

“Early literacy has been a major focus in Colorado, and we are encouraged by the progress we are seeing,” Cordova said.

Meanwhile, there was a decline in literacy proficiency in every middle school grade by two percentage points. For example, CMAS literacy proficiency dropped 1.7 percentage points to 42.2% of eighth graders.

As for high schoolers, PSAT scores for ninth and tenth graders improved from 2025 in both math and literacy.

In literacy, 65.6% of ninth graders scored proficient or above in literacy while 65.1% of 10th graders did so. Meanwhile, PSAT ninth grade math proficiency increased to 40.6%, and proficiency in math for 10th graders increased to 37.9%.

The news was less rosy for 11th graders. The rate of students meeting or exceeding standards on the SAT math and literacy tests dropped slightly compared to last year. The education department cautioned that low participation in the test continues to skew how to interpret those results. The news release didn’t include the percentage of eligible students taking the test this year.

Science proficiency on the CMAS dropped this year in grades five, eight, and 11. And in social studies, which is tested every three years among a representative sample of students, a quarter of fourth graders and third of seventh graders scored proficient.

In recent years, Colorado lawmakers have sought to make the CMAS shorter, and get testing information out to parents and teachers faster.

For the CMAS, students take what’s known as adaptive tests, which means that based on how students do on the first section of CMAS exams, they get either an easier or harder second section.

Next year, fourth graders will also no longer have to take the CMAS social studies test. Lawmakers eliminated the test for that grade to save money after another budget shortfall.

These Colorado counties have very different politics. Both now offer tax relief to childcare providers.

2026-05-29T19:01:10+00:00

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Two Colorado counties on opposite sides of the political spectrum are the first to use a recent state law to provide property tax relief to childcare businesses, in an effort to help stabilize the industry.

Adams County commissioners, who are all Democrats, and Douglas County commissioners, who are all Republicans, approved their respective property tax rebate plans this spring. The initiatives, which give extra incentives to childcare providers serving infants and toddlers, will send hundreds of dollars to the smallest providers and thousands to the largest ones starting in the second half of 2026.

Lisa Jansen Thompson, who leads the Early Childhood Partnership of Adams County, likened the rebates to one piece in a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle.

“Every little piece helps,” she said “And the more that we’re able to put together pieces, the closer we get to making childcare affordable for families as well as for providers, and making sure there’s enough.”

The new property tax rebate programs are the latest example of efforts by local governments around Colorado to offer financial help to childcare providers, and in turn support the families they serve. In the last few years, voters in more than a dozen cities or counties, including Larimer County and several mountain resort communities, have approved sales or lodging taxes that generate funding for childcare.

Such efforts have expanded as childcare providers face increasing financial headwinds: the end of COVID stimulus money, rising costs, and enrollment drops caused by freezes on childcare aid for low-income families.

Divine Klutsey, president and CEO of Purple Moon Early Learning Center in Northglenn, said he and his wife have considered closing their center, which enrolls about 80 children, because of barely-there profit margins. One Friday this spring, he was on the phone with a plumber whose visit to fix a leaking sink was going to cost $300.

“There’s always something that is not working well,” he said.

This year, Purple Moon’s property tax bill is $36,000, Klutsey said. Typically, he takes out a high-interest loan to pay the bill, and then makes weekly payments.

“I am still paying the one from last year,” he said.

Klutsey doesn’t know exactly how big of a rebate he’ll get back through Adams County’s new program, but said if it covered half his county property taxes it would be a relief.

“Then I don’t have to close the business a year or two down the road,” he said.

The rebate programs in Adams and Douglas counties are possible because of a 2024 state law that allowed counties to offer tax credits or rebates to address local challenges such as housing, childcare, job training, or renewable energy.

Only childcare businesses that pay property taxes or who rent from landlords that pay property taxes are eligible for the rebates. Childcare programs in public schools and churches aren’t eligible because those institutions don’t typically pay property taxes.

Diane Smith, executive director of the Douglas County Early Childhood Council, said private providers tell her the rebates will help level the playing field by cutting some of the overhead costs that other childcare programs don’t have.

Adams and Douglas counties will offer 100% rebates on county property taxes for two categories of providers: home-based programs and those that have infant and toddler spots. Providers outside of those two categories will get 50% rebates in Adams County and 75% rebates in Douglas County.

About 167 providers in Douglas County and 176 providers in Adams County will be eligible for the rebates directly, or through their landlords. Both counties will offer the rebates for one year and county commissioners will consider renewing them next year.

Julie Duran Mullica, chair of the Adams County Board of Commissioners, said approving the rebates was an easy decision for the five-member board even though it could mean a loss of $700,000 in property tax dollars.

“You budget what you value,” she said. “We know how much of a struggle [childcare] is in Adams County.”

At the end of the pilot year, Duran Mullica said she’ll want to see data on how many childcare closures the rebates helped and how many seats providers added.

Mark Arbitrio, who owns Ivybrook Academy in Castle Rock and paid about $20,000 in property taxes last year, said he’ll use a portion of the rebate he hopes to receive to subdivide one of his four classrooms, so that a portion of the space can be used for a new toddler classroom. That room will create around 18 new half-day toddler spots.

Some of the rebate could also go toward retention bonuses for teachers.

“They are the glue to everything that we do,” Arbitrio said. “I mean, I love our curriculum, our school’s beautiful and all that, but they are the glue, right?”

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Julie Duran Mullica’s title. She is the chair of the Adams County Board of Commissioners.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

More than 19,000 Colorado childcare workers benefit from new state tax credit in first year

2026-05-18T22:53:39+00:00

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More than 19,000 Colorado childcare teachers and staff have taken advantage of a new $1,200 state tax credit for workers who support young children, older adults, or people with disabilities.

The Care Worker Tax Credit was created by a 2024 state law and became available for the first time this spring when Coloradans filed returns for the 2025 tax year. It’s available to single filers who earn an adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less and joint filers who earn $100,000 or less.

The income tax credit represents an effort by Colorado lawmakers to help early childhood educators, whose average pay is lower than many fast food and retail workers. It also takes a more expansive view of the workforce than some other initiatives by including people who care for young children outside of state-licensed facilities, often called family, friend, and neighbor caregivers.

About 17,500 childcare workers providing state-licensed care, and 1,800 providing family, friend, and neighbor care sought the new tax credit this year, according to preliminary state data. That’s about $23 million worth of tax relief.

“For too long, early childhood and direct care professionals have been undercompensated, despite the essential role they play in our communities and economy,” Lisa Roy, executive director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, said in a press release.

“The Care Worker Tax Credit represents a meaningful step toward greater financial stability for these professionals who nurture Colorado’s children, support families, and strengthen communities every day,” she said.

State officials said they won’t have numbers showing how many workers caring for older adults and people with disabilities took advantage of the tax credit until the fall.

The care workers tax credit is a refundable tax credit, which means that eligible filers will get money back from the credit even if their tax bill is less than $1,200. For example, if their tax bill is $1,000, the tax credit will cover the bill, and the remaining $200 will be sent to the filer as a refund.

Colorado has another tax credit available to some childcare workers, but it’s expiring after the 2025 tax year. Created by a 2022 state law to encourage early childhood educators to increase their credentials, the Early Childhood Educator Tax Credit provides credits between $872 and $1,743 depending on credential level.

Child care workers who already filed their taxes but did not seek the Care Worker Tax Credit can still do so by amending their tax returns and filing the appropriate paperwork by Oct. 15.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado 2026 legislative roundup: The preschool, K-12, and higher education bills that passed and failed

2026-05-14T20:10:30+00:00

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Colorado lawmakers avoided cuts to the core of public education funding this legislative session despite facing a significant budget shortfall. But with more financial challenges likely in the years ahead, it’s now on voters to decide whether public schools deserve more dollars than the status quo.

A November ballot measure referred by lawmakers in Senate Bill 135 will ask voters if the state can keep part of their tax refund to fund K-12 schools. The state could also spend the extra money on key services such as healthcare and higher education.

Colorado lawmakers avoid big cuts to public education

Lawmakers referred the ballot measure to voters after a second year of needing to cut more than $1.2 billion from the state budget. That made it difficult to approve bills that required state spending. Despite the fiscal constraints, lawmakers did approve numerous education-related bills during the 120 day session. Many bills still require the governor’s signature.

Among them is a new law to allow colleges and K-12 schools to request someone’s guns be temporarily confiscated, a new bilingualism endorsement for high school graduates, and a bill to create a new Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development.

Legislators also approved a bill to allow the Colorado Department of Education to begin hearing 504 plan violations after parents complained that the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights’ process has lagged under the second Trump administration.

Lawmakers also passed another bill regarding the state’s ability to hear civil rights issues in schools, although the bill was significantly scaled back.

House Bill 1141 will expand educational discrimination definitions, such as making pregnancy or being a parent protected statuses. The bill also encourages but doesn’t require the state’s Civil Rights Division to hear school discrimination complaints.

Here’s a roundup of other education bills that passed and failed this legislative session, which ended Wednesday.

The education legislation approved

How do the state’s most effecitve schools help students succeed? That’s the question Senate Bill 170 will require a task force to explore and report back on by next year. The bill was sponsored by Senate President James Coleman after pushback on an “education deserts” bill that would have allowed the state to authorize charter schools in communities with low-performing schools and without local school board agreement.

House and Senate lawmakers approved two somewhat similar bills that would require social media companies to acknowledge a law enforcement warrant and give them a time period to comply. Lawmakers introduced the bills after two students were wounded in a shooting at Evergreen High School in Jefferson County. The shooter, a 16-year-old student who took his own life, had made suspicious social media posts before the shooting.

Senate Bill 11 requires social media companies to acknowledge a warrant within eight hours but gives them 72 hours to comply. The more strict Senate Bill 1255, which Gov. Jared Polis has threatened to veto, also requires social media companies to acknowledge a search warrant within eight hours, but gives an operator only 24 hours to comply under certain conditions.

As part of the budget process, lawmakers filed the state’s School Finance Act in January, which was much earlier than in past years. Senate Bill 23 sets district and state funding levels at $10.2 billion in the 2026-27 school year. Two amendments added to the bill late in the legislative session will dramatically curtail the power of Boards of Cooperative Educational Services, also called BOCES, to authorize bricks and mortar schools or homeschool enrichment programs outside their member school districts.

The powerful Joint Budget Committee also filed House Bill 1428 to require the Colorado Department of Education to provide a variety of information on publicly funded online learning and enrichment programming by Nov. 1.

Due to budgetary constraints, lawmakers decided to phase out a program that extends high school so students can earn college credits toward a teaching degree. House Bill 1357 would allow one more group of high school students to enroll before it ends.

And Colorado lawmakers cut back on how often school districts must administer the state’s Colorado Measures of Academic Success social studies test. Starting next year, only 7th graders will take it, per House Bill 1353.

House Bill 80 creates a Cradle to Career grant program within the Colorado Department of Human Services that would provide educational, extracurricular and social services support to children in poverty. The bill does not provide state funding for the grants. Instead, their availability will depend on charitable contributions from private groups, the federal government, or local governments.

Teachers won’t have to disclose misdemeanor convictions that occurred in the last seven years if they don’t involve a student or at-risk adult under House Bill 1090.

Lawmakers also approved Senate Bill 103 requiring districts to share information on how they help at-risk students in their schools.

Districts will also have an updated process to involve charter schools in local construction ballot measures after the passage of Senate Bill 145.

House Bill 1004 extends an existing tax credit for contributions to child care facilities for 10 more years. The law provides a tax credit of 50% of the value of the donation, up to $100,000.

Municipalities could designate a roadway next to a school as a “school street” that’s closed to traffic or where the speed limit is 10 miles per hour under House Bill 1318, which was inspired by a Littleton middle schooler who was fatally hit by a car while biking to school.

Employees of Colorado’s facility schools, which serve some of the state’s most vulnerable students with the highest needs, will be able to get pension benefits through the state’s Public Employees Retirement Association under House Bill 1146.

Teachers will no longer have to create individualized readiness plans for kindergarten students who score proficiently on readiness tests under House Bill 1050. Instead, the plans will be optional. The bill also requires the state to publicly report kindergarten readiness test scores disaggregated by school district, school, gender, race, and more.

Colorado lawmakers revamped the state’s higher education funding formula in House Bill 1345. The bill received pushback from private colleges after lawmakers cut $14.1 million from private student aid. Private college leaders said the cut, meant to be in effect for just one year, could open the door to a permanent loss of that funding.

Colorado students taking college classes while in high school have only been able to take classes at four-year universities if they take the classes on the college campus. House Bill 1078 would allow high school students to take college-level courses offsite.

Federal cuts have left universities that enroll high percentages of students of color without federal grant funding to support students. House Bill 1006 doesn’t include funding. But lawmakers hope that designating certain colleges as “thriving institutions” will show students of color that those campuses are a welcoming place.

Most Colorado universities will now need to stock abortion medication at on-site health clinics under House Bill 1335, which received final approval on the last day of session.

House Bill 1142 gives civil immunity to board members, staff members, and volunteers at child advocacy groups if these individuals acted reasonably and in good faith in disclosing information about a child or during investigations of child maltreatment.

Education bills that didn’t move forward

Senate Bill 68, designed to study how to reduce CMAS testing time, failed to advance.

After facing concerns from Polis, lawmakers decided to indefinitely postpone House Bill 1292, which would have required Colorado to place nondiscrimination rules on its use of a federal education tax credit program.

Senate Bill 180 would have created a new investment authority that could seek higher returns on certain pots of state money than what state investments typically produce. Tens of millions of dollars from the higher yield investments would have been earmarked to help low-income families pay for childcare. But the bill faced opposition from Colorado’s state treasurer and other groups who said it was risky and possibly violated the state constitution.

Lawmakers decided not to pursue the Building Excellent Teacher and Employee Residences Program in House Bill 139. The $40 million pot of money would have provided financial assistance to districts for workforce housing projects.

Lawmakers rejected a bill that would have raised money for public schools by subjecting microtransactions in online games to a 5% fee. House Bill 1148 was a wide-ranging bill aimed at enhancing data privacy for children on gaming platforms like Roblox and Minecraft. But lawmakers did pass a similar bill, House Bill 1418, that will put the proceeds of the 5% fee toward youth mental health services.

Colorado lawmakers rejected an attempt to change how school board members are elected. Instead of electing school board members at large, Senate Bill 57 would have restricted the pool of voters to those who live in the neighborhoods that the candidate would represent, similar to how Colorado elects its state representatives and congresspeople.

A bill aimed at saving Colorado families money on back-to-school supplies failed to advance. House Bill 1048 would have made children’s clothing and school supplies exempt from the state’s 2.9% sales tax for one weekend in July. A similar bill also failed to advance in 2024.

Lawmakers shelved Senate Bill 166, which would have disqualified candidates from running for school board if they had a recent conviction for certain violent crimes or felony drug offenses.

Colorado lawmakers rejected a bill to cut back on teacher evaluations. House Bill 1291 would have allowed teachers who are rated effective and who have Colorado’s version of tenure to be evaluated every three years instead of annually.

A Denver lawmaker hoped to replicate a city program that gives students a free pass to recreational, museum, and cultural facilities. But House Bill 1055 didn’t advance. The bill, backed by Colorado students, would have allowed for the pilot program to give My Colorado Cards to grades 6-12 students in a limited number of communities.

Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado childcare bill aims to raise millions, cut waitlists for subsidies

2026-04-29T00:02:37+00:00

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More than 9,000 low-income Colorado families are in line for state subsidies to help pay for childcare so parents can work or attend school. Now, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced a bill that could shrink the wait by sending additional money to counties where working parents need help.

Senate Bill 180, introduced Monday, would create a new investment authority that could seek higher returns on certain pots of state money than what state investments typically produce. Some of the proceeds from the higher-yield investments would help low-income families pay for childcare.

Coming late in the legislative session, the bill reflects the tightrope lawmakers are walking as they try to bolster safety net programs while grappling with a $1.2 billion budget shortfall. Instead of shifting scarce general fund dollars from one program to another, lawmakers opted to create a new source of childcare revenue.

“This is a very kind of outside-the-box solution to a problem that’s been here for a long time,” said Sen. Scott Bright, a Platteville Republican and one of the bill’s sponsors. He said if the bill passes, counties could start receiving money to help low-income families with childcare in the spring of 2027.

Currently 27 of the state’s 64 counties have waitlists or freezes in place for the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program, or CCCAP, according to the Colorado Department of Early Childhood. That means a family that’s newly eligible for the state’s subsidy program in those counties can’t get childcare aid, potentially forcing parents to drop out of the workforce or rely on inconsistent or unsafe care arrangements.

Some Colorado counties have been on waitlists or freezes for more than two years. The expiration of COVID stimulus funds and a boost in reimbursement rates for childcare providers have contributed to the funding crunch. CCCAP is mostly funded by the federal government with smaller contributions from the state and counties.

If Bright’s bill becomes law, it would represent “the first time we’ve really established a fund for childcare in Colorado,” said Mathangi Subramanian, director of early childhood policy at the Colorado Children’s Campaign, an advocacy group based in Denver.

“This is important, not just in terms of serving families, but also symbolically, to show that our state believes that childcare is a public good, believes childcare is infrastructure and requires investment,” she said.

Bright, who owns several Weld County childcare centers, said the goal of the proposed investment authority is not to earn outsized returns through risky stock market bets, but rather to get modestly higher returns by investing a bit more aggressively than the state treasurer does.

Here’s how it would work: Certain state entities could opt to have the new authority make investments using some of their money. Enterprises, which are government-owned businesses that get most of their revenue from user fees, are one of the entities that could do so. The investment authority would return a portion of the investment earnings to the enterprise or other entity.

The rest would go to counties where low-income families need help paying for childcare. The new funding would work in tandem with CCCAP funding, but would be a distinct pot of money.

Working with the investment authority would be voluntary for Colorado’s enterprises, but the idea is that they would benefit financially from more aggressive investment options — even with a portion of the proceeds going to childcare.

Colorado’s more than two dozen enterprises include the state lottery, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance program.

Bright said his bill would eventually generate millions of dollars for childcare assistance, but the amount will depend on how many enterprises opt in, the amount of money invested, and the duration of the investments.

The bill is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org

Colorado lawmakers avoid big cuts to education in 2026-27 budget

2026-04-06T23:50:22+00:00

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Colorado lawmakers avoided major cuts to K-12, early childhood, and higher education funding in next year’s budget proposal despite an overall shortfall of more than $1.2 billion.

Major reductions proposed in the bill introduced Monday focus on Medicaid benefits and health care programs. The bill also cuts into the state’s reserves. Lawmakers are required to pass a balanced budget and the School Finance Act before the end of the session on May 13.

Rep. Emily Sirota, a Denver Democrat and chair of the powerful Joint Budget Committee, said during a news conference late last week that lawmakers wanted to avoid bringing back a maneuver called the Budget Stabilization Factor, which allowed the state to withhold money from constitutionally mandated K-12 funding. Lawmakers also tried to preserve higher education funding but ended up allowing tuition increases that are higher than originally proposed.

Sirota said lawmakers didn’t want to create another education funding hole after they “worked extremely hard over the last many years to dig our way out.”

The Long Bill, as it’s called, proposes that the 2026-27 state budget would grow to $46.8 billion, an increase over this year’s $43.9 billion budget. General fund spending, or the state tax revenue used on the budget, would increase to $17.3 billion, up from $17.1 billion.

Spending on K-12 schools would increase to $10.2 billion statewide, or about $184 million more than this year.

Lawmakers would need to dip into state reserves to fund some of the increase. For example, JBC members propose using the state’s education savings fund to pay for statutorily required increases to funding for special education, English language learners, at-risk students, and others.

Other cuts to K-12 programs

Despite avoiding serious cuts to education, the JBC has proposed smaller reductions.

These include eliminating a statewide program that helps students become teachers, reducing how often certain teachers need to be evaluated, and allowing some students to skip the state’s social studies test. Below are some of the most significant proposals:

Budget lawmakers filed House Bill 1353 to alter the state’s social studies test so it’s administered only to seventh grade public school students. The move would save the state about $303,000 a year.
House Bill 1356 would eliminate a grant program that allows charter schools and districts to create a local accountability system that compliments the state system. The measure would save the state about $507,000.
House Bill 1357 would phase out the state’s Teacher Recruitment Education Program, or TREP, to save about $1.6 million next year and about $3 million in the year after. The idea to eventually eliminate the extended high school program created in 2021 wouldn’t allow schools to designate any new students for the program, meaning many students preparing to use TREP would no longer be eligible.
Colorado lawmakers want to reduce a grant fund to improve state math instruction by about $5.2 million. House Bill 1358 would leave about $3.5 million next year for the program started in 2023 with onetime funding.
Lawmakers proposed halving spending on school bullying prevention grants to $1 million.
The state’s School Counselor Corps Grant Program would also be reduced by $1 million, down to $11 million per year. The grant helps schools hire more counselors and supports training.
The state would reduce adult education and literacy grants by $1 million, bringing that grant fund down to $2 million available through the 2028-29 budget year.
The state would also eliminate the Menstrual Hygiene Grant, or a cut of about $100,000 a year. Budget lawmakers noted that the state requires most schools to provide free menstrual hygiene products for students.

Higher ed and early childhood funding remains stable

JBC members were also able to avoid big cuts to higher education and early childhood funding. Those budgets would only change slightly compared to this year.

JBC lawmakers proposed a slight increase to $6.5 billion in total spending next year on higher education, although a portion of the funding includes programs such as History Colorado.

This means of the total higher education budget, about $1 billion in state support, would go toward colleges and universities. Another $3 billion would come from tuition revenue, according to legislative staff documents.

The state would allow most colleges and universities to increase tuition by 3.5% for resident undergraduate students. The state’s community colleges would be allowed to increase tuition by 5% for residents. And nonresident tuition rates could increase by up to 5%.

The tuition changes would account for $160 million of the $164 million state higher education budget increase.

In-state tuition assistance would remain at $116 per credit hour, or $3,480 per year for a full-time, full-year student.

However, lawmakers did remove about $14 million in state support for residents who attend private colleges and universities.

The state’s early education budget also wouldn’t change significantly. The state proposes to spend about $798 million on those programs, including a $14 million increase for the state’s universal preschool program.

The budget bill took longer this year after lawmakers faced a larger than expected spending shortfall that the state’s budget forecasters have warned could be as high as $1.5 billion. This is the second year that the state has faced a more than $1 billion shortfall, mostly due to increased Medicaid costs. Republican lawmakers have said overspending by Democratic lawmakers is the problem.

The release of the budget now sets up hearings in the House and Senate. Lawmakers will file amendments and debate to finalize the budget. Once both chambers finish their deliberations, the bill will be sent to Gov. Jared Polis to sign into law.

This story has been updated to include the removal of state funding to support Colorado residents who attend private colleges and universities.

Child care aid for low-income Colorado families to last through June at least, state officials say

2026-03-31T23:21:49+00:00

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Low-income families in Colorado’s child care subsidy program will get financial assistance at least through June 30 as a lawsuit challenging a Trump administration effort to withhold $10 billion in funding from five states unfolds.

The Colorado Department of Early Childhood announced the funding extension on Friday after a recent disbursement of child care dollars from the federal government.

Colorado’s program helps cover the cost of child care for more than 27,000 children so parents can work or take classes. It’s mostly funded by the federal government with smaller contributions from states and counties. In January, the federal government threatened to cut off funding to Colorado, California, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York, suggesting without evidence that the states were providing benefits to “illegal aliens.”

The five states quickly sued to prevent funding disruptions. Now, even after orders from a federal judge to release the funding as scheduled, there is a sense of uncertainty about the fate of the targeted programs.

In early January, when federal officials first threatened to restrict funding, Colorado officials estimated they had only enough money to offer child care aid through the end of January. Since then, they have sent regular alerts to child care providers and the public with updates on the freeze lawsuit and the latest estimate of how long funding will last.

In February, federal District Judge Vernon Broderick granted a preliminary injunction requiring the federal government to continue providing the child care and social services funding to the five states that sued.

In early February, Colorado estimated the child care assistance money would last through May. Friday’s announcement extended that by a month.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

This Colorado school district is losing students. Will new preschool options help?

2026-03-26T22:14:38+00:00

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One wing of Bradford Elementary in Pueblo School District 60 is dead silent in the middle of the school day. A darkened classroom at the end of the hallway doubles as a storage room, with a wooden play oven peeping over a jumble of furniture and boxes.

The lifeless hallway is a sign of declining enrollment in the district but also represents one of the building blocks of an ambitious — and at times contentious — plan to repurpose several school buildings for new uses, including preschool.

Bradford, which this year has one preschool classroom and 215 students, will cease being an elementary school next fall and re-open as a preschool center and community resource hub. Four miles away, Heritage Elementary will house a second new preschool center while continuing to serve kindergarten through fifth grade students. Both buildings will get renovations this summer.

Like most Colorado communities, Pueblo County has a shortage of licensed child care. There are only enough seats for just over a quarter of children under 6, according to a 2025 report from Common Sense Institute.

Pueblo 60, which has about 13,500 students, isn’t alone in its early childhood expansion aspirations. A number of Colorado districts, including large ones like Cherry Creek and small ones like Garfield RE-2 and Weld RE-8, have recently added or plan to add new preschool slots.

Especially since the 2023 launch of Colorado’s universal preschool program, scaling up preschool can help districts take advantage of vacant space, stem enrollment losses, and give children a jump start on early reading and math skills.

Pueblo 60 Superintendent Barbara Kimzey said, “I tell our staff this all the time, graduation rates begin the moment that preschooler walks in the door.”

A preschool student at Bradford Elementary School tried on his "Cat-in-the-Hat" hat on Read Across America Day on March 2.

The state’s $349 million universal preschool program, funded partly through a voter-approved nicotine tax, offers tuition-free preschool to all 4-year-olds.

This year, Pueblo 60 has 16 preschool classrooms offering free half-day classes. Next year, there will be 21 classrooms — at Bradford, Heritage, and some other district schools — and 80 new preschool seats. Bradford and Heritage will offer free full-day programming.

Kimzey said the district’s planned preschool expansion, along with other elements of the district’s “right-serving” facilities plan, aims to turn the tide on declining enrollment.

“Over the last 12 years, we’ve lost over a quarter of our enrollment,” she said. “We realize it’s a heavy lift, but we’re here for it, and we truly believe that we can … not only stem the decline, but really work on building back our district.”

In addition to Bradford, two other buildings will cease being elementary schools next year. Beulah Heights, which has about 250 students this year, will become a staff training center. Bessemer Academy, which has about 225 students this year, will become a family resource hub offering after-school enrichment, tutoring, and other programming.

The now-closed Hyde Park campus will reopen next year, housing a pre-collegiate middle school, the district’s online middle school program, and a community resource hub.

District-run preschool offers stability

Pueblo mother Randi Addington supports the addition of new full-day preschool seats in the district, especially since her 4-year-old’s private preschool closed abruptly last fall.

“They closed overnight in October … literally with no warning.” she said. “It was such a giant disruption to us.”

Addington, who works remotely, was able to secure the last available preschool seat at the district’s South Park Elementary after the closure. It was only a half-day program and wasn’t at the school her first grade son attends, but it was something.

She believes school districts have more safeguards against sudden closures than private preschools.

“I was like, this wouldn’t happen with the district. They’d give you warning a year in advance if they were going to close something,” she said.

Addington, who served on the district’s facilities plan steering committee, said as a working parent she’s happy the district will move back to full-day preschool next year. The reason she’d decided to enroll her son at the preschool that closed at the start of the school year was because it offered more daily hours than the school district.

“That was not sustainable for us as working professional parents,” she said of the half-day schedule.

Kimzey said the district previously offered full-day preschool but slimmed it down to half-day this year because of scheduling difficulties related to its four-day school week and teacher contract requirements. The new preschool centers will allow the district to offer full-day classes again, she said.

Addington said she believes attending district-run preschool helps children get ready for kindergarten. She’s watched her own son acclimate to the elementary school setting at South Park.

“Mama, there’s big kids here. There’s not babies here,” she recalled him saying after he started.

Correction: March 27, 2026: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the planned uses for Beulah Heights Elementary and Bessemer Academy next year.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado parents sue private equity-backed child care chain after teacher’s abuse conviction

2026-01-22T18:53:14+00:00

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The parents of five Colorado children have sued a chain of child care centers, alleging that its owners and several staff members failed to protect their children from a teacher who they say hit, shoved, and kicked the 2-year-olds, threw water on them to wake them up, used racial slurs, and yelled in their faces.

The families filed the lawsuit in Colorado district court Jan. 13 against The Nest Schools, a national chain that has seven Colorado locations, including one in Centennial where the teacher, Brandon Vigil, worked. Vigil was sentenced earlier this month after pleading guilty to misdemeanor child abuse charges.

Besides alleging a series of individual failures that led a former cook with no teaching experience to become a lead teacher who abused toddlers, the suit claims a structural cause: The Nest’s backing by a private-equity investment firm, Rockbridge Growth Equity. Such investors prioritize growth and profit, the suit alleges, which can lead to high staff turnover and a push to increase enrollment at the expense of child safety.

About 15% of child care seats for young children in Colorado are housed in centers with private-equity backing or ownership, according to a 2025 Chalkbeat analysis. Besides The Nest Schools, they include chains like KinderCare, Primrose Schools, and Goddard Schools.

Some Colorado lawmakers have expressed concern recently about the role of private equity in child care, saying that the ownership structure can lower the quality of care, harm workers, and raise prices for families.

Last year, several Democratic lawmakers sought new guardrails on child care chains backed by private equity or venture capital firms, but their bill died in April. Sen. Cathy Kipp, a Fort Collins Democrat and one of the bill sponsors, told Chalkbeat by email this month that there are no plans to run a similar bill this year.

“Sometimes the problem has to get worse before people are willing to address it,” she said.

Lawsuit names center employees, company executives

The abuse cited in the families’ lawsuit occurred in Vigil’s toddler classroom in the summer of 2024.

The lawsuit alleges The Nest leaders and employees placed the children in dangerous conditions and failed to monitor the classroom even though children routinely screamed and cried. It also alleges that some of the defendants, who were employees at the Centennial center during Vigil’s tenure, saw him mistreating children and failed to report suspected child abuse as required by law.

Among the nine defendants named in the lawsuit are Gerry Pastor and Jane Porterfield, the husband and wife who are co-CEOs of The Nest Schools, which is based in Delaware. Pastor said by email that he and Porterfield could not comment on the lawsuit for legal reasons.

Vigil started at The Nest’s Centennial location as a cook and later assumed a teaching position in the “Cardinals A” toddler classroom, the lawsuit says. The director who hired him, promoted him, and is one of the defendants in the lawsuit, described him as “happy go lucky” and said her only issue with his performance as cook was that he was late for work, according to a state investigation report.

It’s not clear from the report what training or other requirements Vigil had to complete to become a child care teacher. Following open records requests by Chalkbeat last spring, state officials said the results of Vigil’s background check are not public and that the state doesn’t retain child care personnel files or training certificates.

A substitute teacher’s aide reported Vigil to authorities in September 2024, according to state inspection reports. State officials who investigated found that Vigil regularly dished out physical and verbal abuse to the children in his care. He threw toddlers in the air to scare them, threw their belongings in the trash, and slammed a child’s face and body into a glass window several times. He called children in his classroom “ugly” and “disgusting.”

He called one child “Kim Jong Un,” apparently referring to the North Korean dictator, and told another, “You better stay in school, girl, because that’s all you got going for you,” according to the investigation reports.

Classroom cameras captured the abuse, according to state inspection reports. The lawsuit notes that only 30 days of video footage was available because earlier footage had been deleted or overwritten by The Nest staff.

Vigil’s last day at the center was Sept. 5, 2024. That was when the aide subbing in his classroom reported Vigil to law enforcement for hitting a child with an open hand and directing a racial slur at the child, the lawsuit says.

Vigil was arrested on 51 criminal charges, including 28 counts of child abuse. In December, he pleaded guilty to three counts of misdemeanor child abuse as part of a plea deal. In early January, he was sentenced to two years in Arapahoe County jail.

Three of The Nest’s locations are on state probation

Subsequent state inspection reports and other documents detailing Vigil’s mistreatment of children paint a picture of a child care center in disarray — with management often absent because of problems at two other Colorado centers in The Nest Schools chain. One of those centers was the chain’s Highlands Ranch location, which closed for more than a week that summer after Nest officials failed to submit construction plans to the county health department or get construction permits from the building division.

Three of The Nest Schools’ seven Colorado locations are currently on probation, according to state records. They include the Centennial location where Vigil worked, the Aurora location, and one of two Littleton locations. When child care centers violate state health and safety rules, state officials can place them on probation and require frequent inspections.

Pastor said by email that the three centers have taken corrective actions and that he and Porterfield anticipate they will be released from probation in the near future.

“While the circumstances leading to these actions were concerning to us, we have addressed the issues identified, reinforced our standards and expectations and used the process as an opportunity to strengthen our programs,” he said.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

As another budget shortfall looms, Colorado lawmakers aim to preserve K-12 education funding

2026-01-09T22:41:46+00:00

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Colorado lawmakers will need to focus heavily on how to further education priorities in another difficult budget year, five members of the state House and Senate education committees said during Chalkbeat Colorado’s annual Legislative Preview event Thursday.

State Sen. Janice Marchman, a Loveland Democrat who is vice chair of the Senate Education Committee, said lawmakers won’t be able to put much money toward new policies during the 2026 legislative session, which starts on Wednesday.

“We have a budget shortfall again,” Marchman said. “A big push this year is going to be keeping our education funding for K-12 as solid as it can be.”

Gov. Jared Polis has proposed a 5.2% increase in the state’s 2026-27 budget, including a $276 million increase for education that would bring total statewide K-12 spending to about $10.3 billion. Although the proposed $47.9 billion budget is higher than last year, rising state costs, especially to maintain Medicaid spending, have outpaced state revenue.

Lawmakers will need to cut about $800 million to balance the budget. At the same time, lawmakers are working through uncertainty about federal funding after the Trump administration froze money for safety nets and other programs.

Colorado also faced a deficit last year that forced lawmakers to cut more than $1 billion in spending. The state’s education budget increased, but lawmakers reworked the state funding formula to help balance the budget.

Rep. Matthew Martinez, a Monte Vista Democrat who serves on the House Education Committee, said preserving K-12 education funding is near the top of his list this year.

He said maintaining the education budget “is paramount, especially in this tight budget year. We want to be able to make sure that we are delivering for our students, our faculty, and our school districts.”

Along with Marchman and Martinez, three other state lawmakers joined Chalkbeat Colorado for the event. They were:

Sen. Scott Bright, a Platteville Republican
Rep. Meghan Lukens, a Steamboat Springs Democrat
Rep. Lori Garcia Sander, an Eaton Republican

The event was moderated by Chalkbeat reporter Jason Gonzales and Efren Garcia, a first-generation doctoral student at the Colorado School of Public Health who is studying environmental-occupational health. He is active with Young Invincibles, an organization that amplifies the voices of young adults, and works as a policy analyst at the Bell Policy Center.

Here are several excerpts from the discussion, which have been edited for length and clarity.

A Board of Cooperative Education Services, or BOCES, authorized what its leaders have called Colorado’s “first public Christian school,” surprising state education officials and members of the public. Are you concerned about this development, and if so, what do you think should be done about it?

Bright: It’s interesting when folks … are trying to test that line and see where Colorado really sits with regard to its separation of church and state. I’m anxious to see how it goes. Quite honestly, I am not partial one way or the other, but I’m anxious to see what happens and what Colorado thinks.

Lukens: I was a social studies teacher. I have taught AP Government. I know that our country was founded on the separation of church and state, and public schools are funded by taxpayers. And when we are a government entity, it is important that we have separation of church and state … So I will certainly be tracking this situation.

Polis has said Colorado will opt into a new federal tax credit scholarship program, which would provide tax credits for donations supporting private school students. Do you support this decision, and do you believe the legislature should have a role in approving or shaping how this program is implemented in Colorado?

Marchman: I’ve understood that the governor is saying, “Hey, if there’s money on the table for Colorado, let’s bring it.” But we have seen time and again, when states try to implement vouchers, they are not successful. They end up not helping any of our students or any of our staff. I don’t support it. One thing I’ve been doing is talking to the gubernatorial candidates to see where they stand on this, because ultimately it will be their decision.

Garcia Sander: I am a supporter of school choice. We have declining birth rates. We are more at risk of regular public schools closing. Parents are also more savvy consumers, and they’re shopping, and they want the best education for their kids. I think a lot of people would love to see more options on where they can direct their tax dollars. There’s lots of different tax credits that we offer, and this is just another way to offer parents choice.

Federal student protections are shifting and the Office for Civil Rights is facing a significant backlog of discrimination complaints. Should lawmakers create more options for families to report issues of discrimination they’re facing in K-12 and higher education settings?

Martinez: There are legislators that are actively working to codify protections into state law, so that families and students have a clear state-level avenue for relief in the absence of reliable federal pathways. Colorado already has a strong foundation. It’s our responsibility as the state, as state lawmakers, to pick up where the federal government has left off. We expect to introduce a bill this year that does exactly that and protects Coloradans.

The Colorado Child Care Assistance Program, or CCCAP, is a subsidy that helps low-income Colorado parents pay for child care. In many Colorado counties, there are waitlists or freezes in place, and thousands of families are waiting to receive these subsidies. At the same time, the Trump administration has put a freeze on federal funding that supports this program. How will you address this?

Bright: I own rural childcare centers, and our CCCAP families rely on our services for a safe place for them to place their kids while they’re going to work.

I convened a meeting earlier this week with legislators, the Department of Early Childhood, the governor’s office, and many counties to try to solve this very thing. We came up with 12 different options. Some of them are more or less likely to happen, but we’re definitely going to walk down that path and try to get some of these freezes unthawed.

I can tell you that I have looked at this firsthand, and I believe the State of Colorado, the Department of Early Childhood, has done an over the top great job of making sure that there isn’t fraud in our system. I can tell you, from the provider perspective, we have to go through so many checks to make sure that our folks are legitimate, that they’re real, and that they have all the documentation that they need.

So it’s just a matter of laying that out and showing that we are completely compliant.

Colorado has seen more school violence, including a school shooting at Evergreen High School, where the SRO was called off campus before the shooting. What would further legislative action or solutions look like, if any?

Garcia Sander: We’ve got a lot of rural schools that are sitting ducks, and we need to make sure that the staff there have the tools that they need and the training that they need to keep their students safe. Not everybody’s in a metro area where there might be a law enforcement officer down the city street. I think we need to look at lots of different answers that work best for communities.

Child care aid could run out by Jan. 31 due to Trump funding freeze, Colorado officials say

2026-01-08T00:38:31+00:00

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Colorado officials say money that helps 18,000 low-income families pay for child care could run out by Jan. 31 if federal officials don’t lift the freeze they’ve imposed on funding for several safety net programs in five Democrat-led states.

If that happens, some children could go without care and some parents would have to stay home from work. State lawmakers could cover such a funding gap temporarily, though Colorado is facing a significant budget crunch.

The Trump administration announced the freeze on $10 billion in child care and social services funding for Colorado, California, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York in a press release Tuesday.

In letters sent to the two Colorado agencies that run the affected programs, federal officials said they have “reason to believe that the State of Colorado is illicitly providing” benefits funded with federal dollars to “illegal aliens.”

The letters didn’t cite evidence for that claim and a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services didn’t respond to questions from Chalkbeat about why federal officials are concerned about fraud in Colorado.

Spokespeople from both state departments said by email on Wednesday they’re not aware of any federal fraud investigations focused on the programs affected by the funding freeze.

The five-state funding freeze follows a federal crackdown in Minnesota after a right-wing YouTuber posted a video in late December alleging that Minneapolis child care centers run by Somali residents get federal funds but serve no children. It’s not clear why the other four states have gotten the same treatment as Minnesota, but all have Democratic governors who have clashed with President Donald Trump.

In a New Year’s Eve social media post, Trump called Colorado Gov. Jared Polis “the Scumbag Governor” and said Polis and another Colorado official should “rot in hell” for mistreating Tina Peters, a Trump supporter and former Mesa County clerk who’s serving a nine-year prison sentence for orchestrating a plot to breach election systems.

The federal freeze will affect three main funding streams in Colorado that together bring in about $317 million a year. They include $138 million for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood for child care subsidies for low-income families and a few other programs.

The subsidy program, known as the Colorado Child Care Assistance program, helps cover the cost of care for more than 27,000 children so parents can work or take classes. It’s mostly funded by the federal government with smaller contributions from states and counties.

The other two frozen funding streams go to the Colorado Department of Human Services and pay for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, and other programs.

In the letter to the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, federal officials outlined new fiscal requirements the state will have to follow before the funding freeze is lifted. They include attendance documentation — without names or other personal identifiers — for children in the child care subsidy program.

A state fact sheet issued in response to the funding freeze said funding for the child care subsidy program would be depleted by Jan. 31. It also outlined several measures already in place to prevent fraud or waste, including state audits, monthly case reviews by county officials, and efforts to recover funds if improper payments are made.

The state said it is exploring “all options, including legal avenues” to keep the frozen funding flowing.

Six Democratic state lawmakers, most in leadership positions, released a statement Wednesday afternoon calling the funding freeze a callous move that will make life more expensive for working families.

“We stand ready to work with Governor Polis and partners in our federal delegation to resist this lawless effort to freeze funding, and we sincerely hope that our Republican colleagues will put politics aside, get serious about making life in Colorado more affordable, and put families first,” the statement said in part.

The statement was from Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie; Senate President James Coleman; House Majority Leader Monica Duran; Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez; Rep. Emily Sirota; and Sen. Judy Amabile.

Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly stated that the Trump administration announced the funding freeze on Monday. It was Tuesday. The original version also incorrectly stated that on Tuesday spokespeople for the two state departments said they were not aware of any federal fraud investigations and that six Democratic lawmakers released a statement on the funding freeze. Those things happened on Wednesday.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Join Chalkbeat Colorado for our annual education-focused legislative preview

2026-01-06T23:45:48+00:00

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How will another year of Colorado budget shortfalls affect education spending? What actions will lawmakers take in response to Trump administration policies? And how will state lawmakers react to the creation of a public religious school?

We will focus on these issues and more during our annual discussion of key education topics likely to surface during the upcoming Colorado legislative session.

You can join Chalkbeat Colorado’s 2026 Legislative Preview virtually on Zoom from noon to 1:30 p.m. MT on Thursday. To register, visit our Eventbrite page. This is a ticketed event with a suggested donation of $25.

Last year’s conversation with lawmakers focused on the state’s budget challenges and the impact of the Trump administration on Colorado schools, as well as how to keep educators in the teaching profession.

This year, we also expect to ask lawmakers about early education, workforce development, and school safety issues. We will be joined by:

Sen. Janice Marchman, a Loveland Democrat
Sen. Scott Bright, a Platteville Republican
Rep. Meghan Lukens, a Steamboat Springs Democrat
Rep. Matthew Martinez, a Monte Vista Democrat
Rep. Lori Garcia Sander, an Eaton Republican

The event is sponsored by the Colorado Education Association and co-moderated by Young Invincibles.

While this is a ticketed event, we don’t want price to be a barrier. You can give just $1. Or if you are able, you can donate more than the suggested amount to support our work. Chalkbeat Colorado is a nonprofit organization, and we rely on public support to provide essential and independent education coverage.

7 Colorado education issues we’re watching in 2026

2025-12-22T22:16:11+00:00

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How will Colorado lawmakers prioritize education during another tough budget year? What’s the fate of the state’s first “public Christian school?” And what will new cellphone policies look like in districts statewide?

These are just a few of the Colorado education issues that we’ll be watching in the new year. Find out below about these issues and others worth watching in 2026.

Colorado’s budget woes

Colorado lawmakers face another budget shortfall in the 2026-27 fiscal year, possibly upwards of $850 million. This comes a year after lawmakers wrangled a $1 billion spending deficit in the 2025-26 budget.

The good news: Unlike last year, Gov. Jared Polis has proposed fulfilling K-12 funding promises by fully funding schools and sticking with a plan to phase-in a new funding formula. The bad news: There might be little else available for other K-12 and higher education expenses.

With the budget at the forefront, we’ll also be watching how Polis’ budget sets up arguments on how to balance Medicaid expenses with future education funding.

More Colorado student population declines

Birth rates have been on the decline since 2008, and student enrollment fell slightly in Colorado schools in the last year.

This is an issue school districts are already trying to address, with some closing or merging schools in response.

But birth rates won’t be the only driving factor in statewide enrollment changes. Federal immigration crackdowns will also likely play a role.

Recently, Denver Public Schools announced a 1,200 student population decline this year after a pronounced drop in the number of immigrant students enrolling in the district.

We’ll also be watching how colleges and universities respond to student population declines.

Higher education institutions here and nationwide are bracing for an “enrollment cliff,” or fewer high school-age students graduating due to those declining birth rates. These enrollment declines are expected to begin next year.

Deciding the fate of Colorado’s first “public Christian school”

In 2026, Colorado education officials could start the lengthy process of determining whether a Pueblo County school billed by its authorizer as the state’s first “public Christian school” is eligible for public funding.

The Colorado Department of Education warned in October that it could withhold funding from the school, Riverstone Academy, because Colorado’s Constitution bans religious public schools. But the audit process that would lead to a final decision won’t start until January and likely wouldn’t conclude till early 2027, state officials said this month.

Riverstone, which launched quietly in August with about 30 students, was authorized by a public education cooperative called Education reEnvisioned BOCES and was initially funded by a private loan. This winter, the school could receive some state funding while the audit process unfolds. If the state eventually rules that the school doesn’t qualify for public dollars, the money would have to be returned, state officials said.

Riverstone, which describes itself as offering a Christian foundation and using a Christian curriculum, was created to spur a lawsuit over the question of whether public money can fund religious schools, emails obtained by Chalkbeat suggest. The U.S. Supreme Court deadlocked on the issue in April.

Supreme Court could weigh in on preschool lawsuit

The U.S. Supreme Court will likely decide in early 2026 whether to hear a Colorado case that pits religious liberty against LGBTQ rights.

The Denver-area Catholic preschools at the center of the case have argued that if they join Colorado’s state-funded preschool program, they should be allowed to keep out LGBTQ children or children with LGBTQ parents. The state rejected this argument and so have two lower courts.

If the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case, it could answer a key question that’s also percolating through lower courts in other parts of the country: Can religious schools that accept public money get exemptions from non-discrimination rules?

If the high court declines to hear the case, it would signal that states can require schools to comply with discrimination protections for LGBTQ people if they want to join state-funded education programs.

A new higher education and workforce department

In December, Polis announced a plan to shut down the Colorado Department of Higher Education in its current form and create a brand new department.

This proposed Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development would create one unified agency that houses programs such as higher education, adult education, apprenticeships, and the state workforce development program.

Ahead of the announcement, the Department of Higher Education’s executive director said she would be leaving to take another job for personal reasons. Polis has since appointed JB Holston as executive director to help lead the department’s transition.

The new department is far from a done deal. Lawmakers will need to file legislation next year to merge these state functions. And Polis has said the final say will rest with a new governor in 2027 after Polis finishes his second term in 2026.

Elizabeth book removal lawsuit could be decided

A jury could decide in 2026 whether the school board in a small conservative-leaning Colorado community wrongly removed 19 titles from school libraries in 2024 because of content board members deemed inappropriate, overly graphic, and in some cases “disgusting.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado sued the 2,700-student Elizabeth School District over the book removals in Dec. 2024 on behalf of two district students, a chapter of the NAACP, and an authors group. The lawsuit argues that the book removals violate federal and state free speech protections. No trial date has been set yet.

The books at issue in the case are primarily by or about LGBTQ people, people of color, or both. They include “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hossein, "The Hate U Give,” by Angie Thomas, and “It’s Your World — If You Don’t Like It, Change It” by Mikki Halpin.

The ACLU lawsuit is one of two related to the 19 library books. In November, a former middle school dean sued the district, alleging she was fired shortly after objecting to the removal of the books.

New cellphone policies

Colorado lawmakers passed House Bill 1135 during the 2025 legislative session to curb cellphone use in schools.

The law requires districts to adopt policies to limit smartphone and smartwatch use in classrooms. The law also requires school boards to spell out exceptions, such as for health emergencies or to report a safety concern.

Lawmakers passed the bill to help address what experts have called a mental health crisis and to promote better learning in the classroom.

While lawmakers passed the bill this past spring, the bill won’t take effect until July 1, 2026. At that time, every school district in the state will need to adopt a policy.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado parents can soon recover child care waitlist and application fees

2025-12-18T23:33:12+00:00

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Colorado parents will soon be able to get partial refunds on certain upfront fees they’ve paid to child care centers if their children don’t land a seat there within six months.

A new Colorado law that takes effect on Jan 1. aims to ease the cost burden on families who pay waitlist, application, or deposit fees to child care programs that their children don’t end up attending. It requires child care providers to provide the refunds if a child has not been offered a spot within six months and the parent requests the refund in writing, such as by email.

Democratic lawmakers pushed for the proposal during the 2025 legislative session, citing instances where families sometimes pay fees of $100 or more to a dozen or more child care centers as they search for a slot.

The law applies to fees paid on or after Jan. 1, 2026, so families won’t be able to obtain refunds until they hit the end of the six-month window in July 2026 or after. Families who are offered a spot at a child care center but decline it aren’t eligible to recoup any of the fees they paid.

Under the law, providers are allowed to keep a “reasonable” portion of the waitlist, application, or deposit fee to cover administrative costs. That amount is $25, according to a Colorado Department of Early Childhood document released Thursday.

Besides the refund provision, the new law requires child care programs to disclose their tuition and fees when a prospective family requests pricing information, joins the waitlist, enrolls in the program, or when the provider changes the fee schedule. It doesn’t require that tuition and fees be posted publicly.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado parents: Here’s what to know about signing up for free preschool for 2026

2025-12-09T00:35:57+00:00

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Colorado families can start applying for the state’s free preschool program for the 2026-27 school year on Tuesday at noon.

The $349 million program, which launched in the fall of 2023, is open to all 4-year-olds. Nearly 43,000 4-year-olds are currently enrolled in the program. About 3,900 3-year-olds with disabilities are also enrolled.

State officials say it will take most families about five minutes to fill out the universal preschool application. Like last year, there’s a phone helpline that offers interpretation in over 100 languages.

Here’s what families need to know about the preschool program and the online application.

Who gets free preschool? How much do they get?

Two groups of children qualify: all 4-year-olds and some 3-year-olds who need extra help.

The preschool program is primarily designed for children in the year before they go to kindergarten. For the upcoming 2026-27 school year, that means children who turn 4 before Oct. 1, 2026.

Most 4-year-olds will get 15 hours of preschool a week, though some preschool providers offer only 10 hours a week.

Some 4-year-olds will qualify for 30 hours of tuition-free preschool a week. This includes children from families with incomes at or below 100% of the 2025 federal poverty level — up to $32,150 for a family of four.

Four-year-olds from families with income between 100% and 265% of the federal poverty level — $32,150 to $85,198 for a family of four — must also have one of the risk factors below to qualify for 30 hours a week.

They speak a language other than English at home.
They have a special education plan, also known as an IEP.
They are homeless.
They are in foster care.

Qualifying for 30 hours of free preschool through the state isn’t a guarantee that a child will get it. Not every preschool offers a 30-hour a week schedule — or has open seats available even if it does.

Compared to 4-year-olds, only a small number of 3-year-olds — children two years away from kindergarten — qualify for tuition-free preschool. Only 3-year-olds who have special education plans are guaranteed free preschool.

What about 5-year-olds who aren’t in kindergarten yet?

A small number of 5-year-olds are eligible for free preschool in the year before they attend kindergarten. This group can include children who move between districts or who live in districts with kindergarten cut-off dates earlier than the state’s Oct. 1 cut-off and whose birthdays fall between the two dates.

Five-year-olds who could go to kindergarten but have been held out by their families — a practice often called redshirting — aren’t eligible for free preschool in that year.

When can I fill out the universal preschool application?

This year’s application opens on Dec. 9 at noon.

Some families of children who will be 4 by Oct. 1 will get to preregister, specifically those who want to send their child to the preschool where the child is currently enrolled, where a sibling is enrolled, or where the parent is employed. These families should fill out the state preschool application, list their current provider as their first choice, and submit. They’ll receive notification about their preschool match on Feb. 2 and must accept the match by Feb. 11.

Families not eligible to preregister can still fill out the universal preschool application starting Dec. 9. Those who submit by Feb. 2 will fall into the state’s first round of matching. They’ll find out which program they matched with on Feb. 25 and must accept or decline the match by March 5.

Families that submit their choices between Feb. 3 and March 15 will fall into the state’s second round of matching. They’ll find out their match on March 24 and must accept or decline the match by March 31.

What if I apply after the first two matching windows?

Families of children who will be 4 by Oct. 1 can still apply for free preschool after the first two rounds of matching are complete through what’s called “direct enrollment.” This process starts on April 1 and will continue through the end of the 2026-27 school year for children attending preschool that year.

Contact the preschool you’re interested in to see if they have space. If they do, they’ll assist you with the enrollment process, including filling out the state universal preschool application.

If you don’t have a preschool in mind, you can browse an online list of universal preschool providers on the state’s application website.

What do I need to fill out the state preschool application?

You’ll need to provide an email address to create an account and start your online preschool application. Families who believe their children may qualify for 30 hours also need to know the amount of their gross monthly or gross annual income. The application is available in English and 10 other languages, including Spanish, French, Arabic, and Hindi.

I have a child who will be 3 by Oct. 1, 2026. Should I complete the application?

If your child has an Individualized Education Program or IEP, yes. Otherwise, parents of 3-year-olds should contact their local school district to find out if they qualify for tuition-free preschool.

My child has a disability. Should I complete the application?

Yes. Families with a child who will be 3 or 4 next school year and has a special education plan — also known as an Individualized Education Program, or IEP — should fill out the state preschool application. Be sure to check “yes” in response to the question about whether the child has an active Individualized Education Program. The local school district will contact families about the enrollment and placement process. Most preschoolers with IEPs will be placed in classrooms run by their school districts.

Parents who are worried their preschooler may be delayed in speech, learning, or development, but don’t have a diagnosis or IEP, should contact Child Find, a state program that screens children suspected of having a disability. Check this list for Child Find coordinators by region.

Can I pick my 4-year-old’s preschool?

Yes. More than 2,000 preschools across Colorado are part of the universal program. Families who don’t qualify for preregistration or want a program other than the one their child currently attends will be asked on the state application to pick up to 10 preschools. They can rank their choices. Options include school-based preschools, faith-based preschools, preschool programs inside child care centers, and state-licensed home-based programs.

This year, more than 75% of families were matched with their first choice preschool.

There are some cases where preschool providers can turn down a universal preschool applicant. For example, a school-based preschool might turn away a child who lives outside district boundaries.

Can I pick my 3-year-old’s preschool?

Do I have to fill out my district’s school choice form too?

Families who want to send their child to a preschool run by their school district may have to fill out two applications: the district school choice form and the state universal preschool application. If you’re not sure if your district has a school choice form or if you are required to fill it out, contact your district.

What if I need more hours than what my preschooler is eligible for?

You can still pay for extra hours above and beyond what the state covers for free, as long as the preschool offers more hours. You can also see if you qualify for financial help through other means, such as the state’s child care subsidy program or a local tuition assistance program like the Denver Preschool Program. Here’s a rundown of the options.

I have more questions. What should I do?

Contact the local group that’s coordinating the universal preschool program in your county or region. Here’s a county-by-county list of all the groups — the state calls them Local Coordinating Organizations or LCOs — with email addresses.

You can also contact the state’s help desk from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday. The number is 303-866-5223 and interpretation is available in over 100 languages. Families can also email the help desk at universalpreschool@state.co.us or submit an online form at help.upk.colorado.gov.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Catholic preschools appeal to Supreme Court in Colorado case over LGBTQ rights and religious liberty

2025-11-14T23:46:34+00:00

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Two Denver-area Catholic parishes asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to reconsider a lower court decision that said parish preschools participating in Colorado’s state-funded preschool program couldn’t deny admission to LGBTQ children or children from LGBTQ families.

The appeal to the Supreme Court comes about six weeks after the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the Catholic parishes, which had argued that enrolling children from LGBTQ families would conflict with their religious beliefs.

Gov. Jared Polis lauded the circuit court’s Sept. 30 ruling, which was a major win for the state.

If the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case, the justices could answer a question at the heart of the case: Can private religious schools that accept public education dollars refuse to enroll certain kids based on religious principles? The state and two lower courts have said no. The Supreme Court, which has a conservative majority, could give a different answer.

A spokesperson for Colorado Department of Early Childhood, which runs the state-funded preschool program, said officials won’t comment on pending or active litigation.

The Catholic preschools sued the state in 2023 as Colorado launched its new universal preschool program, which provides tuition-free preschool to 4-year-olds statewide. The $349 million program serves more than 40,000 children and allows families to choose from public, private, or religious preschools.

St. Mary Catholic Virtue School in Littleton and Wellspring Catholic Academy in Lakewood wanted to join the program when it started, but didn’t want to admit LGBTQ children or children from LGBTQ families.

They asked for an exemption from state rules banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but the Colorado Department of Early Childhood refused. The two preschools never joined the program, and in August 2023, the parishes that ran the preschools sued the state.

Of more than 2,000 preschools participating in Colorado’s universal preschool program this year, about 40 are religious.

Attorneys from The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the Catholic preschools in the case, have argued that Colorado is discriminating against the preschools based on religion.

“Colorado is picking winners and losers based on the content of their religious beliefs,” Nick Reaves, senior counsel at Becket, said in a press release Friday.

The release suggests that Colorado’s rules barring discrimination have hurt Catholic preschool enrollment.

Since universal preschool began, “enrollment at Catholic preschools has swiftly declined, while two Catholic preschools have shuttered their doors, including one that predominantly served low-income and minority families,” the press release said.

Wellspring, one of two parish preschools involved in the case, did close last year when the K-8 school it was part of closed because of low enrollment and financial problems. A Catholic preschool in Denver also shuttered when the K-8 school it was part of — Guardian Angels Catholic School — closed at the end of the 2024-25 school year. At the time the Archdiocese of Denver announced the closure of Wellspring and Guardian Angels, it also announced the consolidation of two Catholic high schools into one campus.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Here’s where lodging tax hikes for child care passed and failed in Colorado

2025-11-06T19:42:33+00:00

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Local ballot measures that will send new money to child care efforts across Colorado did pretty well at the polls this year, with voters approving six of nine proposals.

Sales tax measures in Larimer County and a western Colorado mountain resort region passed, as did lodging tax measures in Gilpin, Hinsdale, and Ouray counties. A lodging tax measure in Eagle County was passing by a narrow margin Thursday, but a county spokesperson said it’s possible the result could change as additional ballots are counted or cured in the coming days.

Voters in Chaffee, Custer, and Lincoln counties rejected lodging tax hikes on Election Day.

Together, the nine ballot measures represented a record number of local pitches for funding to support efforts that would create new child care seats or take other steps to help working parents and child care businesses. The blitz of ballot measures comes at a time when some state and federal funding is receding, and counties and other jurisdictions are looking for ways to fill the gap. Over the last several years, Colorado lawmakers have also given communities new ways to raise local money and more flexibility in spending it.

In Hinsdale County, the lodging tax increase will raise $240,000 a year, with about $50,000 going to child care efforts. The new funding will help boost staff wages at Wee Care, one of two licensed child care facilities in the county.

“We were so excited and relieved,” Lily Virden, a Wee Care board member, said of the lodging tax win.

Wages are so low at the center — the director makes about $20 an hour — that it’s hard to keep staff, she said. Last year, the center had to close on 21 days it was scheduled to be open because employees were sick or absent, and there was no way to staff it properly.

The lodging tax proceeds earmarked for child care may also be used to provide tuition assistance to families or stipends to child care employees so they can buy health insurance — a benefit not currently offered at Wee Care, Virden said.

The four lodging taxes approved Tuesday bring the number of Colorado communities that allow proceeds from such levies to be used for child care efforts to more than a dozen. Last year, voters in La Plata and Grand counties and the City of Montrose approved such taxes and in 2023, the town of Ridgway in southwestern Colorado did. Summit, Clear Creek, and San Juan counties, and towns like Estes Park, also have lodging taxes that allocate a portion for early childhood efforts.

Especially in Colorado’s tourist destinations, lodging taxes are an appealing way to generate funding because they generally apply to out-of-town visitors staying at hotels or short-term rentals, not locals.

Such taxes became even more versatile in 2022, when state lawmakers expanded allowable uses for lodging tax proceeds to include housing and child care among other things. The idea is that local workers power the tourism industry, so visitors should contribute to efforts that support a stable workforce.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Two sales taxes for child care are passing, one reversing early lag

2025-11-06T19:14:13+00:00

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A Larimer County ballot measure that would send millions to child care efforts pulled ahead late Wednesday afternoon after almost 24 hours where it looked like it might be defeated.

If the measure stays ahead as the final votes are counted, it will be one of two local sales tax levies approved by Colorado voters this year to support child care providers and parents with young children. The other measure, which passed easily, would create the state’s first early childhood special district in Garfield and Pitkin counties and part of Eagle County — what backers call the Aspen-to-Parachute corridor.

The measures in Larimer County and the special district both asked voters for a .25% sales tax increase, the equivalent of 25 cents on every $100 spent. The levies would not apply to food, gas, diapers, or prescription drugs. The proceeds in both cases would help families pay for child care, boost pay for child care workers, and fund child care facility expansion or improvement.

Christina Taylor, CEO of the Early Childhood Council of Larimer County, said Wednesday night she was cautiously optimistic that the measure will pass.

“I think we’re in a really good spot,” she said. “All the people I’ve talked to, all the doors that I’ve knocked, it felt like this was where we were headed, and so I had faith all day.”

Taylor said that around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday she saw results come in that pushed the ballot measure over 50%.

Maggie Tiscornia, outreach director for the ballot measure in Pitkin, Garfield, and Eagle counties, said she watched the results come in with dozens of supporters at a Carbondale restaurant Tuesday night.

“I’m just incredibly proud and grateful for all of our community support,” she said.

The prospect of creating a “more affordable, more accessible and more welcoming community for families with young children” resonated with voters, she said.

The two ballot issues are the most ambitious among a record number of pitches across Colorado this year that would send new money to child care. In addition to the two sales tax measures, voters in seven rural counties — Chaffee, Custer, Eagle, Gilpin, Hinsdale, Lincoln, and Ouray counties — are deciding on lodging taxes that could generate new funding for child care facilities or related efforts.

Asking voters to raise local taxes to support child care efforts isn’t new, but Colorado lawmakers have made it more attractive in recent years by giving communities new ways to do it. In addition, as federal and state funding recedes, local leaders are looking to ease the budget pinch for pressing needs, including child care and housing.

The measure in Pitkin, Garfield, and Eagle counties is particularly notable because it represents the first use of a 2019 state law that allowed the creation of early childhood special districts. Similar to fire or library districts, the idea behind early childhood districts is that multiple communities or counties can band together and ask voters within their boundaries to levy taxes specifically for early childhood efforts.

The sales tax in the new district, which would be called Confluence Early Childhood Development Special Service District, would generate about $12 million a year.

Tiscornia said the sales tax increase in the new Confluence district will take effect on Jan. 1, and that the new money won’t start funding early childhood initiatives until the second half of 2026.

The sales tax measure in Larimer would generate nearly $29 million a year. Some of the money would be used for sliding-scale child care subsidies, with every family eligible for some help, said Taylor.

Another chunk of the money would be used for quarterly wage subsidies for child care employees, many of whom earn $16 to $19 an hour. A smaller amount would help providers upgrade or expand their facilities.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado voters: Child care funding measures could be coming to a ballot near you

2025-10-20T16:46:47+00:00

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This election season, eight Colorado communities will ask voters to consider new taxes that could be used to support child care efforts.

The ballot measures, most in mountain resort areas, represent a record number of local pitches for money to bolster a notoriously low-margin sector and help working families who struggle to find child care or cover the cost of tuition.

Five communities — Chaffee, Custer, Eagle, Gilpin, and Hinsdale counties — are asking voters to approve lodging tax increases, with child care efforts one of several potential uses for the new funding. Ouray County is asking voters to pass a new lodging tax. A state law passed last spring that increased the maximum lodging tax counties can levy from 2% to 6% helped fuel the flurry of requests this year.

Two other ballot questions — in Larimer County and a region made up of Pitkin and Garfield counties and a corner of Eagle County — ask voters for .25% sales taxes. The levies, which would not apply to food, gas, diapers, or prescription drugs, would produce millions of dollars in annual revenue exclusively for early childhood initiatives.

There’s organized opposition to the ballot measure in Chaffee County, where critics say the lodging tax increase would drive tourists to other destinations and hurt local businesses. Most of the other counties with tax measures that could send money to child care don’t have organized opposition groups. Still, some residents and lodging providers have objected to the new taxes for reasons similar to those in Chaffee County. In addition, they say counties should focus on core services and make do with the tax money they’re already collecting.

The measure in Pitkin, Garfield, and Eagle counties is particularly notable because it would create Colorado’s first early childhood development special district, a region with taxing authority enabled by a 2019 state law. The idea is that multiple communities or counties can band together and ask voters within their boundaries to levy taxes for early childhood efforts.

Maggie Tiscornia, outreach director for the ballot campaign, said, “It would just be not only a first in the state, but really a first locally as well to have something truly regional.”

The new early childhood district would stretch from Aspen to Parachute, reflecting “how our community operates in our economic corridor and how our families move across jurisdictions,” she said.

The new funding — about $10 million a year — would boost wages for child care staff, provide tuition subsidies to families, and award grants to providers to expand or improve their space.

The sales tax measure in Larimer would generate nearly $29 million. Some of the money would be used for sliding-scale child care subsidies, with every family eligible for some help, said Christina Taylor, CEO of the Early Childhood Council of Larimer County.

Taylor said there’s no guarantee the sales tax will pass, but previous polling shows “a narrow path to victory.”

If that happens, she said, “I’ll make a huge dent in a very big problem.”

Lodging taxes a boon in mountain resort areas

About a dozen Colorado cities, counties, or local marketing districts — from Estes Park in northern Colorado to La Plata County in southwestern Colorado — already have lodging taxes that allow some proceeds to be used for early childhood purposes. Lodging taxes don’t typically raise huge sums but advocates say they can help with local needs at a time when federal and state funding is receding.

Stacy Terrill, who leads Custer County’s early childhood council, said the county has only two licensed child care providers: a home-based business and a center run by the school district. Both facilities are closed on Friday and the school district doesn’t operate during the summer.

She said she’s heard parents say, “It’s not worth me trying to find a job” because child care is expensive and hard to find.

If the county’s lodging tax passes, it would bring in around $90,000 a year for child care, which Terrill said could be used to help offer Friday and summer care, and to train new child care workers to cover those times.

Some communities with proposed lodging taxes say the money would help with the cost of building new child care facilities, maintaining existing ones, or providing local matching funds required for certain kinds of grants.

Jake Niece, who spoke in his personal capacity not in his role as a Ouray County commissioner, said feedback from the community indicated little interest in using local taxes to cover day-to-day child care operations, but a willingness to use some for capital costs.

If passed, most of the county’s new 6% lodging tax would probably go first to emergency medical services, but some could eventually be earmarked for child care, he said. Like most of the lodging taxes on the ballot, Ouray County’s new 6% levy wouldn’t apply to municipalities in the county, only to unincorporated areas.

Niece, who expects the lodging tax vote to be close, said the shortage of both child care and affordable housing can make it hard for young families to stay in the county of about 5,000 people.

“We lose good people from our community,” he said.

Jace Hochwalt, community development director for the City of Montrose, which passed a lodging tax increase last year, knows the feeling.

Just after he and his wife moved to Montrose from Grand Junction three years ago, they discovered they were expecting their first baby.

“It was like an ‘oh no’ moment,” he said. “We contemplated moving back, frankly.”

They weren’t sure they could find a child care spot for their baby in Montrose, whereas Grand Junction was just finishing a child care center with seats for the children of city staff and community members.

Hochwalt and his wife, who are now expecting their second child, ended up staying in Montrose, and today the city is working on converting an old school district building to a child care center.

About $150,000 collected from the lodging tax approved in 2024 will be used for the $850,000 renovation.

Hochwalt said they’ll send their new baby to the center when it opens next spring and their older son after he finishes the school year with his current provider.

Once the new center is done, other local child care providers will be able to access some of the lodging tax money for help with costly improvements like HVAC or roof repairs, he said.

“Those are big ticket items,” he said. “I think it certainly helps the bottom line for [child care providers] to just continue to be able to stay in business.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Federal SNAP-Ed program cuts mean less nutrition education for Colorado students and families

2025-10-17T22:50:57+00:00

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Southern Colorado’s Center school district used to offer young children fruits and vegetables to try that they might not have previously eaten at home, like kiwi and jicama.

The federally-backed program that helped provide these foods also assisted educators in teaching preschool and elementary students’ families why fruits and vegetables are good for their health. With kiwi, for example, the district would send home recipes for a salad that could be made by parents, said Janet Sanchez, Center Consolidated School District 26JT’s director of preschool.

The program in Center and others like it across the state received support through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education, or SNAP-Ed, which ended on Sept. 30 as part of federal budget cuts passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump.

The federal government provided Colorado more than $6 million annually to use on educational programs like the one offered in the 600-student school district located in the San Luis Valley.

These programs were meant to reinforce healthy behaviors and show families that even on a shoestring budget, healthy eating could be in reach. Improving eating habits, in turn, can help improve health outcomes, experts say.

“We serve poverty-level families. This gave children an opportunity to try new foods and try new physical activities,” said Sanchez, who works in a district where 90% of the students qualify for free or reduced price meals.

Administrators and advocates say that without the funding, schools and communities have lost a program that taught children and families healthy habits, including lessons on nutrition and cooking from scratch.

Sanchez said the Center school district can’t replicate these types of programs on its own, especially because teachers aren’t experts on nutrition.

“With our budget constraints,” Sanchez said, “we just can’t continue the teachings.”

Nationwide, the federal government spent about $536 million annually for the SNAP-Ed program. Congress also cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by $186 billion through 2034 and has put more of the cost burden on states. The cuts come during a time when food insecurity is on the rise.

While the SNAP program ensures families get fed, the education component was created to teach healthier habits. States used SNAP-Ed in different ways to educate families and students.

The Colorado Department of Human Services distributed the $6 million in federal funding for SNAP-Ed programs to the Colorado School of Public Health and Nourish Colorado.

The Colorado School of Public Health, a collective of three universities that partner on health research and education, primarily operated its programs in preschools and elementary schools, including ones in the Center district.

Associate professor Jini Puma said the programs promoted wellness in schools and created lifelong skills and habits to prevent serious diseases like obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and cancer.

The SNAP-Ed cuts forced the Colorado School of Public Health to lay off 25 employees who supported school gardens where students learned to grow and taste their own food, developed classroom lessons for teachers, and advised cafeterias on healthier meal options, she said.

Colorado School of Public Health officials would also put together the recipes that were sent home with students, created newsletters about nutrition, and promoted classroom activities that helped keep kids active.

They even reinforced lessons in Center such as proper handwashing techniques and how to stay healthy during the flu season, Sanchez said.

The school of public health’s programs operated in over 140 preschool and 56 elementary schools and taught about 19,000 children, teachers, and caregivers in 19 counties, Puma said.

“We really could change the trajectory for those children so that we can prevent later chronic diseases,” Puma said.

Sanchez said the program greatly contributed to the health of her community. The program not only provided the food for students to try, but also made it easy on teachers to teach about nutrition.

Many of the parents in Center work long hours, she said. The program offered easy activities and meals to try with kids, she said.

“And the program also showed parents that they need to take care of themselves,” Sanchez said.

Nourish Colorado, a nonprofit focused on advocating for accessible, nutritious foods, also was granted the federal funds from the state and delivered nutrition education services in 56 of the state’s 64 counties to help reach almost 400,000 Coloradans. The community-based nutrition education programs worked primarily with adults.

Nourish’s Executive Director Wendy Peters Moschetti said the cuts are bad for everyone, especially because the program has proven to improve the health of communities.

U.S. Department of Agriculture research shows that every $1 spent on SNAP-Ed saves up to $10.64 in health care costs by teaching students and families about nutrition and health.

Colorado lawmakers have asked voters for more money for school meals and food programs such as SNAP-Ed on the state’s Nov. 4 ballot.

She said there’s likely to be significant discussion about how the state would use new revenue if Proposition MM passes. She plans to advocate for the SNAP-Ed programs

“We will be at that table,” Peters Moschetti said. “And that is our best bet right now to continue to fund public, community-based nutrition education.”

Will 24 new paraprofessionals help students in this Colorado school district become better readers?

2025-10-02T21:12:11+00:00

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The kindergartner in the light blue Bart Simpson T-shirt was quick to say “no” when Quianna Becenti asked him if “horse” starts with the “h” sound.

“Nooooo?” Becenti asked in an affectionate sing-song voice. “Listen to the beginning … horse.”

The 5-year-old gazed at the smiling cartoon horse on his worksheet and reconsidered. He repeated the word in a breathy voice, nodding as he heard the “h” sound.

The moment was a step on the little boy’s road to reading at Mesa Elementary School in the Westminster school district north of Denver. Becenti, a paraprofessional, is part of a new $1 million district effort to boost early reading skills by adding paraprofessionals to all kindergarten classrooms.

Quianna Becenti, whom students call Miss Kiki, works with kindergartners on the letter H.

At a time when many Colorado school districts are tightening their belts because of state and federal budget cuts, Westminster’s initiative represents a bet that offering kids more personalized help from trained adults will improve reading outcomes.

Like many districts, Westminster Public Schools, where about 40% of students are English language learners and most students come from low-income families, has struggled to get students back on track after the pandemic. Over the summer, district officials received discouraging news: After an eight-year reprieve, the 7,700-student district was back on the state watchlist for schools and districts with low ratings.

Ratings are largely based on state test results. Scores from last spring show that only about 23% of Westminster’s students are reading and writing at grade level, compared with 45% statewide.

Across Westminster’s 24 kindergarten classrooms, paras like Becenti give students more small group instruction and one-on-one attention than they would get with only a classroom teacher.

The new literacy effort won’t generate quick results on state tests, district leaders say. That’s partly because today’s kindergartners won’t be in third grade — the year state testing starts — for three more years.

It’s about playing the long game, said Mat Aubuchon, the district’s executive director of learning services. That means working harder to build foundational skills among the youngest students rather than simply offering remedial help as they get older.

“If you don’t develop a reader by the time they’re walking out of first grade, they have a hard time catching up,” he said. “This is intended to be an early investment to say, ‘How do we offset that?’”

Aubuchon said he expects the district will fund the effort for at least two years and possibly more.

The district used a multinational staffing company called Scoot Education to hire two dozen new kindergarten paras over the summer. Most get paid $22 an hour, with bilingual paras getting a little more. Compared with most other paras Scoot supplies to local schools, the early literacy paras in Westminster get more structure, support, and training, said Colleen O’Malley, an educational consultant at the company.

Becenti, who graduated from nearby Thornton High School and has completed some college, used to consider herself a “kid-hater.” Not anymore. After a stint at a swimming school, then a child care center, she found she loved working with children. At Mesa Elementary, she likes watching students make big learning gains.

“Even just from looking back at our first week and seeing where they were at versus now, it’s like, wow. It’s crazy,” said Becenti, who now aspires to become a teacher.

On a recent September morning, Becenti, whom students call Miss Kiki, worked with a group of four students on the letter H. She articulated the airy H sound over and over, adjusted their grip as they used crayons to draw the letter, and quizzed them on the beginning sound of heart, hat, house, and — just to make sure they got it — nest and monkey.

Nearby, teacher Kristina Cleveland worked with another small group on the letter L, practicing with words like “legs,” “lips,” and “lid.” A third staff member, who only spends a short time in the room each day, worked on letter flashcards with three children. Another handful of students practiced independently on computers.

A staff member in Kristina Cleveland's kindergarten classroom works with students on letter names and sounds.

With Becenti in the room, “It’s just nice because there’s more reinforcement,” Cleveland said. “My concern’s always been sending a kid away, especially a 5-year-old … and them practicing something I’ve taught them incorrectly.”

Research shows that small group instruction in phonemic awareness, a key early reading skill that enables children to identify and manipulate the individual sounds in spoken words, can be more effective than whole class instruction.

During a morning break, Cleveland pulled up a chart tracking her students’ progress on the eight letters and sounds they’d learned over the previous few weeks. It had a lot more green than white — a good sign.

“I just did DIBELS testing,” Cleveland said, referring to a common elementary reading assessment. “We’re way ahead for first sound fluency at this part of the year than I think we’ve ever been, because they’re getting three doses” of practice.

Brandi Housewright, the other kindergarten teacher at Mesa Elementary, said her paraprofessional, Zatina Gardner, is also helping the kids make progress. By the end of the year, she hopes their students will have better blending skills than previous classes did. That is, the ability to look at a series of letters, such as C, A, and T, and smoothly combine the sounds to say “cat.”

“The jump from kinder to first grade, people don’t realize it’s a big jump,” Housewright said. “And with the second person, we’re going to be able to make that jump without having gaps.”

Teacher Brandi Housewright works with kindergarten students on early reading skills.

Gardner, who previously worked with teens as a mentor and tutor and is planning to earn her teaching license, was constantly in motion on a recent morning. She was standing before two boys and two girls in the pink reading group, the lowest in the class. She led them in a fast-paced letter-naming game. A boy in a Super Mario hoodie was particularly quick on the draw, soon amassing a stack of white cards with letters he’d called out first. Across the table, the other boy had no cards, often naming the letter a beat later than his groupmates or not answering at all.

Such struggles aren’t lost on Gardner or Housewright. The two meet regularly to talk about student needs, even delving into how to seat students so they are benefitting most from their nearest classmate.

Housewright said the early literacy effort is valuable because it puts an extra set of eyes in the classroom.

“If it gets taken away … I will cry and throw a fit like a kindergartner,” she said laughing.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Appeals court rules for Colorado and LGBTQ rights and against Catholic parishes in state preschool case

2025-09-30T23:25:08+00:00

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Preschoolers with LGBTQ parents or who identify as LGBTQ can’t be shut out of religious preschools that are part of Colorado’s state-funded preschool program, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The decision, which upholds a key part of a lower court decision, represents a major win for the state and a defeat for the two Denver-area Catholic preschools at the center of the case.

Tuesday’s decision provides the latest answer to a question being asked in several cases percolating in state and federal courts: Can private religious schools that accept public education dollars refuse to enroll certain kids based on religious principles?

Along with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, a Maine federal district court and a Utah state court are among those who have said no.

It’s possible the U.S. Supreme Court could eventually weigh in, though it’s not clear which case will advance to the high court.

In its 54-page ruling, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals wrote that it found no proof that the Colorado Department of Early Childhood took actions that “evidence religious hostility” as the two Catholic preschools claimed.

The state’s universal preschool program “went to great effort to be welcoming and inclusive of faith-based preschools’ participation,” the decision said.

The three-judge panel also found that the early childhood department, which runs the preschool program, had applied the state’s nondiscrimination policy in a neutral way to both religious and non-religious preschools.

The policy bars preschools in the universal preschool program from discriminating based on a variety of factors, including sexual orientation and gender identity. State officials cited the policy in denying the Catholic preschools a waiver that would have allowed them to keep LGBTQ children or children from LGBTQ families from enrolling if the preschools had joined the state-funded preschool program.

In a statement Tuesday, Gov. Jared Polis said, “We are building a Colorado for all, where every student is free from discrimination and this voter-approved initiative continues to enroll approximately 70% of all eligible four-year-olds each school year and many faith based and secular providers are operating terrific preschools that serve parents and children well.”

Tuesday’s ruling essentially upholds the status quo in the universal preschool program, meaning that participating preschools can’t shut out LGBTQ children or children with LGBTQ parents.

The three appeals court judges who ruled Tuesday were Gregory Phillips, Veronica Rossman, and Richard Federico. Phillips was appointed by President Barack Obama, and Rossman and Federico were appointed by President Joe Biden.

Nick Reaves, senior counsel at The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the Catholic preschools in the case, sent Chalkbeat a short statement about the ruling.

“Colorado is punishing religious schools and the families they serve for following their faith. The Tenth Circuit’s decision allows the state’s anti-religious gamesmanship to continue. We will keep fighting to ensure that every preschooler in Colorado can access quality, affordable education.”

Conflict arose as state preschool program rolled out

The Colorado case began in 2023 as the state was launching its new universal preschool program, which provides tuition-free preschool to 4-year-olds statewide. The $349 million program serves more than 40,000 children and allows families to choose from public, private, or religious preschools.

Of more than 2,000 preschools participating in the program this year, about 40 are religious.

In June 2024, a federal district court judge appointed by President Jimmy Carter largely ruled in the state’s favor.

He wrote of Colorado’s non-discrimination rules: “The purpose of the requirement is not to invade religious freedom but to further the implementation of a strongly embraced public value.”

The parishes quickly appealed.

Unfolding alongside the Catholic preschool case is a separate lawsuit over universal preschool brought by an evangelical Christian preschool in southern Colorado. Unlike the Catholic preschools, that school, Darren Patterson Christian Academy, joined the universal preschool program when it launched.

While officials there never sought to keep LGBTQ children or families out, their lawsuit said state non-discrimination rules could force the preschool to hire employees who don’t share its faith or to change school policies related to restrooms, pronouns, and dress codes.

In February, a federal judge appointed by Donald Trump ruled in favor of Darren Patterson Christian Academy.

The state appealed the ruling in May. The case is ongoing.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Banana phones and cozy corners: Colorado’s third year of universal preschool gets off the ground

2025-09-02T23:28:49+00:00

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The little boy clung to his mother as she carried him through the wooden half-door of the preschool classroom on Tuesday morning. Tears streamed down his face. It was going to be a tough drop-off.

While other children finished bananas, raisin bagels, and milk, Vraja Johnson, the lead teacher, ushered the mother and son toward a cozy corner in the back of the classroom. She spoke softly in English and Spanish to the nervous preschooler. Several minutes later, when his mother had slipped away, the boy nestled into a large blue beanbag clutching Tucker the Turtle, a stuffed animal that helps preschoolers understand that it’s OK to retreat into your shell — and to come back out when you’re ready.

It was the first day of preschool in the Otters classroom at El Nidito, a bilingual child care program at The Family Center in Fort Collins. The little boy and his 11 classmates are among 40,000 children enrolled in Colorado’s universal preschool program this year. The $349 million program offers tuition-free preschool — typically a half day — to all children in the year before kindergarten.

Now entering its third year, Colorado’s preschool for all program has smoothed out since its rocky rollout in 2023. At the time, application system errors, glitches in the state’s preschool matching algorithm, and last-minute reductions in preschool hours for some children caused widespread confusion and frustration.

A national early childhood group recently ranked Colorado third in the country for the share of children served by state-funded preschool. Around 70% of the state’s 4-year-olds are enrolled in the program, which generally covers about $6,000 a year in preschool costs per child.

But wrinkles remain. The state is still fighting two lawsuits brought by religious preschools that objected to non-discrimination rules protecting LGBTQ children, families, and employees. Both suits are pending in federal appeals court. And the national early childhood group found that Colorado meets only two of 10 benchmarks meant to ensure that preschool classrooms are high quality.

Currently, the “universal preschool” label doesn’t indicate anything about the caliber of classroom a child will join. Rather, it simply indicates the state is paying for 10 to 30 hours of class time. Of about 2,000 preschools participating in the program, some have the state’s lowest rating and meet only basic health and safety standards.

Others, including El Nidito, which has been around for 25 years, have the state’s highest rating.

A morning in Johnson’s classroom makes it easy to see why. She and her co-teacher, an experienced sub named Maria Chavira, are warm, cheerful, and organized. Their young charges are curious, silly, and always in motion.

Maria Chavira, a substitute teacher at the El Nidito child care program in Fort Collins, puts sunscreen on a preschool student before they go outside.

During breakfast, two boys held bananas up to their ears like phones.

“Ring, ring, ring. Hi, Henry,” one said as the other burst out laughing.

Nearby at the sensory table, as one little boy poured dried pinto beans through a cardboard tube, he said, “Did you ever watch ‘Boss Baby?’ The baby is a bossssss. Babies can’t be bosses!”

Meanwhile, the little boy who’d struggled to leave his mother was getting braver, slowly testing the waters of group play. One minute he crouched next to a little girl in front of a tree house play set. Later, he tried out bear and leopard hand puppets as the Boss Baby skeptic threw Tucker the Turtle up in the air next to him.

Johnson, who switched from a sales and marketing career to early childhood education in 2007, seems to have a sixth sense for detecting imminent meltdowns, skirmishes, and rule-bending.

She quickly peeled away from a conversation with a visitor when a little girl dressed in head-to-toe pink accidentally got a squiggle of red marker on her new cowboy boots.

“Your mom can get that out. The markers are washable,” Johnson said as tears welled in the preschooler’s eyes.

Then she averted the crisis with five words: “Do you want a hug?”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Three takeaways from a new report on child care costs, supply in Colorado

2025-08-01T21:47:41+00:00

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In some Colorado counties, the cost of child care is equivalent to more than half a week’s salary at a minimum wage job, which leaves little money to pay for other expenses.

That’s one of the findings in a new report on licensed child care from the Common Sense Institute, a Colorado research organization. Overall, the report reiterates what many parents know intuitively: Child care is expensive and hard to find. But it also digs into county-by-county differences that highlight how the child care landscape differs by community.

One thing the report doesn’t account for is family, friend, and neighbor care, which is informal child care provided by a child’s relatives or others. The state doesn’t license such providers or track their prevalence, but they are the ones who often fill the gap when state-licensed care is in short supply or out of reach financially.

Here are three takeaways from the report:

Child care takes a big bite out of family income

In Colorado’s 10 largest counties, families are spending 18% to 25% of their monthly income on child care — far above the 7% affordability benchmark set by the federal government. It’s the worst in Weld County, where child care costs consume about $1,400 a month on average. That’s 25% of $5,600, the average monthly household income.

Families have it a bit better in Denver. There, child care costs nearly $1,600 a month per child on average, 18% of the monthly household income of nearly $8,600. Households in Arapahoe and Pueblo counties spend a similar share of their income on child care as those in Denver.

In populous counties, child care supply is best in Boulder, worst in Pueblo

Boulder County has 0.63 child care seats per child under 6 — more seats relative to the number of young children than Colorado’s other nine most populous counties. Jefferson and Douglas counties are close behind.

Lowest on the 10-county list is Pueblo, which has 0.29 seats per child under 6. Child care supply is even worse in some of Colorado’s least populous counties, including Elbert, Huerfano, Lake and Las Animas.

Four Colorado counties have enough slots for young children — technically

Four Colorado counties in the southwestern corner of the state have enough licensed child care seats to serve every child under 6 within their borders. The largest of them is La Plata, where Durango is the county seat. The county has about 400 children under age 6 and about 1,200 child care slots — though the report doesn’t account for children who may come to La Plata from nearby counties for child care.

The other three counties with the best child care supply relative to their child populations are all sparsely populated. They include San Juan, Mineral, and Hinsdale counties.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Health coverage for Colorado babies and toddlers could be disrupted by Trump administration policy

2025-07-29T23:41:58+00:00

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New guidance from the Trump administration has derailed an effort by Colorado to allow babies and toddlers covered by public health insurance to stay continuously enrolled until they turn 3.

Colorado had been planning to roll out its continuous coverage initiative on January 1, 2026. But the guidance, which was released earlier this month, now has advocates worried that thousands of young children from low-income families could lose health coverage at a critical time in their development, with downstream effects on schools, hospitals, and other institutions.

The Trump administration guidance will affect young children enrolled in Medicaid or Colorado’s Child Health Plan Plus program, or CHP+. Instead of allowing them to stay enrolled in the insurance plans until their third birthday, as Colorado leaders intended, their parents will have to fill out paperwork to re-confirm eligibility every 12 months. If they miss the deadline, skip the paperwork, or their income rises slightly above the government’s low-income threshold, their kids would lose coverage.

During the COVID pandemic, the federal government allowed people on public insurance programs like Medicaid and CHP+ to stay continuously enrolled without having to re-submit paperwork every year. When the pandemic ended, some states, including Colorado, sought federal approval to keep the policy going for certain vulnerable populations.

The Trump administration’s new guidance signals an end to that era.

The guidance emphasizes “fiscal and program integrity” as the rationale for ending continuous eligibility for some groups. It also comes amid a broad federal push to shrink a variety of safety net programs. The recent budget bill that Trump signed into law will make deep cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat who’s running for Colorado governor, cited some of those cuts Tuesday in announcing a federal bill that would provide continuous public health coverage to enrolled children until they turn 6.

“Guaranteed, consistent coverage during a child’s critical stage of development is especially important now, as the Republican ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ will cut $1 trillion from Medicaid and CHIP, increase barriers to coverage … and add unnecessary red tape that will lead to people improperly losing their health care,” he said in a press release.

CHIP is a joint federal and state health insurance program for children who don’t qualify for Medicaid. CHP+ is Colorado’s name for CHIP.

With Republicans in control of Congress and the White House, Bennet’s proposal may be a nonstarter.

Madi Ashour, director of K-12 education policy for the state advocacy group Colorado Children’s Campaign, said one of the biggest problems with the federal restriction on continuous eligibility for young children is that they’ll miss doctor visits that could uncover developmental problems and route them to important therapies.

“If a child is dropped for Medicaid coverage during that crucial 0-3 window, they may miss diagnoses or supports for developmental delays,” she said.

Ashour said Colorado’s continuous coverage initiative for babies and toddlers can be thought of as “a workload reduction effort for kindergarten and elementary teachers.”

“Kids who start preschool or kindergarten with undiagnosed or unaddressed developmental delays are much more likely, obviously, to struggle with early literacy, behavior, or even peer relationships,” she said. “That may require more intensive and costly interventions later in the school system.”

A 2023 Colorado law set the stage for the state’s plan to ensure continuous public health insurance coverage for two groups: young children during the first 36 months of their lives and adults in the first 12 months after release from state prison. The state received permission from the Biden administration in late 2024 to roll out the effort starting in 2026, but that permission needed to be renewed this coming December by the Trump administration. It now appears that won’t happen.

Marc Williams, a spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, said in an email that plans underway for the Jan. 1 launch are “being urgently pulled back” now.

The department “is analyzing whether it needs to rework legislation and what the fiscal impact may be,” Williams wrote.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Are Colorado kindergartners showing up ready to learn? The picture is fuzzy, advocates say.

2025-07-28T21:44:34+00:00

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Are Colorado kids showing up ready for kindergarten? Are their early math and reading skills up to par? How’s their social and emotional development?

A new report from Early Milestones Colorado, a statewide research and policy group, argues that clear answers are unavailable because of missing or incomplete data.

The report arrives as Colorado is spending big on universal preschool, which launched in 2023 and aims to help prepare kids for kindergarten. Advocates say better kindergarten data could spotlight bright spots and weak areas in that program and help the state make informed decisions about improvements.

At the same time, Gov. Jared Polis is pushing for better data systems for all education levels as part of a multistate effort he’s spearheading for the National Governor’s Association. Part of the goal of the “Let’s Get Ready” initiative, he said in a recent press release, is to “bolster our capacity to measure what works and what doesn’t.”

For nearly a decade, a law known as CAP4K has required Colorado’s kindergarten teachers to collect information early in the school year on how students are doing in six areas: cognition, language, literacy, math, social-emotional development, and physical and motor development. Most schools use one of several state-approved assessments to collect the data, which is released annually in a report to lawmakers.

In 2024-25, the share of students considered ready for kindergarten ranged from 51% to 63% depending on the developmental area, according to the state report.

But advocates say the report lacks key information about certain student subgroups. That’s because schools are allowed to report as “unknown” a child’s race or ethnicity or whether the child is eligible for free or reduced-price school meals, one measure of poverty. In the most recent report, about 10,000 children who met language expectations had unknown free and reduced-price meal status. The numbers were similar for the other five developmental areas.

In addition, the report contains no readiness data at all for thousands of kindergartners whose schools got waivers from using state-approved assessments. Such students make up about 7% of the more 50,000 kindergartners in the state’s public schools, according to the Early Milestones brief.

Jennifer Stedron, executive director of Early Milestones, said given that CAP4K’s goal was to boost student achievement, the lack of data about a key grade is “a little stunning.”

The Early Milestones report includes three recommendations:

Require reporting of students’ race/ethnicity, gender, and free-and-reduced-meal eligibility status as part of kindergarten readiness data. Eliminate the “unknown” option.
Require reporting of results for kindergartners whose schools received waivers from state-approved assessments.
Require reporting of the share of kindergartners who meet or exceed expectations across all six developmental areas.

Officials from the Colorado Department of Education say the State Board of Education would be in charge of making any changes to kindergarten assessment data requirements.

Tami Yetter, the department’s director of elementary literacy and school readiness, said data privacy rules are why free- and reduced-price-meal status is unknown for so many students in the kindergarten readiness report.

She noted that the state has kindergarten data for schools with waivers that allow them to use non-approved assessments, but historically hasn’t published it. She said state officials aren’t sure if such assessments are comparable to state-approved assessments, the most common of which is Teaching Strategies GOLD.

The State Board’s next scheduled review of kindergarten readiness data requirements will be in 2028, Yetter said.

Madi Ashour, director of K-12 education policy for the Colorado Children’s Campaign, said the state’s current kindergarten readiness report is “good, but could be better.”

She said requiring that all schools use state-approved kindergarten assessments would be the easiest way to ensure that the 7% of kindergarteners not currently represented in the kindergarten readiness report show up there. But she acknowledged that Colorado local control ethos makes that tricky.

Ashour also noted the state has made some progress over the years toward more accurately reporting kindergarten data. Indeed, the state’s kindergarten readiness report used to be even more opaque. In 2016, worries about data privacy and government intrusion prompted the State Board to drastically limit what data appeared in the report.

That eventually changed, but advocates say more is needed.

Ashour described the Early Milestones recommendations as a way to “further improve these systems that can really make a difference in how Colorado serves kids.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Coming in 2026: A drop-in child care center at the Denver airport

2025-06-17T21:08:07+00:00

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Denver airport officials plan to open a small drop-in child care center in 2026 and are studying the possibility of opening another child care center that would serve more employees in the future.

The drop-in center will have room for 20 children and be located on the fourth level of the airport’s hotel and transit center, within a new training facility called the Center of Equity and Excellence in Aviation. The child care center is meant to provide occasional care and will primarily serve the children of airport employees or community members who are participating in training center activities.

While the planned center would serve only a tiny fraction of the airport’s more than 40,000 employees, it represents a first step toward boosting the number of child care seats in an area with limited supply. Officials at the airport, which is the nation’s third busiest, began studying the possibility of a child care center at or near the airport’s far northeast Denver campus earlier this year.

That area of the city has so few state-licensed child care slots, it’s considered a child care desert.

The Denver airport will soon join a few other U.S. airports with on- or near-site child care facilities. They include Los Angeles International Airport, which operates a center for the children of employees a few blocks from the airport campus, and Pittsburgh International Airport, which runs a center in a converted terminal. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is slated to open a center on its campus this year. The three centers are bigger than what’s planned at Denver’s airport.

Denver’s drop-in center will have two classrooms — one for babies and toddlers and one for preschoolers — and a separate play area. It will be open 10 to 12 hours a day Monday through Friday year-round, including on holidays, according to the airport’s recent request for proposals, which seeks an operator to run the child care center.

Parents participating in activities at the airport training center will pay nothing for care. Some airport employees not participating in training activities also will be allowed to use the child care center for back-up care, but will have to pay a fee.

Ashley Forest, an airport spokesperson, said by email that she couldn’t provide information on which employees will be eligible for back-up care at the center or whether they will pay a discounted fee. She also couldn’t provide details on whether families will be limited to a certain number of weekly or monthly hours of care at the center.

Forest said plans for the drop-in center came out of the second phase of the airport’s three-phase child care feasibility study. The third phase will look at the possibility of “an airportwide child care solution,” which could be a second child care center on or near the airport campus.

Earlier this spring, airport officials estimated that 19,000 of more than 40,000 airport employees fall into the 20- to 39-year-old age range, but said they still needed more information about how many of those employees have young children and need child care.

The airport is working with a business-oriented group, Executives Partnering to Invest in Children, on the child care feasibility study. Forest said she expects a recommendation to come out of phase three later this year.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

¿Ansiedad ecológica en los niños pequeños? Estos profesores de educación infantil están a la última.

2025-06-05T17:58:07+00:00

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Stavros, un niño de 4 años de la escuela primaria Palmer de Denver, estaba de pie en una silla azul baja echando tierra en una maceta blanca que había decorado con la foto de su colegio y pegatinas de un donut, una cámara y la palabra “lucky” (suerte). A continuación, sacudió un paquete de semillas de flores silvestres autóctonas de Colorado y las agitó con el dedo índice.

“¿Qué más necesitamos?”, preguntó la maestra de preescolar Raegan Haines.

“Agua”, chilló el niño.

“Ha dado en el clavo”, añadió.

La actividad de jardinería en un lluvioso día de mayo es una de las formas en que Haines intenta que sus alumnos experimenten con la naturaleza y adquieran hábitos tempranos de cuidado del medio ambiente. Estas actividades, prácticas y apropiadas para cada edad, son el tipo de cosas que, según los expertos, ayudan a alejar la preocupación por el destino del mundo natural. En pocas palabras, la ansiedad ecológica.

Raegan Haines, profesora de preescolar de Palmer Elementary, ayuda a un alumno a plantar flores silvestres.

Este término, reconocido por la Asociación Americana de Psicología, se define sencillamente como el miedo crónico a la fatalidad medioambiental. En todo Colorado, muchos educadores de la primera infancia están creando momentos de enseñanza destinados a combatir la sensación de tristeza y desesperanza que puede conllevar.

Aunque la mayoría de los niños pequeños no saben lo que es el cambio climático, no son inmunes a sus aterradoras consecuencias, como inundaciones, incendios forestales y calor extremo, que pueden afectar a los niños de familias con bajos ingresos de forma más aguda que a sus compañeros con ingresos más altos. La información alarmante sobre la catástrofe climática también puede llegar a los niños de forma indirecta, a través de fragmentos de conversaciones de adultos e imágenes de las noticias 24 horas al día, 7 días a la semana.

“Entiendo por qué los niños se sienten así, porque tienen tanto acceso a los medios de comunicación todo el tiempo”, afirma Haines. “Cuando yo era pequeño, no me enteraba de los incendios forestales de California a menos que fueran muy, muy graves”.

Haines se encontraba entre las dos docenas de profesores de guardería y preescolar que llenaron recientemente una pequeña sala para asistir a una sesión de la conferencia de la primera infancia sobre cómo mitigar la ansiedad ecológica. Algunos dijeron que estaban interesados en la sesión porque ellos mismos sentían ansiedad ante el cambio climático o porque habían observado un repunte de la ansiedad en general entre sus jóvenes alumnos.

Una mujer dijo que había decidido asistir a la sesión tras una sorprendente conversación con su hija de 12 años.

“Su profesora le había dicho que cuando tenga 25 años... no podrá enseñar a sus hijos ciertas partes del océano y que muchos animales ya no estarán allí”, explicó.

Liz Beaven, una de las ponentes y presidenta de la Alianza para la Educación Pública Waldorf, tenía un nombre para eso: “Matar a los niños de un susto”.

Incluso las lecciones bienintencionadas pueden ser contraproducentes, afirma, y provocar que los niños se cierren en banda o se pongan muy nerviosos.

“Hay que equilibrar la información con un sentido de la posibilidad”, afirma.

Crear un oasis al aire libre en una plaza comercial

Los expertos afirman que los profesores de educación infantil pueden ofrecer a los niños experiencias que refuercen su aprecio por la naturaleza, aunque no tengan acceso a parques o parajes naturales. Es tan sencillo como dejar que los niños escarben en la tierra, planten flores o verduras y utilicen hojas y piñas para hacer manualidades, el tipo de cosas que muchos profesores ya hacen.

Step by Step Child Development Center, una guardería de Northglenn que atiende a muchas familias con bajos ingresos, ocupa un antiguo almacén de muebles en la esquina de un centro comercial. Detrás hay apartamentos y al lado se está construyendo un nuevo complejo para personas mayores.

En los últimos años, las subvenciones del programa de Salud Infantil al Aire Libre de la Federación Nacional de Vida Silvestre han ayudado al centro a renovar tres patios de recreo y un corredor al aire libre para que sean más propicios a la exploración de la naturaleza. Ninguno de ellos es lujoso, pero todos pretenden hacer que el aire libre sea interesante y accesible.

Alumnos de preescolar juegan en un charco en el Centro de Desarrollo Infantil Step by Step de Northglenn.

El pasillo tiene bancales elevados para cultivar un huerto, además de uno llamado “El parche de lombrices”, donde los niños pueden cavar en una tierra poblada de cientos de lombrices que la directora del centro, Michelle Dalbotten, encarga por Internet. El parque infantil está rodeado de jardineras bajas con plantas comestibles (pero sin fertilizante, ya que los bebés curiosos podrían intentar comérselo).

La zona de juegos para niños pequeños incluye una terraza de madera donde los niños a veces almuerzan o duermen la siesta. Un reciente día de primavera, una niña de 2 años ofreció a un visitante un puñado de tierra, diciendo: “Lámelo”.

Una maestra interpretó rápidamente el gesto, preguntando: “¿Intentas darle las magdalenas que estabas haciendo?”.

En el patio de recreo de preescolar, la gran estructura de plástico que era la pieza central hace tiempo que desapareció. Ahora hay huertos elevados, una “cocina de barro”, túneles apoyados en rocas, cubos llenos de troncos, un tipi para estar a solas, un camino pavimentado en curva y una casita de juegos al aire libre. A continuación, Dalbotten quiere instalar una cadena de tocones de árbol.

A principios de mayo, la estrella del espectáculo fue un charco de barro. Los preescolares saltaron al agua pardusca, la pisaron, tiraron piedras y colgaron en ella un muñeco de acción azul para que «nadara».

Ni los profesores ni los alumnos se preocuparon de que el agua salpicara pantalones, abrigos y botas. El centro advierte a los padres de que el tiempo al aire libre significa ensuciarse y guarda carritos llenos de calzado seco en la puerta principal.

Dalbotten afirmó que la transformación del exterior, que ha durado todo el año, ha hecho que alumnos y profesores se muestren más entusiastas a la hora de pasar tiempo al aire libre.

Contemplando el patio de recreo, dijo: “Esto es más divertido que tirar 200 veces el mismo camión por el mismo tobogán”.

Cambiar el mundo a la medida de los niños

A medida que los niños tienen más experiencias con la naturaleza, están más preparados para mejorar su rincón del mundo,

“Acción colectiva”, afirma Cathrine Aasen Floyd, consultora especializada en primera infancia, que participó junto con Beaven en la sesión sobre ansiedad ecológica. “Sabemos que están ocurriendo cosas negativas, pero podemos hacer mucho para conseguir estos cambios positivos”.

Jenni Bauderer, una amante de las plantas que enseña a niños de 2 años en Step by Step, intenta incluir pequeñas lecciones sobre la vida de las plantas y la jardinería al menos dos veces por semana.

“Creo que les enseña a respetar más la vida en general, porque a la mayoría de la gente no se le ocurre hablar a un niño de 2 años de las plantas y de que están vivas”, explica.

Bauderer comienza con la práctica de la siembra en las mesas sensoriales del aula. Los niños introducen las semillas en la tierra, las riegan y hablan de cómo necesitan el sol para crecer. A veces, coloca flores falsas en el jardín durante la siesta para que los niños encuentren flores al despertarse.

Bauderer ve el impacto de sus lecciones cuando se incorporan nuevos niños al aula.

“Tenemos una suculenta gigante en el centro y ellos simplemente entran y empiezan a destrozarla, y otros amigos dirán: ‘¡Noooo!”

Una maestra de pequeños del Centro de Desarrollo Infantil Step by Step de Northglenn ayuda a los niños a llenar un cubo con tierra.

En Palmer Elementary, que en otoño pasará de ser una escuela primaria a un centro de educación infantil, Haines también ofrece lecciones adaptadas a los niños con aplicaciones en el mundo real.

Esta primavera, los niños de 3 y 4 años aprendieron sobre los peligros de la basura oceánica y los beneficios del reciclaje a través de un libro ilustrado titulado “Salva el océano”. Trata de una tortuga marina que se come accidentalmente una bolsa de plástico y de una sirena que la salva.

Después de leer el libro, los niños de preescolar trabajaron con los de quinto para transformar viejas botellas de agua, envases de yogur y rollos de papel higiénico en un paisaje oceánico de criaturas marinas para una exposición en el pasillo.

A veces, durante la hora del círculo, Haines saca miniaturas de productos cotidianos -aderezo para ensaladas, galletas saladas y toallitas para bebés- y pide a cada alumno que decida si los envases deben ir a un pequeño contenedor azul de reciclaje o a un contenedor verde de basura.

“Hablamos del plástico blando frente al duro, y de la lata, el papel y el cartón”, explica. “Si alguien necesita ayuda, todos ayudamos a resolverlo”.

Una niña no necesitó ayuda para encontrar una solución al problema de la basura oceánica. Un día vino a clase con una propuesta muy sensata.

“Srta. Raegan, cojamos una gran grúa, vayamos al océano y recojámoslo todo, y así los animales estarán bien”.

Ann Schimke es reportera senior de Chalkbeat y cubre temas relacionados con la niñez temprana y la alfabetización temprana. Para comunicarte con Ann, envíale un email a aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Traducido por Juan Carlos Uribe para The Weekly Issue/El Semanario.

Eco-anxiety in little kids? These early childhood teachers are on the case.

2025-05-29T19:28:40+00:00

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Stavros, a 4-year-old at Denver’s Palmer Elementary School, stood on a low blue chair scooping soil into a white pot he’d decorated with his school picture and stickers of a donut, a camera, and the word “lucky.” Next, he shook in a packet of seeds for wildflowers native to Colorado and swirled them around with his index finger.

“What else do we need?” asked preschool teacher Raegan Haines.

“Water!” squealed the little boy.

“Nailed it,” she said.

The gardening activity on a rainy May day is one way Haines tries to give her students experience with nature and build early habits in environmental stewardship. These activities — hands-on and age appropriate — are the kinds of things experts say help stave off worry about the fate of the natural world. In short, eco-anxiety.

Palmer Elementary preschool teacher Raegan Haines helps a student plant wildflowers.

Recognized by the American Psychological Association, the term is most simply defined as the chronic fear of environmental doom. Across Colorado, many early childhood educators are creating teachable moments meant to combat the sense of sadness and hopelessness that can come with it.

Though most small children don’t know what climate change is, they’re not immune to its frightening impacts, including floods, wildfires, and extreme heat — all of which can affect children from low-income families more acutely than their higher income peers. Alarming information about climate disaster can also reach kids indirectly, through snippets of adult conversations and imagery from 24/7 news.

“I can see why kids are feeling like this, because they have so much access to media all the time,” said Haines. “When I was growing up, I didn’t know about the wildfires in California unless they were really, really bad.”

Haines was among about two dozen child care and preschool teachers who recently filled a small room for an early childhood conference session on mitigating eco-anxiety. Some said they were interested in the session because they feel anxious about climate change themselves or because they’d seen anxiety in general spike among their young students.

One woman said she’d decided to attend the session after a startling conversation with her 12-year-daughter.

“Her teacher had told her by the time she’s 25 … she will not be able to show her kids certain parts of the ocean and there’s a lot of animals that are not going to be there,” she said.

Liz Beaven, one of the presenters and president of the Alliance for Public Waldorf Education, had a name for that: “Scaring the kids to death.”

Even well-intentioned lessons can backfire, she said, prompting kids to shut down or become wildly anxious.

“We need to balance the information with a sense of possibility,” she said.

Creating an outdoor oasis in a shopping plaza

Experts say early childhood teachers can give kids experiences that bolster their appreciation for nature even if they don’t have ready access to parks or wild places. It’s as simple as letting kids dig in the dirt, plant flowers or veggies, and use leaves and pinecones for crafts — the kinds of things many teachers already do.

Step by Step Child Development Center, a Northglenn child care center that serves many low-income families, is housed in a former furniture warehouse in the corner of a strip mall. Behind it are apartments and next to it a new senior living complex is going up.

Over the last several years, grants from the National Wildlife Federation’s Early Childhood Health Outdoors program have helped the center revamp three playgrounds and an outdoor breezeway so they’re more conducive to nature exploration. None of them are fancy, but they all aim to make the outdoors interesting and accessible.

A toddler sits in her favorite chair under a pergola parents helped build at Step by Step Child Development Center in Northglenn.

The breezeway has raised beds for gardening, plus one called “The Worm Patch” where kids can dig in soil populated with hundreds of earthworms that center Director Michelle Dalbotten orders online. The infant playground is ringed with low garden beds that contain edible plants (but no fertilizer since curious babies might try to eat it).

The toddler playground includes a wooden deck where children sometimes eat lunch or take naps. On a recent spring day, a 2-year-old girl offered a visitor a handful of dirt, saying, “Lick it.”

A teacher quickly interpreted the gesture, asking, “Are you trying to give her the cupcakes you were making?”

A toddler teacher at Step by Step Child Development Center in Northglenn helps children fill a bucket with dirt.

On the preschool playground, the large plastic play structure that was once its centerpiece is long gone. Now, there are raised garden beds, a “mud kitchen,” tunnels propped on boulders, bins full of logs, a teepee for alone time, a curving paved path, and an open air playhouse. Next, Dalbotten wants to install a string of tree stumps.

In early May, the star of the show was a mud puddle. Preschoolers jumped into the brownish water, stomped through it, dropped rocks in it, and dangled a blue action figure into it so he could “swim.”

Neither teachers nor students worried about the water splashing onto pants, coats, and boots. The center warns parents that outside time means getting dirty and stows carts full of dry footwear by the front door.

Preschool students play in a puddle at Step by Step Child Development Center in Northglenn.

Dalbotten said the yearslong outdoor transformation has made students and teachers more enthusiastic about spending time outside.

Gazing at the playground, she said, “This is more fun than throwing the same truck off the same slide 200 times.”

Changing the world in kid-sized ways

As kids have more experiences with nature, they are primed to to improve their corner of the world,

“Collective action,” said Cathrine Aasen Floyd, an early childhood consultant who presented with Beaven at the eco-anxiety session. “We know there’s negative things going on, but there’s a lot that we can do to make these positive changes.”

Preschoolers at Palmer Elementary planted wildflower seeds to give to family members at the end of school.

Jenni Bauderer, a plant-lover who teaches 2-year-olds at Step by Step, tries to include small lessons about plant life and gardening at least twice a week.

“I just think it teaches them more respect for life in general, because most people don’t think about telling a 2-year old about plants and that they’re alive,” she said.

Bauderer begins with planting practice in the classroom sensory tables. The toddlers push seeds into dirt, water them, and talk about how they need sun to grow. Sometimes, she stages fake blooms in the garden during nap time so the kids find flowers when they wake up.

Bauderer sees the impact of her lessons when new children join the classroom.

“We have one giant succulent in the middle and they just go in and start ripping it apart, and other friends will be like, ‘Noooo!’”

At Palmer Elementary, which in the fall will switch from an elementary school to an early childhood center, Haines also offers child-friendly lessons with real-world applications.

This spring, 3- and 4-year-olds learned about the dangers of ocean garbage and the benefits of recycling through a picture book called “Save the Ocean.” It’s about a sea turtle who accidentally eats a plastic bag and a mermaid who saves him.

After reading the book, the preschoolers worked with fifth graders to transform old water bottles, yogurt containers, and toilet paper rolls into an oceanscape of sea creatures for a hallway display.

Palmer Elementary preschoolers worked with fifth graders to create an ocean scene using recycled materials.

During circle time, Haines sometimes brings out miniatures of everyday products — salad dressing, crackers, and baby wipes — and asks each student to decide whether the packages should go into a tiny blue recycling bin or a green garbage bin.

“We talked about soft plastic versus hard plastic, and tin and paper and cardboard,” she said. “If somebody needs help, we’ll all help figure it out.”

One little girl didn’t need help finding a fix for the ocean garbage problem. She came to class one day with a no-nonsense proposal.

“Miss Raegan, we get a big crane and we go into the ocean and we scoop it all out, and then the animals will be OK.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org

Last of COVID money helps create child care seats in rural Colorado

2025-05-21T23:01:23+00:00

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A rural school district, a college, and a science museum in western Colorado will all open new or expanded child care centers over the next two years, all funded in part with state grants for employer-based child care.

The projects include an expanded child care center in the Buena Vista school district, three child care classrooms in The Powerhouse, a children’s science museum in Durango, and a new child care space at Colorado Mountain College in Garfield County. The Buena Vista center will open this fall, and the other two will open in the fall of 2026.

Together, the projects will create about 330 new child care seats, chipping away at the perennial problem of child care shortages, particularly in Colorado’s rural communities. The state grant program, which aims to help employers provide child care for their workers, is largely funded with federal COVID stimulus money. With those dollars now used up, the grant program will end.

Child care programs offered inside or near workplaces can reduce staff turnover, shrink commute times, boost morale, and provide child care hours that better match parents’ work hours.

Colorado’s employer-based child care grant program gave out five rounds of grants — most worth $500,000 to $800,000 — to more than two dozen projects. They funded new child care centers at a ski resort in Steamboat Springs, a community hospital in Grand Junction, and a school district in La Veta. In several cases, new child care seats were made available to both employees and other local residents.

Many grant recipients got started by participating in a program that guides businesses through the complicated process of opening child care centers on their sites or nearby. It’s called the Design Lab and is run by the business group Executives Partnering to Invest in Children, or EPIC. From 2021 to 2024, the state kicked in more than $270,000 to help run the program.

“The success of the Design Lab and employer-based child care model is proof that when businesses and government collaborate around family-focused solutions, we create lasting impact,” said Lisa Roy, the executive director of Colorado’s Department of Early Childhood, in a press release.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado’s preschool program ranks high for enrollment, low for quality guardrails, report finds

2025-04-29T04:01:00+00:00

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Colorado’s popular universal preschool program has dramatically increased the number of 4-year-olds who get state-funded preschool, but it’s unfolded largely without guardrails to ensure quality.

A report released Tuesday by the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University highlights these twin realities and provides a more detailed look at where Colorado stands compared to other states.

Overall, the report suggests Colorado has prioritized quantity over quality as it moved from a small tuition-free preschool program for children with certain risk factors to one that’s open to all 4-year-olds. The state’s universal preschool enrollment numbers are impressive, with 70% of eligible children enrolled last year

That number helped Colorado leapfrog from its previous ranking of 27 to third in this year’s “State of Preschool” report. Only Washington, D.C. and Vermont had a larger share of 4-year-olds enrolled in public preschool programs last year.

Leaders at the research institute noted that California added more 4-year-olds to state-funded preschool than Colorado last year — 35,000 compared with 30,000 — but Colorado made far bigger gains than California when it comes to the percentage of children served.

“The progress Colorado made in terms of enrollment and expanding access was pretty remarkable,” said Allison Friedman-Krauss, an associate research professor at the institute.

But Colorado’s showing deteriorated in the quality standards department. In the latest report, it meets only two of 10 benchmarks, down from four in the previous preschool program. The benchmarks, which describe state policies that promote high-quality classrooms, touch on factors such as teacher training, curriculum, and class size.

Colorado officials plan to put new rules governing universal preschool quality in place, but plan to postpone the start date by a year to July 2026. It’s the third time the rules have been delayed.

“They kicked the can down the road one more time,” said W. Steven Barnett, senior co-director of the institute.

Dawn Odean, the state’s universal preschool program director, acknowledged that the state has delayed the rules, but said Barnett’s statement is misleading because Colorado has been working on efforts related to quality for a long time and continues to do so.

She described the state’s approach as “going slow to go fast.”

Colorado leaders repeatedly pledged that universal preschool would provide high-quality classes, starting when they pitched the program to voters, who approved a nicotine tax in 2020 to help fund it.

But currently, the “universal preschool” label doesn’t indicate anything about the caliber of classroom a child will join. Rather, it simply indicates the state is paying for 10 to 30 hours of class time. Of about 2,000 preschools participating in the program, some are excellent and have high state ratings, some are weak and meet only basic health and safety standards, and some are in between.

Experts say high-quality preschool can produce short- and long-term benefits for kids.

In the report, Colorado got credit for meeting two quality benchmarks: having a set of early learning and development standards and providing guidance to preschools on curriculum. While the state has not yet released a list of curriculum approved for use in universal preschool classrooms, that is slated to happen sometime this year.

Texas, Wisconsin, and Indiana are the only other states to hit only two of the institute’s preschool quality benchmarks. More than a dozen states and Washington D.C. meet 9 or 10 of the benchmarks. They include two of Colorado’s neighbors: New Mexico and Oklahoma.

Colorado didn’t meet benchmarks requiring class size caps of 20 and staff-student ratios of 1 to 10. Both limits have prompted heated debate over the last two years. Some private providers have argued they’ll lose money if they have to reduce class sizes below the state’s current cap of 24 and ratios below the current limit of one staff member for every 12 4-year-olds.

By the 2027-28 school year, state officials do plan to require the class size and ratio caps recommended by the research institute for universal preschool. There’s one big exception though: Preschools that have one of the top two state ratings will be allowed to stick with the current caps.

Colorado also didn’t meet benchmarks related to the types of credentials teachers or assistant teachers should have or annual training and coaching for staff.

Lisa Roy, executive director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, which administers the universal preschool program, said when Colorado’s rules on preschool quality are fully implemented over the next few years, she anticipates the state will meet at least half of the institute’s benchmarks.

Odean noted that the institute’s 10 benchmarks look at “outputs,” but that Colorado is focused on child outcomes.

“What families tell us consistently, and educators too, is that those outcomes are what’s a priority, and that’s not contemplated in the NIEER ratings,” she said, referring to the institute’s acronym.

The institute’s report describes its benchmarks as “a set of minimum criteria, established by state policy, needed to ensure effectiveness of preschool education programs.”

Barnett said Colorado parents should think carefully before moving their children away from a high-quality program that’s not part of the state’s universal program to a lower-quality provider that is.

“When people did that in Quebec in response to [$10-a-day] child care … kids’ development suffered for a decade,” he said.

Barnett was referring to an effort begun in the 1990s that offered highly discounted child care to Quebec families. While the effort allowed more women to join the workforce, many children were put in low-quality centers. Subsequent studies found negative impacts on children, including increased anxiety and aggression.

A 2019 study that revealed additional negative outcomes as the children became teens and young adults, concluded, “Our findings provide strong support for the argument that the early childhood development environment is a crucial determinant of the long-term success of children.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org

In tough budget year, raises for Colorado child care workers win continued support from lawmakers

2025-04-22T22:53:32+00:00

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What happens when teachers who earn a bit above the minimum wage get a 30% or 40% raise?

They cry, cheer, and dance. Some quit second jobs, worry less about bills, and sign up for retirement plans or health insurance.

These are some of the things that started in 2023 when Colorado used $9 million in COVID stimulus money to boost the wages of more than 300 teachers and assistant teachers at about 20 child care centers across the state. It was part of a two-year pilot program meant to examine how pay increases affected staff recruitment, retention, and well-being in an industry notorious for low wages and high turnover.

With the stimulus money set to run out in June, the program’s future was uncertain. But state officials told Chalkbeat on Tuesday that Colorado lawmakers found $2.9 million to keep the program going for another year. The money is included in the state’s budget, called the “long bill,” which won final approval Monday from the legislature. Gov. Jared Polis hasn’t signed the bill yet.

It’s a big win considering scores of cuts Colorado lawmakers made in recent weeks as they scrambled to close a $1.2 billion shortfall in next year’s budget. Only days ago, continued funding for the program seemed doubtful and leaders at pilot sites were cobbling together plans to keep the wage increases going on their own.

Some planned to increase staff-student ratios or cut the fresh fruits and vegetables budget. Others, like Rosie Evans, director of Evans Early Childhood Center in Fort Morgan, had reluctantly announced big tuition hikes.

She knew it was a hefty ask for families, but she felt strongly about maintaining the $5-an-hour raises for lead teachers and the $3-an-hour raises for assistant teachers. The pilot-funded increases boosted wages for lead teachers to $21-$24 an hour, close to teacher salaries in the local school district.

“I really feel this pilot had a profound impact on our program,” Evans said.

“It starts with the teachers and then it just trickles down to everything when you have stable, consistent caregivers. Children feel safe. They can grow, they can learn. Our turnover was almost non-existent,” she said.

Wage bumps help with school, health insurance, and 401Ks

To qualify for the wage increase pilot, child care centers were required to have one of the state’s top three quality ratings — Level 3, 4, or 5 — and serve a sizable chunk of students from low-income families that receive child care subsidies. Of 74 centers that applied, 22 were selected and 19 have participated throughout.

One of them is Step By Step Child Development Center in Northglenn.

Director Michelle Dalbotten remembers when she learned that her center had been accepted.

“It was like winning the lotto,” she said. “I went around and screamed happiness to everyone.”

At the time, staff salaries ranged from around $14 to $19 an hour, depending on job title and experience. The pilot program gave her lead teachers raises of $7.58 an hour and assistant teachers $5.51, said Dalbotten. Under the pilot, wage increases vary by region of the state.

About 20 staff members got raises through the pilot and Step By Step separately paid for raises for a few other employees, including kitchen and administrative staff, who weren’t covered by the pilot funding.

Like Evans, Dalbotten wasn’t planning to renege on the wage increases if lawmakers didn’t approve more pilot funding for next year. That’s because she’s seen the difference higher pay makes for her staff. Since the pilot began, more of her employees joined the center’s health insurance program, 10 started paying into the retirement program, and several went back to school for additional training, she said.

State officials are currently studying the impact of the pilot, with the final report expected in the fall. Anecdotally, they’ve seen increases in child care workers’ mental and financial well-being and decreases in staff turnover and the number of employees who work second jobs, said Michele Stillwell-Parvensky, early childhood workforce compensation administrator at the Colorado Department of Early Childhood.

Before she knew the pilot funding would continue, Dalbotten brainstormed ways to absorb the loss.

She considered increasing the center’s extremely low staff-student ratios during parts of the day or cutting how often the center offers fresh produce like strawberries, peaches, and broccoli. Another possible cut: the center’s dedicated cleaning employee, who was hired during COVID so teachers wouldn’t have to do so much deep cleaning and disinfecting.

Galvanizing grass roots support for child care

Brooke Gray, who has two young children, teaches part time in the “butterflies” classroom and serves as assistant director at Evans Early Childhood Center.

A classroom at Evans Early Childhood in Fort Morgan in northeastern Colorado.

Thanks to the raise she got through the state pilot program, she was able to contribute enough to the family finances that her husband could quit his exhausting power company job. Instead of 12-hour shifts and frequent weekend and holiday work, he opted for a 9-to-5 job with lower pay.

“He’s home every night, he’s home on weekends, he’s home on holidays. So we are able to spend that time together as a family and … we didn’t lose our new house,” said Gray.

Such stories illustrate the impact of a living wage on child care workers, but also highlight the challenge involved in achieving that goal.

“It’s the hardest part of having a child care center, the balance of paying staff a worthy wage and keeping rates where families can afford it,” said Evans, the center’s director. “It’s enormously hard.”

Earlier this spring, before she knew the state would continue funding the pilot, she announced tuition hikes averaging $300 per child per month. But she also wanted to build grassroots momentum for a better, long-term solution.

On a recent Friday afternoon at the center, she held a brainstorming meeting with more than a dozen parents. They discussed all kinds of options — a spaghetti dinner fundraiser, how to push for a property tax rebate for the center, and the creation of a local early childhood taxing district similar to one that’s slated to go before voters in the Roaring Fork Valley next November.

Evans still plans to pursue these ideas alongside staff and parents, but Tuesday’s happy budget news is “a gamechanger,” she said. It means she can ease up on the big tuition hikes and approach the community campaign more thoughtfully.

“I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, how are we going to pull this off in a month before June?’” Evans said. “If we still have another year, then I feel like that gives us adequate time to really prepare.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org

Colorado delays rules aimed at ensuring high-quality preschool — again

2025-04-11T00:12:30+00:00

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Colorado officials are again putting off rules meant to ensure the state’s universal preschool program — now in its second year — offers high-quality classes.

The latest delay, which won initial approval Thursday from a state advisory committee, represents the third time the rules have been postponed and means new requirements on class size, curriculum, and teacher training won’t start phasing in until July 2026. That’s three years after the program’s 2023 launch and nearly six years after Colorado voters approved a nicotine tax to help fund universal preschool.

The state’s slow-going approach to putting quality guardrails around the $344 million program stands in stark contrast to its initial promise that the new preschool program would offer high-quality preschool to every 4-year-old in the state. The repeated delays also raise questions about the effectiveness of the Department of Early Childhood, which is charged with operating the program. The department has recently taken flack from prominent state lawmakers over communication and planning failures related to a different program for young children.

Universal preschool, which is one of Gov. Jared Polis’ key priorities, is popular with families. This year, it enrolls about 42,000 4-year-olds — 65% of that age group in the state. Most get 15 tuition-free hours of class a week, but some get 30.

At a Thursday meeting of the Rules Advisory Council, which gives the state non-binding recommendations on early childhood rules, department officials framed the delay as a move that will help preschools.

“We’ve heard from [preschool] providers that it feels rushed and confusing. We agree,” said Glenn Robinson, deputy director of the state’s universal preschool program.

But the state is also behind schedule on key tasks needed to put new quality rules in place. For example, it hasn’t yet released a list of approved preschool curriculum — even though the state planned to share the list months ago.

Priscilla Hopkins, an advisory council member and the head of early childhood programs for Denver Public Schools, noted the absence of the list, which state officials are calling a resource bank, at Thursday’s meeting.

“I cannot find those anywhere,” she said. “Where are the bank of resources?”

State officials said they’re circulating a “prototype” to various early childhood groups now and will release it publicly at the end of June.

Delays plagued preschool rules from the beginning

The first major delay in rules on universal preschool quality came during the program’s rushed and rocky rollout in the spring of 2023. At the time, state officials told preschools participating in the program there would be no new rules for the program’s first year as they’d originally intended.

“Keep doing what you’re doing,” they told providers.

The new goal date for quality standards was July 2024.

But it took longer than state officials expected to hammer out the new rules, so they pushed the effective date to July 2025. Now, with less than three months until that deadline, they’ve pushed them back again.

Some of the rules, including an eventual class size cap of 20 students and a staff-student ratio of 1 to 10, won’t be fully in place till July 2027, after four classes of 4-year-olds have gone through the program.

Experts say high-quality preschool can produce short- and long-term benefits for kids. But the current quality of preschools in Colorado’s universal program is all over the map.

Some children attend top-rated preschools with small class sizes, excellent teachers, and strong curriculum. Others attend programs that meet only basic health and safety standards, and have the lowest grade on the state’s 5-level rating system, called Colorado Shines.

Class size and ratios remain sticking points

Class size and staff-student ratio proposals have ping-ponged around since state officials began planning the universal preschool program. Early childhood department officials initially proposed sticking with the state’s current child care licensing caps: 24 4-year-olds per classroom and one adult for every 12 children.

But national experts panned the state’s proposal, saying it set a low bar and could lead to bad outcomes for kids. By the fall of 2023, department leaders pivoted to class size caps of 20 and staff-student ratios of 1 to 10. National groups, such as the National Institute for Early Education Research and the National Association for the Education of Young Children, recommend these limits.

Colorado’s previous state-funded preschool program, which was for children from low-income families or those with other risk factors, had even stricter limits.

Some private preschools balked at the change, warning they’d lose money if they had to cut class sizes. After months of debate, the state came up with a compromise.

Most preschools would be required to limit classes to 20 students and ratios to 1 to 10, but would be allowed to phase in the changes over two years. In addition, there would be one major exception to the new limits: Preschools with one of the highest two Colorado Shines ratings — Level 4 or 5 — would still be allowed to have classes of 24 4-year-olds and ratios of 1 to 12.

Thursday’s council meeting showed there’s still resistance to the compromise.

Kelly Beal, the owner of Honey Tree Preschool in western Colorado, asked if the state would provide extra money to compensate centers like hers that would have to reduce class sizes because of the rules.

“The funding that we’re going to lose for four kids … that’s a lot of money for us every year,” she said.

Colin Stewart, a council member and CEO of STEM Child Care in Castle Rock, suggested that preschoolers aren’t that much different from kindergartners, who sometimes have 30 or more classmates.

“Is there evidence to suggest that children’s developmental needs change significantly enough between ages four and five to justify such a drastic shift in staffing standards?” he asked.

State officials on the video call seemed caught off guard by such questions, saying they’d consult with the department’s universal preschool team for answers.

None of the dozen Rules Advisory Council members at the meeting defended the state’s class size and ratio rules, though some other attendees did in the online chat.

“Developmentally there is a difference between 4-year-olds and 5-year-olds,” one attendee wrote. “1:10 ratio is quality. Quality should be a priority.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org

Colorado lawmakers reject bill on child care chains backed by private equity

2025-04-09T21:37:30+00:00

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Child care chains backed by private equity investment firms won’t be subject to new limits intended to protect parents or workers, after a Colorado bill died in the state Senate this week.

Senators initially passed House Bill 25-1011 on Monday, after rejecting a major change made last week in a legislative committee. But by Tuesday, some lawmakers had defected and the bill failed in an 18-16 vote.

Sen. Cathy Kipp, a Democrat from northern Colorado and one of the bill’s sponsors, said, “We were just unable to convince people between second and third reading that they should stick with us.”

The two readings are the initial and final votes on legislation in the full House or Senate.

The legislation represented the first time Colorado lawmakers have considered potential problems posed by private equity firms that buy or invest in child care centers. Experts say private equity backing can hurt child care quality, raise prices for families, and send public dollars meant for classrooms into the pockets of wealthy investors. But leaders of large chains backed by private equity firms say they provide many desperately needed child care seats and that new guardrails would chill investment in Colorado’s child care industry.

About 15% of child care seats for young children in Colorado are housed in centers with private equity backing or ownership, according to a Chalkbeat analysis. These include well-known chains like KinderCare, Primrose Schools, Goddard Schools, The Learning Experience, and brands owned by the Learning Care Group.

Other states, including Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Jersey, have passed laws aimed at such chains in recent years.

Kipp said she’ll meet with the other sponsors after the legislative session to “see if there is potentially a path forward, whether that be next year or the year after.”

The legislation would have required child care chains owned or backed by private equity or venture capital investors to post their tuition and fees online. It also would have required such chains to give families and employees 60 days notice after purchasing a child care center before laying off staff or making enrollment changes.

The original version of the bill also would have prevented a common real estate practice in the private equity world, but that provision on “sale-leasebacks” was stripped out in the House. Experts say sale-leasebacks, which force acquired companies to sell their property and then lease it back from the new owner. can harm companies financially by forcing them to shoulder a new expense.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org

‘This whole disaster’: Colorado lawmakers vexed by state agency’s missteps on early intervention

2025-04-03T23:18:56+00:00

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In late winter, Jeff Bridges got word that state-funded therapy for his 1-year-old son, who was born prematurely, would be slashed by half starting in July.

Bridges was upset. But he had a better reason than most parents to be caught off guard.

That’s because the Democratic state lawmaker is the head of a powerful legislative committee that makes key decisions about state spending. Members of that committee had repeatedly promised to protect funding for Colorado’s $87 million Early Intervention program. The program provides therapy and related services to babies and toddlers with developmental delays — including Bridges’ son.

Bridges shared the story in a recent Joint Budget Committee hearing where he and other members, both Democrats and Republicans, slammed the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, which administers the program, for poor communication and planning.

“This is one of those places where, if we could punish the department without hurting kids, man oh man, would I be on board with that,” he said.

The committee members’ sharp words that March day raised questions about the early childhood department’s leadership and capacity, with lawmakers expressing concern that the state’s youngest and most vulnerable residents could suffer because of internal problems at the department.

For now, no significant cuts to Early Intervention are planned, either this spring or for the new fiscal year, which starts in July. That’s sure to be a relief to the tens of thousands of Colorado families whose children get free therapies through the program. In addition, Joint Budget Committee members have demanded better communication from the department, and department officials have signaled they’ll comply.

Officials from the Department of Early Childhood, which was created in 2022 and is headed by Lisa Roy, declined an interview request from Chalkbeat.

They sent a statement on Thursday, saying, in part, “The Department is set to present an update to the [Joint Budget Committee] in the first weeks of June with recommendations for the financial sustainability of the program, incorporating feedback from families and providers. Current early intervention services will continue unchanged as a result of the JBC’s action to identify additional funding for the program.”

Families were surprised by planned service cuts

The uproar over Early Intervention began in late February when the Department of Early Childhood made an abrupt announcement. Starting in March, a $4 million funding shortfall meant therapies would be capped at four hours a month, a fraction of what many children were receiving.

State officials said the shortfall was partly caused by a growing caseload in Early Intervention, which serves about 11,000 children a month. The expiration of federal COVID stimulus funds and the fact that fewer children are eligible for Medicaid, a federal health insurance program that helps pay for the therapies, also contributed to budget problems.

Department officials, in the statement sent Thursday, said they had difficulty accurately projecting Early Intervention caseload increases because eligibility rules for the program changed in 2020 and 2023, and because far more children have been screened for delays in the last two years.

After the late February announcement about impending cuts, parents and Early Intervention providers were outraged and tearful, with many contacting lawmakers and the media to describe the damage the cuts would do.

The Joint Budget Committee acted quickly to stave off the cuts this spring. At the same time, committee members chastised department officials for not letting them know about the potential shortfall sooner.

“Why didn’t somebody come over here and say, ‘We got a perfect storm. We need your help?‘” Republican Rep. Rick Taggart asked a department official at a Feb. 27 committee meeting.

“Nothing, crickets. And yet, we’ve got to find out about it through the press and through our constituents and providers that could be devastated,” he said. “This is just unbelievable to me.”

The committee meeting ended on a calmer note, with Bridges urging department officials to keep committee members in the loop.

“We are six human beings that folks can talk to, and we desire information, and want to make sure that things like this don’t happen when we can avoid it,” he said.

Even bigger Early Intervention problems emerge

A couple weeks after the February budget committee meeting, the Early Intervention issue blew up again — this time, prompting even more wrath from committee members.

On March 14, the committee heard from a legislative analyst that the program would need more than $16 million to prevent cuts for the 2025-26 fiscal year.

“Awesome,” said Bridges sarcastically. Ten minutes later, he recounted learning about potential Early Intervention cuts planned for July from his son’s physical therapist.

During that meeting, committee members unanimously approved more than $16 million to plug the program’s looming funding hole for 2025-26. They also thanked the legislative analyst for trying to forecast how the Early Intervention caseload would grow in the coming year, but expressed irritation that early childhood department staff hadn’t done it themselves.

Democratic Rep. Emily Sirota, who called the Early Intervention saga “this whole disaster,” noted that worried families were still contacting her, fearful their kids would lose important therapies.

“Hopefully today, we can make people feel a little bit more at ease that their littlest ones will continue to get the services that they need,” she said. “But the communication and the lack of work and transparency with us has been disappointing, to say the least.”

Bridges noted he’d spoken to Roy, the department’s director, that day.

He said, “I do feel … the department recognizes the massive failures” that prompted the last-minute fixes by the budget committee.

In recent weeks, the department has held feedback sessions with parents and Early Intervention providers and promised to improve its caseload forecasting with help from other state agencies.

In June, the department is scheduled to report back to the Joint Budget Committee.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado bill to regulate private equity-backed child care chains undergoes major changes

2025-04-02T23:02:39+00:00

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Some Colorado lawmakers are worried about the growing role of private equity firms in the child care market. They proposed a bill in January to put new guardrails on child care chains backed by such investors, who they say are driven by profits.

But in the space of a few minutes and a couple amendments Tuesday, the legislation changed dramatically. Now, the guardrails would apply to all child care providers, not just those backed by private equity or venture capital firms.

It’s not what the bill sponsors wanted, but it keeps the bill alive so debate can continue. House Bill 25-1011 advanced out of the Senate Business, Labor, and Technology Committee in a 4-3 vote Tuesday.

“We’re not fans of where the bill is at the moment,” Sen. Cathy Kipp, one of the bill’s sponsors, said Wednesday.

The next step is for lawmakers to hammer out the differences between the newly amended bill and the version passed earlier by the House, which retains the original focus on private-equity backed child care chains. If they can’t agree, the legislation may die.

While the bill’s ultimate shape and fate is unclear, it represents the first time Colorado lawmakers have considered potential problems posed by private equity firms that buy or invest in child care centers. It’s an issue lawmakers in other states, including Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Jersey, have acted on in recent years.

Experts say private equity backing can hurt child care quality, raise prices for families, and send public dollars meant for classrooms into the pockets of wealthy investors. But leaders of large chains backed by private equity firms say they provide many desperately needed child care seats and that new guardrails would chill investment in Colorado’s child care industry at a challenging time.

The bill considered at Tuesday’s hearing would have required child care chains with private equity backers to publicly post their tuition prices and fees. They also would have required 60 days’ notice to families and staff members before staff layoffs or enrollment changes following a center’s purchase by a private-equity backed chain.

About 15% of child care seats for young children in Colorado are housed in centers with private-equity backing or ownership, according to a Chalkbeat analysis. These include well known chains like KinderCare, Primrose Schools, Goddard Schools, The Learning Experience, and brands owned by the Learning Care Group.

Experts say some big child care companies make double digit profits, while many mom-and-pop programs earn just 1% to 2%.

Private equity firms, which have a stake in industries ranging from health care to rental housing, typically use a little of their own money plus loans and funding from big investors to buy companies they aim to sell at a profit later, usually within three to seven years.

Before the amendments were added to the bill at Tuesday’s committee hearing, several opponents of the legislation argued that it unfairly singled out certain child care centers because of their ownership structure.

David McMurtry, who with his wife owns a Goddard School location in Denver, said, “While our franchise school may technically fall under the definition outlined in this bill, we are not a corporate entity detached from the children and families.”

He described being involved in the daily work of running the center, including comforting a child who had a medical emergency on the playground and powerwashing the side of the building.

“It is incredibly misleading to state that child care programs not backed by institutional investors are exempt from profit maximization,” he told the committee.

But supporters of the bill say chains backed by private equity firms are fundamentally different from other child care businesses and should be treated as such.

“While the frontline staff at chain programs work just as hard as those at any other programs, and the programs can be high quality, the companies have [a] unique profit maximization motive,” said Elliot Haspel, a senior fellow at the think tank Capita who’s written extensively about private equity in child care.

That’s because private equity owners are ultimately beholden to their investors, not the best interest of staff, students, and families, he said.

He cited the example of Guidepost Montessori, a national chain that in February abruptly announced the closure of all five of its Colorado locations, leaving hundreds of families scrambling for alternative arrangements. Leaders at the chain, which is backed by venture capital, another type of investor covered by the proposed Colorado legislation, cited financial problems for the closures.

State officials don’t currently track whether child care centers are owned or backed by private equity or venture capital firms. In fact, officials from the Department of Early Childhood told the committee on Tuesday that they wouldn’t have the ability to enforce the law if the version focusing on private equity-backed chains passes.

Kendra Dunn, deputy director of the department’s office of program delivery, said the bill gives the department authority to take disciplinary action if private equity-backed providers don’t comply with its provisions, but said that job falls outside the department’s scope and expertise.

The department, “does not have the necessary infrastructure in place to support this legislation,” she said.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado parents could get refunds on child care waitlist fees under advancing bill

2025-03-11T20:48:04+00:00

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Colorado parents may soon be able to recover some of the waitlist or application fees they’ve paid to child care programs if their children don’t land a spot within six months.

That’s one of the provisions of a bill that advanced out of the House Health and Human Services committee Tuesday, clearing its third legislative hurdle this winter. The original version of the bill would have capped waitlist fees at $25 and required child care programs to publicly post tuition and fees, but both components have been watered down since then.

Democratic sponsors of the bill said it will still provide some relief to families who pay hundreds of dollars in waitlist fees, sometimes to a dozen or more child care programs. In order to get the fees back, parents would have to make a written request to the child care programs where their children didn’t get seats. In addition, the programs would be allowed to keep part of the fees families paid — an amount that eventually will be determined by the Colorado Department of Early Childhood. Families that are offered a spot at a child care center but decline it, would not recoup any of the fees they paid.

If the bill becomes law, it will take effect Jan. 1, 2026.

Rep. Jenny Willford, one of the bill sponsors, described during Tuesday’s hearing the toll that multiple waitlist fees take on families. She said a friend shared that in her search for child care she’d joined 16 waitlists, with most costing $100 to $200 each.

“The way that we are nickel and diming families to simply sit and wait and hope that they get a spot is not OK,” she said. “This is going to save families money, and at a time when it is so expensive to raise kids, every dollar counts.”

Besides the refund provision, the current version of the bill requires child care programs to disclose their tuition and fees when a prospective family requests pricing information, joins the waitlist, enrolls in the program, or when the provider changes the fee schedule. It doesn’t require that tuition and fees be posted publicly.

Changes to the bill came earlier in the legislative process after a number of child care providers pushed back against the original provisions, particularly the $25 waitlist fee cap. Several said their waitlist fees cover a host of expenses, such as marketing costs, technology fees, and staff time used to give tours and call families. Some said they would lose money if the fees were capped.

But shifting from a fee cap to partial refunds for families didn’t satisfy everyone. Some providers said giving refunds still takes administrative time, especially for small child care businesses.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Universal preschool bill dies as some Colorado preschool programs still complain of bumps

2025-03-06T00:54:05+00:00

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Colorado’s $344 million universal preschool program is popular among families, but some providers say they’re still wrestling with problems that make it hard for families to secure seats or for preschools to sustain themselves financially.

Some preschool directors want greater access to the state’s preschool sign-up system. Others want to be paid by the state before kids step into their classrooms — not a month later. Some providers also want more leeway on preschool class sizes, which the state will cap at 20 by 2026 for most preschools.

These are a few of the sticking points that remain a year and a half after the rocky launch of universal preschool. State lawmakers proposed a bill meant to address these and other issues, but it was killed Wednesday at the request of one of its sponsors. The bill would have cost more than a million dollars next year and the state is facing a $1 billion budget shortfall.

Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Weld County Republican who sponsored the bill, said she believed the bill would improve customer services in the universal preschool program, but didn’t want to commit the money, called a fiscal note, that the bill would have required.

“I think I’d be a bit of a hypocrite if I carried a bill forward that had this kind of fiscal note on it,” she said Wednesday.

The original version of Senate Bill 25-119 echoed some of the asks in a lawsuit over universal preschool brought by several school districts in 2023. A judge dismissed the suit last summer.

Opponents of the bill said any major changes to the universal preschool program are premature since a state-mandated evaluation of the preschool program is underway. Heather Tritten, president and CEO of the Colorado Children’s Campaign, urged lawmakers to wait until the evaluation is released in November before making changes.

Even before lawmakers killed the bill, they had significantly watered it down during a hearing in February, signaling a disagreement over how much to meddle in a new program that state officials are still refining.

Dawn Alexander, who heads the Early Childhood Education Association of Colorado, which supported the bill, said her group will continue advocating for change through the Colorado Department of Early Childhood and may consider pushing for legislation in 2026.

Some preschools want changes to ratios, class size rules

The universal preschool program, one of Gov. Jared Polis’ signature priorities, launched in the fall of 2023 and provides children 10 to 30 tuition-free preschool hours the year before kindergarten. It currently enrolls about 42,000 Colorado 4-year-olds — 65% of that age group in the state.

Debate has raged over what class size and staff-student ratios the universal preschool program should allow since shortly after the program launched.

Currently, all state-licensed preschools are allowed to have classes of up to 24 4-year-olds — as long as they have adequate square footage — and ratios of one staff member for every 12 students. But lower limits will phase in over the next two years for preschools participating in the universal program — a 22-student class size cap and 1-to-11 ratio for the 2025-26 school year and a 20-student cap and 1-to-10 ratio for the 2026-27 school year.

There is one major exception to these eventual limits. Universal preschool providers that have earned one of the highest two ratings — Level 4 or 5 — on the state’s Colorado Shines quality rating system, will be allowed to have classes of 24 4-year-olds and staff-student ratios of 1-to-12. A majority of universal preschool providers have one of the lowest three ratings.

Many experts and observers support the transition to lower class sizes and staff-student ratios, saying the current limits are too high and undermine the state’s promise to provide high-quality classes through the universal program.

But many private preschools have pushed back, saying they’ll lose money if they have to cut class sizes and ratios. State Sen. Scott Bright, a Platteville Republican who owns a chain of child care centers in Weld County, put forth an amendment to the universal preschool bill that would allow preschools with one of the lowest three ratings to have 24-student class sizes and 1-to-12 staff-student ratios.

“We’re just offering that to all centers rather than just ones that have gone through the quality rating process,” he said during a February hearing on the bill.

But early childhood groups, including the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University and the National Association for the Education of Young Children, recommend preschool class size maximums of 20 children and staff-to-student ratios of 1-to-10.

Alexander said one problem with allowing only highly rated preschools to get exemptions is the long wait times for state evaluators to rate providers.

“If you try to rate today, you cannot schedule that until next calendar year already,” she said.

Alexander said Wednesday she spoke to a state official who offered a compromise: that preschools impacted by the evaluation backlog will be able to continue with higher group sizes and ratios while they wait for new ratings.

State officials did not immediately confirm that they will seek rules to that effect.

Some preschools want access to state application system

Another point of contention has been who gets access to Bridge Care, the technology platform the state uses for the universal preschool application and selection process.

Melissa Gibson, deputy executive director of the Colorado Association of School Executives, which supported the bill, said parents sometimes struggle to pick or change their child’s preschool placement or get them preschool seats at the elementary school that their older siblings attend.

“Unfortunately, the ability for [preschool] providers to offer assistance is very limited because they don’t have the administrative access to Bridge Care,” she said.

But some preschool providers and early childhood advocates said giving preschools access to the state application system could jeopardize families’ data privacy. They also worried that such access would privilege school districts that operate preschools, allowing them to steer families to their preschools to the detriment of small independent preschools that don’t have dedicated administrative staff.

Even without a law change, Colorado’s universal preschool program will see changes in the coming years. That’s because several rules governing how the program operates are set to phase in over time. Besides the class size and ratio caps, that includes rules requiring a certain amount of training for universal preschool teachers on trauma-informed care and practices related to suspension and expulsion, among other topics.

In addition, starting next fall all preschools in the universal program will be required to use curriculum and assessments approved by the state. Approved programs will be listed in the state’s “resource bank,” but the list has not been posted yet.

The state’s preschool application process may also change somewhat as state officials work toward a “one-stop-shop” application that allows families to see their eligibility for a host of early childhood programs, in addition to universal preschool.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado lawmakers seek to reverse planned cuts to therapies for children with delays

2025-02-28T02:59:10+00:00

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A powerful legislative committee on Thursday expressed an interest in reversing some planned cuts to a Colorado program that provides therapies to babies and toddlers with delays.

While the details are still up in the air, lawmakers on the Joint Budget Committee essentially pledged to find funding to prevent thousands of young children who get services through the state’s Early Intervention program from losing certain therapies starting in March.

The committee’s decision is sure to prompt a sigh of relief from parents and therapy providers, many of whom said they were panicked and heartbroken when they learned of the impending cuts announced by the Colorado Department of Early Childhood earlier this week. The state’s $87 million Early Intervention program serves around 11,000 children from birth to 3 years old each month.

“We are going to get this done and help these kids,” said Sen. Jeff Bridges, a Democrat who represents parts of the Denver metro area and is chairperson of the committee.

The committee voted unanimously to authorize a bill that would lay out possible fixes to the cuts that directly impact children. The meeting was tense at times, with several lawmakers expressing frustration that the Department of Early Childhood’s leaders hadn’t informed the committee about the budget problems that prompted them to plan the cuts.

The cuts would have limited children to four hours of therapy a month, which is a fraction of what some get now. In addition, children who are on Medicaid, a health insurance program for low-income people, would no longer have been allowed to get developmental intervention, which is therapy that can help young children with attention, cognitive development, and learning.

Planned cuts that only affect Early Intervention therapists — for example, not reimbursing them for no-shows — will go forward as planned.

Parents, therapists, and lawmakers all expressed surprise when they heard about the cuts. Leaders from the early childhood department said the cuts were needed to stave off a projected $4 million shortfall caused by a growing Early Intervention caseload, the expiration of federal COVID stimulus funds, and the fact that fewer children are eligible for Medicaid.

But some lawmakers on the Joint Budget Committee were angry they had never been alerted of the impending shortfall or service cuts to babies and toddlers with disabilities.

Rep. Rick Taggart, a Republican from western Colorado, called it “insulting, to say the least.”

Jeanni Stefanik, chief financial officer for the early childhood department, said the funding shortfall “was not fully realized until just a few weeks ago” and called the factors contributing to it “a perfect storm.”

It’s not entirely clear why state officials, who said they routinely monitor the number of children in Early Intervention, weren’t aware of the possible funding shortfall earlier.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Cuts to Colorado Early Intervention program threaten therapies for young children with disabilities

2025-02-27T02:33:02+00:00

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Speech therapy, physical therapy, or other services for some Colorado babies and toddlers with developmental delays could be pared back in less than a week as officials grapple with a $4 million funding shortfall in the state’s Early Intervention program.

Impending cuts to the $87 million program, which evaluates and serves around 11,000 children from birth to 3 years old each month, prompted tears, panic, and outrage among some parents and therapists.

Celia Saravia, a Westminster mother whose 2-year-old daughter has Down Syndrome, said she commiserated on Wednesday morning with one of the three therapists who visits her home weekly through the Early Intervention program.

“We had a little cry about it because it’s just so sad,” she said.

Leaders from the Colorado Department of Early Childhood announced the cuts in a letter to Early Intervention providers around the state Tuesday. The cost-cutting measures take effect March 3 and will limit children to four hours of therapy a month. Some children, like Saravia’s daughter, get triple that amount.

Colorado lawmakers seek to reverse cuts to Early Intervention program

The changes could also prevent children who are on Medicaid, a health insurance program for low-income people, from receiving certain therapies and create longer wait times before eligible children start receiving therapy.

State officials said during a Wednesday morning call with early childhood advocates that the abrupt cuts are needed to address projected cost overruns caused, in part, by a big increase in the number of children eligible for Early Intervention services. In addition, some federal COVID stimulus funding used for the program recently ran out and fewer children are eligible for Medicaid, which covers some Early Intervention costs.

By press time, state officials did not provide additional details about the number of young children who currently get more than one hour of weekly therapy through the program.

Besides Medicaid, funding for the Early Intervention program comes from the federal government, the state government, and private health insurance. Services range from speech and physical therapy to vision, audiology, and psychological services. Experts say providing therapies that help young children catch up early in their lives can prevent the need for more intensive and costly help later on.

Josh Rael, executive director of the nonprofit Alliance, which supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, said by email that his group is in talks with the Department of Early Childhood to find “other program cost-savings in hopes of mitigating the worst impacts on low-income families.”

“We understand that Colorado’s budget environment is dire but are also mindful that cutting [Early Intervention] services could produce additional state expenditures down the road,” he said.

Jessica Richardson, the mother of two children who receive Early Intervention Services, said she’s feeling terrified, sad, and angry about the cuts.

She’s most worried about her 11-month-old son, who has Down Syndrome and receives three hours of services a week through Early Intervention — speech, physical, and occupational therapy.

She wonders if she will have to choose which hour of therapy is most important for him as the cuts take effect.

“Is it most important for him to be able to learn how to move like other kids … Is it most important for him to learn how to eat? Is it most important for him to learn how to communicate?” she said.

“I think him developing in all ways is important, not just in some ways, or whatever is most fiscally appropriate for the state,” she said.

Saravia’s daughter started getting weekly home visits from a physical therapist to help with weak abdominal muscles when she was about six months old. Eventually, a speech therapist and occupational therapist started making visits too.

Saravia said the therapists have been a lifeline for her and her daughter, teaching the toddler skills like how to climb the steep stairs in their townhome, balance on one foot to put pants on, and communicate with others using sign language or spoken words.

In March, Saravia’s daughter will turn 3 — the age when Early Intervention services have always stopped and different state services pick up. Although the state cuts will only affect the last few weeks of the little girl’s Early Intervention services, Saravia said it’s upsetting to think about the bullet they dodged.

“Had I lost that earlier, my daughter wouldn’t be nearly as advanced as she is,” she said. “Because all three [therapists] every week really just have an impact for her social development, for her mental development. All of it.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado lawmakers advance bill that would put guardrails on private equity-backed child care chains

2025-02-19T01:21:48+00:00

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Colorado parents and teachers would get 60 days’ notice about staff layoffs or enrollment changes if their child care centers are acquired by chains backed by private equity firms.

That’s one of the provisions in a bill that cleared its first legislative hurdle Tuesday, with an 8-5 vote in the House Health and Human Services committee.

The bill, sponsored by three Democratic representatives, seeks new guardrails for child care centers backed by institutional investors such as private equity or venture capital firms. Experts say such firms aim to generate big profits for their investors, often at the expense of children, families, and workers. Firms do this by cutting costs and charging fees.

The bill, which was significantly watered down from its original version, represents Colorado’s first foray into child care regulations focused on for-profit child care chains with institutional investors. Other states, including Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Jersey have recently taken similar steps.

Rep. Emily Sirota, one of the bill sponsors, noted the proliferation of private-equity backed centers in Colorado in discussing the need for legislation.

“They are distinct among other child care providers because of the profit maximization motive,” she said. “We think it important as the sector grows, that the state actually have an eye on it.”

Private equity in Colorado child care: Experts fear problems, lawmakers take notice

A Chalkbeat analysis identified about 175 Colorado centers currently owned or backed by private equity or venture capital firms — about 15% of the state’s licensed child care capacity for young children. They include big names like KinderCare, The Goddard School, Primrose Schools, and the Learning Experience. Many private-equity backed centers are located in wealthier communities, where families can more easily afford tuition and fee hikes, experts say.

Guidepost Montessori, a national child care chain backed by venture capital investors, recently announced the closure of all five of its Colorado child care centers, leaving many parents scrambling to find other arrangements. Company officials cited financial problems for the abrupt decision.

On Tuesday, the bill’s sponsors proposed — and the committee approved — a major amendment that removed key provisions from the bill. One would have barred private equity-backed chains that get state child care funding from requiring centers to do sale-leasebacks. It’s a common practice in the private equity world that forces acquired companies to sell their property and then lease it back from the new owner. Experts say sale-leasebacks can harm companies financially by forcing them to shoulder a new expense. The amended version of the bill has no language regulating sale-leasebacks.

In addition, while the bill still has the original 60-day notice provision for staff layoffs or enrollment changes, the language requiring centers to abide by that in order to receive state funding is gone. Instead, the bill establishes a complaint-based system in which a parent or teacher would have to submit a complaint to the state if they believe the 60-day notice rule was violated. The state would then investigate the alleged violation and, if found, could apply the same penalties it applies for other types of child care violations.

The amendment approved Tuesday also removed a $25 cap on child care waitlist fees. Finally, instead of containing a requirement that private equity-backed centers publicly post tuition and fees, the private equity bill refers to a separate bill being considered that would require all licensed child care providers to do this.

More than a dozen people testified about the bill on Tuesday, with more in opposition than in support. Among those who opposed the bill were Goddard School and Primrose Schools franchise owners and officials from KinderCare and Learning Care Group, a private equity-backed company that runs La Petite Academy, Everbrook Academy, and Children’s Courtyard centers.

Several said they didn’t think it was fair for certain centers to be singled out for additional regulation.

Allison McMurtry, who with her husband owns a Goddard School franchise in Denver, said, “My main concern with this bill is the principle that anything would apply to only a certain ownership structure and not all schools.”

But Elliot Haspel, a senior fellow at the think tank Capita who’s written extensively about private equity in child care, said different kinds of child care providers — for example, those who operate out of their homes and those who operate in child care centers — are already subject to different rules.

“This would just build on that as part of good governance, of making sure that you’re protecting the government’s investment in child care and protecting families in whatever type of care they want to choose,” said Haspel, who supports the bill.

Some opponents of the bill suggested that selling to private equity-backed chains is the only way independent child care providers can exit the field.

Dawn Alexander, who heads a Colorado group that represents private child care providers, said the bill could have unintended consequences for independent child care providers who want to sell their businesses

“You’re going to limit the pool of who they can sell their program to,” she said.

Mindy Goldstein, who owns a Lakewood child care center called the Applewood School, said, “In an ideal world, I’d sell my business to my loyal assistant of eight years … Unfortunately, with commercial interest rates now exceeding 10%, purchasing my business has become nearly impossible for an individual buyer.”

Instead of private equity in child care, she urged lawmakers to develop the child care workforce, provide low-interest loans for child care buyers, and offer tax incentives for locally owned child care.

Rep. Kyle Brown, a Democrat who chairs the committee and represents parts of Broomfield and Boulder, said he was deeply concerned about some of the problems that have erupted in child care and other industries with private equity involvement.

“I think it is appropriate for us to utilize a different standard of oversight so that we can … make sure that private equity-backed entities are operating in the public interest,” he said.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org

As private equity invests in child care, Colorado lawmakers seek guardrails

2025-02-14T19:04:00+00:00

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Last July, families at a Highlands Ranch child care center received startling news: The center was temporarily closing following a visit from the county health department.

The center’s owners failed to submit required construction plans to the Douglas County health department and get construction permits from the county’s building division.

A state child care licensing inspector also found several safety violations related to the construction: Emergency exits were blocked by tools and debris, and paint and construction materials were accessible to children.

A former teacher and a former aide at the center shared additional details with Chalkbeat. They said the center’s main security doors were propped open at times, allowing workers and others open access to the building. They found concrete chunks on the playground, and a child found a box cutter there on at least one occasion, as well, they said. The former staffers spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of career repercussions.

The renovation was the result of an ownership change: In early July, a national chain called The Nest Schools purchased the center from a small local company. The chain has six child care centers in Colorado — all of which opened after Detroit-based private equity firm Rockbridge Growth Equity invested in the company in 2022.

Some early childhood experts have recently sounded the alarm about the growing footprint of private equity in the child care space. They worry that such investment firms are primarily motivated by outsized profits, not providing quality experiences for young children. But others say private equity-backed child care is already providing many desperately needed seats and that its deep pockets can help a fragile industry during a challenging time.

Gerry Pastor, co-CEO of The Nest, said in an email that private equity investment helped sustain and grow The Nest Schools, including by making much-needed upgrades costing more than $1 million at the Highlands Ranch center.

He said that while the center tried to keep child care operations separate from construction, “a few unintended issues arose” that were corrected immediately. He said children, staff, and families did not use exterior grounds during construction there. He also said some of the allegations that Chalkbeat inquired about “never happened” but he didn’t specify which ones.

A Rockbridge spokesperson had no comment.

Colorado lawmakers are taking notice of private equity’s push into child care. In January, they introduced legislation that would put new limits on private-equity backed centers in an attempt to temper practices that critics say are harmful, including cutting staff and raising tuition. The bill would give the public more information about tuition and fees, provide advance notice of staff layoffs or enrollment changes, and curb a common private equity real-estate practice that can hurt child care centers financially.

“We just want to make sure that as more investors come to the state that they understand they’re coming to the state to invest in high quality [child] care and not simply just to turn a profit,” said state Rep. Lorena Garcia, a Democrat who is sponsoring the bill.

Experts say private equity firms often make swift changes when they invest in child care centers. At The Nest Highlands Ranch, those changes had consequences beyond physical upgrades. The director and assistant director quit within a month, according to letters The Nest sent to parents, and parents said around 10 more staff members also left.

Brooke Aldaz, whose two young children were enrolled at the center, told Chalkbeat she saw problems shortly after renovations on the decades-old building began. She said she became particularly alarmed when she, her 1-year-old son, and his visiting speech therapist were sent to meet in a classroom that had been closed for construction.

Parents Brooke Aldaz (left) and Sara Flater (right), were frustrated by what they experienced at The Nest Schools child care center last summer.

“There was broken glass and old dishes,” she said. “I remember being very uncomfortable that it was even suggested that a 1-year-old child should be in that room.”

The Highlands Ranch center reopened within a couple weeks but Aldaz said it was no longer the place she once considered “idyllic.”

Private equity prizes speed and profit, experts say

Private equity has long had a stake in all kinds of industries, from health care and autism services to rental housing. In recent years, its footprint has grown in the child care sector.

Private equity firms typically use a little of their own money plus loans and funding from big investors — often pension funds, endowments, and extremely wealthy individuals — to buy companies they aim to sell at a profit later.

Experts say one of the hallmarks of private equity is that the firms borrow lots of money to buy companies — debt that can strain the companies financially and increase the risk of default or bankruptcy. But chronic child care shortages make families captive customers who take whatever’s available.

Elliot Haspel, a senior fellow at the think tank Capita who’s written extensively about private equity in child care, said the private equity playbook prioritizes speed.

“The idea is that you want to sort of wring as much profit as you can, usually over three to seven years, and then you want to ditch it off to some other private equity firm,” he said. “There’s an incentive, plausibly, to go really fast.”

Private equity firms use various strategies to turn a profit, including cutting costs and raising prices. Many child care chains backed by such firms buy centers in affluent areas where parents can more easily shoulder tuition and fee hikes. Mom-and-pop child care owners may sell to child care chains because they are retiring or leaving the field.

A Chalkbeat analysis identified about 175 Colorado centers currently owned or backed by private equity or venture capital firms — representing about 15% of the state’s licensed child care capacity for young children. Most are large, with space for more than 100 children.

The state’s child care rating system – which considers factors ranging from staff credentials to certain business practices – shows that about 40% of those centers have one of the state’s top three ratings. By comparison, about 32% of all Colorado child care programs overall hold those top ratings.

While state ratings are a starting point for determining quality, they provide only a snapshot because they are awarded once every three years. Highly rated programs can still be cited by the state for violations, put on probation, or fined.

Some early childhood leaders believe private equity-backed centers are meeting a need and that more regulation, as proposed in Colorado, could be harmful.

“I think we want to be careful about implementing anything that is going to hurt an already distressed system,” said Nicole Riehl, president and CEO of the Colorado business-focused group Executives Partnering to Invest in Children. “It’s like paying attention to the nail that’s sticking out of the fence when the fence is laying on the ground.”

Other groups, ranging from the National Women’s Law Center to the Open Markets Institute, are concerned about the growing role of private equity in child care. A 2024 National Women’s Law Center report notes that center directors in private equity-owned companies report being “pressured to prioritize raising enrollment rates above all other considerations.”

Melissa Boteach, vice president of income security and child care at the law center, said the private equity footprint could expand further as more states pump public dollars into child care and preschool.

“We want those dollars invested in children and the teachers … not going to Wall Street,” she said.

Many states have bolstered public investment in the sector in recent years, including Colorado. Its $344 million universal preschool program, now in its second year, offers tuition-free half-day preschool to all 4-year-olds. It’s too soon to tell whether that will result in more private equity in Colorado child care, or whether more regulations might temper that.

Critics of private equity-controlled child care don’t think it should be expunged from the marketplace. Rather, they say that guardrails, including high state standards for quality, are needed. States, including New Jersey and Massachusetts have recently passed laws regulating large child care chains, many of which are backed by private equity.

“It’s much harder to roll back private equity’s deep entanglement in a sector than it is to prevent it in the first place,” said Boteach.

Big-name child care is backed by private equity in Colorado

The roughly 170 child care centers in Colorado owned or backed by private equity firms include big names such as KinderCare, The Goddard School, Primrose Schools, and The Learning Experience.

The Nest Schools, which will open a seventh Colorado location this summer, is one of the smaller national chains backed by private equity. Pastor said Rockbridge Growth Equity owns 33% of voting stock in the company. The company’s center in Aurora is currently on probation for a series of state violations, including leaving a child unattended in a classroom and allowing hazardous items to be accessible to children.

Chains, including The Learning Experience, Everbrook Academy, Primrose School, and the Goddard School, have backing from private equity firms.

Chalkbeat identified one child care operator, Guidepost Montessori, that’s backed by venture capital investors, another investor type that Colorado’s proposed legislation would cover. Guidepost announced this month that all five of its Colorado centers will close in March “due to financial challenges.”

Typically, there are several minority investors in a venture capital round of funding, while private equity firms tend to take a majority stake in acquisitions, said Azani Creeks, senior research and campaign coordinator for the nonprofit watchdog group Private Equity Stakeholder Project. She said venture capital firms tend to invest in smaller companies, but have a similar profit motive to private equity firms.

Parent Brittney Bokoski, whose infant son and toddler daughter attended Guidepost’s Thornton center, said it was shocking to receive the closure announcement on Feb. 3, just a few days after balloons were put out to celebrate the center’s first anniversary.

One of the biggest problems at the center was staff turnover, said Bokowski, whose family pays about $4,000 a month for care at Guidepost.

Guidepost officials did not respond to Chalkbeat’s request for comment, but said in a letter provided to a local television station, “the labor market crisis of the past four years caught up to us in a big way in 2024

A few other for-profit chains with centers in Colorado were previously backed by private equity firms, but aren’t currently. They include Bright Horizons and Endeavor Schools, which together represent another 1% of the state’s child care capacity. Bright Horizons, which is now traded on the stock market, was previously owned by Bain Capital and Endeavor Schools was previously owned by Leeds Investment Partners.

Chalkbeat’s tally of Colorado child care centers owned or backed by private equity or venture capital firms is likely inexact. Sometimes, a center’s true owner is hidden by layers of parent companies. In addition, while the state recently started asking centers about their “governing body,” many responded with obscure acronyms, a person’s name, or the names of real estate or holding companies.

A spokesperson for Colorado Department of Early Childhood said the replies to that question can provide “limited information about oversight of child care programs” but recommended against using it to determine private equity ownership because the field isn’t required and was only added last August.

Mindy Goldstein owns a child care center in Lakewood called The Applewood School. When interest rates were lower, she said she’d get multiple calls a week from private equity firms interested in her center. Some representatives flew out to Colorado to meet with her.

She listened, but never bit.

“I don’t want to sell to private equity, but if I had to, it would be a really fast transaction,” said Goldstein, who estimated her center’s value at about $3 million. “They are the only ones who have money to buy it.”

She worries that a private equity buyer would lower her program’s quality, cutting back on the extra teachers she employs and the nutritious meals she offers. But she also pointed out that many working parents are desperate.

“I don’t think people care who owns it or who doesn’t own it,” she said. “They need care for their child and they’re on 10 waitlists.”

Colorado considers limits on private equity in child care

While the average parent may not know how corporate owners impact child care, some lawmakers are taking notice.

Garcia and two other Democratic state representatives have proposed new rules for child care companies or franchises that are owned or partly owned by private equity firms, venture capital firms, or other institutional investors. A bill introduced last month would bar such companies from getting state funding unless they agree to provide 60 days notice following the acquisition of a center before laying off staff or changing enrollment or eligibility rules for families.

These companies would also have to let child care centers maintain ownership of their property — a provision aimed at preventing “sale-leasebacks.” It’s a common practice in the private equity world that forces acquired companies to sell their property and then lease it back from the new owner. Experts say sale-leasebacks can harm companies financially by forcing them to shoulder a new expense.

Creeks, of the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, said it’s hard to determine which chains use sale-leasebacks. Companies have to report such transactions on tax filings, but nowhere publicly, she said.

Finally, the bill caps waitlist fees at $25 and requires child care tuition and fees to be publicly posted. (Similar provisions are in a separate bill that would apply to all licensed child care providers.)

Radha Mohan, who heads the Early Care & Education Consortium, a lobbying group for child care chains, said the bill could exacerbate the state’s child care supply crisis.

For example, she said, an investor-backed chain with only four centers — just below the five-center threshold in the bill — might ask, “Why grow my programs in the state of Colorado?”

Mohan said most child care providers are for-profit entities and that it’s deeply problematic to single out the slice of those providers backed by private equity and other institutional investors.

But Haspel, of Capita, said that’s like saying a corner bodega and a Kroger grocery store should be treated the same because they both sell groceries. The profit motive for child care chains backed by private equity or traded on the stock market is qualitatively different than for a mom-and-pop program, and should be regulated differently, he said.

Massachusetts reform law puts guardrails on child care chains

A few other states have also recently taken steps to curb outsized profit-seeking behavior in child care.

Last year, Massachusetts put guardrails on large for-profit child care chains — those with more than 10 sites in the state — as part of a child care reform law that earmarked nearly half a billion dollars in annual state grants for child care providers.

The rules require large chains receiving the grants to serve some lower-income children who receive state child care subsidies. They also require chains to use a certain portion of the grant for teacher pay and meet certain teacher wage minimums set by the state. Chains must also provide the state detailed financial information about how they use the grants. Finally, a single chain can receive no more than 1% of the state’s total grant program allocation, which was $475 million in 2024.

“The goal is not to make [large chains] go away,” said Elizabeth Leiwant, chief of policy and advocacy at Neighborhood Villages, an early childhood advocacy group in Massachusetts.

It’s to make sure teachers get paid fairly, classroom quality is prioritized, and children from lower-income families have equitable access to child care seats, she said.

Leiwant said Massachusetts lawmakers added the child care guardrails around the time Steward Health Care, a hospital group that had been owned by a private equity firm, collapsed financially last year, leading to hospital closures and mass layoffs.

“That just had a huge ripple effect throughout the state, both on communities and then also on the state government having to step in financially,” Liewant said. Lawmakers, she said, became “much more receptive to the idea that … if any industry is kind of allowed to go unchecked, that there can be issues down the road.”

Colorado’s private equity bill wouldn’t go as far as the law in Massachusetts. It doesn’t include requirements for teacher pay or limit the share of state money private equity backed child care centers can receive.

Problems at The Nest

Sara Flater’s 5- and 3-year-old were enrolled at The Nest Schools of Highlands Ranch location when the center was abruptly shut down on August 1.

Families were temporarily reassigned to other centers run by The Nest Schools, and Flater’s children ended up at different centers, one in Littleton and one in Centennial, she said. Flater expected classrooms would be set aside for children coming from the Highlands Ranch center, but that wasn’t the case. The kids were added to existing classes.

“It was very chaotic,” she said.

Flater expressed her frustration over the construction-related problems at the Highlands Ranch center in an email to Nest officials on August 15.

Five hours later, she heard back from The Nest’s co-CEO Jane Porterfield, who wrote that she deeply regretted that the center’s service had not lived up to Flater’s expectations. Porterfield said The Nest had “made many attempts to hear your concerns and thoroughly answer your questions.”

Porterfield went on to say, “Effectively immediately, we will no longer provide services to your family.”

Pastor did not answer emailed questions about why The Nest stopped serving the Flater family or about the company’s policies on such matters. Pastor said he and Porterfield, who are married, own a majority share of The Nest Schools and that Rockbridge Growth Equity has no operational control over The Nest except for C-level positions.

Flater said she didn’t know much about private equity when problems at The Nest began unfolding last summer. But after lots of Google searches, she started to understand how it works.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that private equity is just really bad for kids … It’s bad for families,” she said. “For us, it decimated our daycare, and it was just so sad.”

For a while, Flater cobbled together care for her youngest child after The Nest refused to continue serving her family. Her 5-year-old was in elementary school by that time. When she finally found a center that looked like a good fit for her son — a locally owned business — she had one big question: “Are you guys going to sell?”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org

Colorado parents, this new state tax credit could net you thousands of dollars

2025-01-31T16:00:00+00:00

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A new state tax credit worth thousands of dollars is now available to many Colorado families with children under 17.

It’s called the family affordability tax credit and is expected to help hundreds of thousands of cash-strapped families across the state. Lawmakers and advocates who championed the credit during last year’s legislative session see it as a chance to address Colorado’s high cost of living and pick up where the federal government left off when its expanded child tax credit expired in 2021.

That expanded tax credit helped cut child poverty in America nearly in half to a historic low of 5.2% in 2021. By 2023, child poverty rates jumped to 13.7%.

Since then, several states have expanded or created their own child tax credits. Colorado, which already had a child tax credit for families with young children, created the family affordability credit to provide more financial help to families already getting the child tax credit and give new aid to lower income families with older children.

Here’s what you need to know about the new credit.

What is the family affordability tax credit?

It’s a new state tax credit for lower income Colorado families with children under 17. It was created during the 2024 legislative session and is now available for the first time to families filing their 2024 tax returns.

Eligible families can get a tax credit of up to $3,200 for each child who was 5 or younger as of Dec. 31, 2024, and up to $2,400 for each child who was 6-16 years old as of Dec. 31, 2024. The size of the credit goes down as family income goes up, eventually phasing out when single tax filers hit an adjusted gross income of more than $85,000 a year and joint tax filers hit an adjusted gross income of more than $95,000 a year.

How is it different from Colorado’s child tax credit?

The family affordability tax credit is much bigger than the state’s child tax credit and includes families with older children. For example, a single mother who earned $30,000 in tax year 2024 and has a 4-year-old and 7-year-old would receive a family affordability tax credit of $4,445 and a state child tax credit of $600. (The state child tax credit is only available to lower income families with children under 6.)

It’s also worth noting that, unlike the state child tax credit, the family affordability credit may not be available every year. That’s because lawmakers decided to offer it only in good economic times when the state collects enough surplus tax revenue to fund it. During bad years when the state collects too little surplus tax revenue, the state will reduce the amount of the credit or refrain from offering it at all.

How do I know if I’m eligible for family affordability credit?

Use the tax credit calculator from Get Ahead Colorado, which is run by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The online tool asks a few questions about your income and the number of kids you have and spits out a list of state and federal tax credits you may be eligible for, including the family affordability credit.

The tax credit calculator is available in dozens of languages by clicking on the “Select Language” button in the top right corner.

I don’t make enough to pay income taxes. Am I still eligible?

Yes, the family affordability tax credit is refundable. That means that even if eligible families owe nothing in taxes, the state will pay them the amount of the credit as long as they file a state tax return.

Families who earn enough to pay income taxes may still get money back if their family affordability credit exceeds the amount they owe the state.

I don’t have a Social Security number. Am I still eligible?

Possibly. Parents who don’t have a Social Security number may be eligible for Colorado’s family affordability tax credit if they have an Individual Taxpayer Identification number — or ITIN — and their eligible children have a Social Security number.

ITIN numbers are available from the Internal Revenue Service to certain individuals who are categorized as resident aliens or nonresident aliens, regardless of immigration status.

Will getting the family affordability tax credit reduce my SNAP benefits?

No. Tax credits are not considered income and will not negatively affect most benefits, including SNAP, TANF, and Medicaid.

Are there other tax credits for Colorado families with children?

Yes. Both the federal government and the state have earned income tax credits, which are available to lower income families with or without children. Both also offer child tax credits, with the federal version available to qualifying families with children under 17 and the Colorado version available to qualifying families with children under 6.

How can I get help filling out my tax returns?

You can use myfreetaxes.com, an online program offered through United Way. It’s also available in Spanish.

Another free option is getyourrefund.org/en, which allows filers earning under $67,000 a year to get online assistance from certified volunteers. It’s also available in Spanish.

For free in-person help from certified volunteers, consider the Colorado Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, also known as VITA. Check this list for VITA sites, hours, and other details.

Finally, Get Ahead Colorado has a variety of other tax filing resources available.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado parents: Here’s what to know about signing up for free preschool for 2025

2024-12-17T05:33:44+00:00

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Colorado families can start applying for the state’s free preschool program for the 2025-26 school year on Tuesday at noon.

The $344 million program, which launched in the fall of 2023, is open to all 4-year-olds. About 41,000 4-year-olds are currently enrolled in the program — about 65% of that age group in the state. A smaller number of 3-year-olds who need extra help are also enrolled.

The state has made a few key changes to the process this year, including opening the application window two months earlier and offering a phone helpline that offers interpretation in over 100 languages.

Here’s what families need to know about the preschool program and the online application.

Who gets free preschool? How much do they get?

Two groups of children qualify: All 4-year-olds and some 3-year-olds who need extra help.

The preschool program is primarily designed for children in the year before they go to kindergarten. For the upcoming 2025-26 school year, that generally means children who turn 4 before Oct. 1, 2025. (Some districts have slightly different cut-off dates, which you can find using this district-by-district look-up tool.)

Most 4-year-olds will get 15 hours of preschool a week, though some preschool providers offer only 10 hours a week.

In addition, some 4-year-olds will qualify for 30 hours of tuition-free preschool a week. These include children from families with incomes at or below 100% of the 2024 federal poverty level — up to $31,200 for a family of four.

Four-year-olds with two or more of the following risk factors will also qualify for 30 hours a week:

Their family income is between 100% and 270% of the federal poverty level — $31,200 to $84,240 for a family of four.
They speak a language other than English at home.
They have a special education plan, also known as an IEP.
They are homeless.
They are in foster care.

What about 5-year-olds who aren’t in kindergarten yet?

A small number of 5-year-olds are eligible for free preschool in the year before they attend kindergarten. Specifically: Those living in school districts with kindergarten cut-off dates earlier than the state’s Oct. 1 cut-off whose birthdays fall between the two cut-off dates. This look-up tool can help you determine if your 5-year-old will qualify.

Five-year-olds who could go to kindergarten but have been held out by their families — a practice often called redshirting — aren’t eligible for free preschool in that year.

When can I fill out the universal preschool application?

This year’s application opens at noon on Dec. 17, about two months earlier than last year.

Some families of children who will be 4 by Oct. 1 will get to preregister, specifically those who want to send their child to the preschool where the child is currently enrolled, where a sibling is enrolled, or where the parent is employed. These families should fill out the state preschool application, list their current provider as their first choice, and submit. They’ll receive confirmation of their choice and must accept or decline the match between Feb. 3 and 10.

Families not eligible to preregister can still fill out the universal preschool application starting Dec. 17. Those who submit by Feb. 5 will fall into the state’s first round of matching. They’ll find out which program they matched with on Feb. 24. They will have to accept or decline their match by March 3.

Families that submit their choices between Feb. 6 and March 5 will fall into the state’s second round of matching. They’ll find out their match on March 24 and must accept or decline the match by March 31.

What if I apply after the first 2 matching windows?

Families of children who will be 4 by Oct. 1 can still apply for free preschool after the first two rounds of matching are complete through what’s called “direct enrollment.” Contact the preschool you’re interested in to see if they have space. If they do, they’ll assist you with the enrollment process, including filling out the state universal preschool application.

If you don’t have a preschool in mind, you can browse an online list of universal preschool providers on the state’s application website.

What do I need to fill out the state preschool application?

You’ll need to provide an email address or phone number to create an account and start your online preschool application. Most families will need about 15 minutes to fill it out. The application is available in English and 10 other languages, including Spanish, French, Arabic, and Hindi.

Families with incomes at or below 270% of the federal poverty line will need to upload proof of income, such as pay stubs or tax forms, when they apply for universal preschool.

I have a child who will be 3 by Oct. 1, 2025. Should I complete the application?

If your child has an Individualized Education Program or IEP, yes. Otherwise, parents of 3-year-olds should contact their local school district to find out if they qualify for tuition-free preschool.

My child has a disability. Should I complete the application?

Can I pick my 4-year-old’s preschool?

Yes. More than 2,000 preschools across Colorado are part of the universal program. Families who don’t qualify for preregistration or want a program other than the one their child currently attends will be asked on the state application to pick up to five preschools. They can rank their choices. Options include school-based preschools, faith-based preschools, preschool programs inside child care centers, and state-licensed home-based programs.

This year, about 90% of families were matched with their first choice of preschool.

There are some cases where preschool providers can turn down a universal preschool applicant. For example, a school-based preschool might turn away a child who lives outside district boundaries. Faith-based preschools used to have the option to turn down a child who is not part of their congregation, but that’s no longer the case for the 2025-26 school year.

Can I pick my 3-year-old’s preschool?

Do I have to fill out my district’s school choice form too?

Families who want to send their child to a preschool run by their school district may have to fill out two applications: The district school choice form and the state universal preschool application. If you’re not sure if your district has a school choice form or if you are required to fill it out, contact your district.

What if I need more hours than what my preschooler is eligible for?

I have more questions. What should I do?

Do you have a question you don’t see answered here or can’t find the answer to elsewhere? Let us know at co.tips@chalkbeat.org and we’ll do our best to find an answer.

Here’s how Colorado’s doing in bid to meet key early childhood goals

2024-12-14T00:18:13+00:00

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Colorado leaders want to boost enrollment in the state’s already popular universal preschool program, mint more highly rated child care programs, and create more seats for infants and toddlers — the age group hit hardest by child care shortages.

These are a few of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood’s five “wildly important goals,” which spell out specific gains for young children the state hopes to achieve over one to three years. They are among 71 wildly important goals across 20 state agencies. Together, they reflect some of the state’s biggest public policy priorities.

Here’s a look at three of the early childhood department’s goals and the progress toward each one halfway through the state’s fiscal year.

Universal preschool enrollment

Goal: 72.7% of Colorado 4-year-olds will enroll this year, up from 69.2% last year.

Progress: 64.5% of 4-year-olds were enrolled as of Oct. 31.

It’s unclear if Colorado will meet its goal of getting nearly 73% of the state’s 64,000 4-year-olds into state-funded preschool this year. By the end of October, just over 41,000 4-year-olds were enrolled, about 2,400 less than last year’s total. Still, it’s likely additional children will join the program over the next five months.

Universal preschool is one of Gov. Jared Polis’ signature priorities and has been popular since its launch in the fall of 2023. It provides 15 hours a week of tuition-free preschool to most children, with some getting 10 hours and some getting 30 hours a week.

Some experts don’t consider preschool to be “universal” until at least 70% of eligible children participate. If Colorado meets its wildly important preschool goal, it would easily enter that exclusive club. Only Washington, D.C., surpassed the 70% threshold for publicly funded preschool enrollment in 2022-23, the most recent data available from the National Institute For Early Education Research, which puts out an annual state-by-state preschool report.

Six states enrolled more than 60% of eligible 4-year-olds in state-funded preschool during 2022-23. They are Florida, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Iowa, Vermont, and Wisconsin. By contrast, Colorado only enrolled 24% of 4-year-olds in state-funded preschool that year, the last year the state ran a free preschool program focused on children from low-income families or those with other risk factors.

Child care ratings

Goal: 1,215 programs will have one of the state’s top three ratings, up from 1,093 last year.

Progress: 1,133 programs had one of the top 3 ratings as of Dec. 1.

Colorado is a bit behind on this goal, having gotten only one-third of the way there so far. That lagging progress reflects a bigger issue at play: the state’s ongoing struggle to get large numbers of child care providers to climb the ratings ladder. It’s been a challenge since Colorado Shines, the state’s five-level child care ratings system, launched a decade ago. Programs automatically earn a Level 1 rating when they get a state child care license, which means they meet basic health and safety standards. But there’s no requirement to move higher.

The state has pumped lots of money into incentives for providers to earn a Level 3, 4, or 5, all of which require an in-person evaluation and indicate a program is high quality. Still, some providers say the process is too stressful and time-consuming. Others have full classrooms already and don’t feel higher ratings will make much difference.

But experts say high-quality child care is a must if children are to realize the social and education benefits top notch programs generate. Today, about 32% of Colorado’s 3,600 child care providers have one the top 3 ratings, up from 25% five years ago.

Child care for infant and toddlers

Goal: 39,953 licensed seats for infants and toddlers, up from 38,416 last year.

Progress: 39,264 licensed seats for infants and toddlers as of Dec. 1.

Halfway through the fiscal year, Colorado is more than halfway to this goal, having added about 850 seats for children under age 3. Like most states, Colorado desperately needs more child care for infants and toddlers. Currently, the state has only enough licensed child care seats for about 20% of the 191,000 kids in this age group. But far more of them have working parents and need at least some child care. That’s why creating more licensed seats over three years — for a total of nearly 40,000 by this June and more than 43,000 by June 2027 — is a key early childhood goal.

In recent years, state leaders have been working to address this pain point in various ways — for example, offering COVID relief grants to child care programs that create more infant and toddler spots and giving bonuses to new home-based child care programs, which often serve this age group. Local governments, philanthropists, and large employers, including hospitals, ski resorts, and the Denver airport, have also taken action.

But the fact is, basic economics makes this goal an uphill battle. That’s because infant and toddler care is the most expensive kind of care to provide. In contrast, preschool, where one teacher can supervise double the number of children, is far cheaper.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Voters approve lodging taxes for child care in City of Montrose, La Plata and Grand counties

2024-11-06T23:27:47+00:00

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Voters in three western Colorado communities approved lodging tax measures in Tuesday’s election that will send money to efforts aimed at making child care more affordable and easier to find.

The measures passed easily in La Plata and Grand counties and by a slimmer margin in the City of Montrose, according to unofficial election results.

With Tuesday’s lodging tax victories, the three communities join about a dozen others in Colorado’s mountain resort regions where voters have agreed to allow some lodging tax proceeds to be used for child care efforts. Often, the funding is used to help families pay for child care or to boost wages for teachers.

Lodging taxes have recently become an appealing way to generate new funding for local workforce needs such as housing and child care. That’s because of a 2022 state law that allowed Colorado counties and local marketing districts to use lodging taxes for these purposes if they get voter approval. Lodging taxes are often palatable for voters since they are generally paid by out-of-town visitors, not locals.

In La Plata County, where Durango is the county seat, the ballot measure approved Tuesday will reallocate 70% of lodging tax proceeds from tourism efforts to child care and housing. That shift could mean about $500,000 a year for local child care efforts.

Heather Hawk, executive director of the Early Childhood Council of La Plata County, said she was excited about Tuesday’s lodging tax victory, especially its nearly 70% approval rate. She said a group of local advocates will complete a strategic plan for the funding by the end of the year, but the final decision on how it will be distributed will rest with La Plata County commissioners.

Hawk said $500,000 a year is not a huge sum of money, but it will be a reliable stream that can help the county leverage grants and other funding sources that require local dollars. She said the money may help with efforts such as financing construction of a new child care center or boosting wages for hard-to-retain infant and toddler teachers.

Hawk said the money may also help parents with babies and toddlers cover the cost of child care. Infant care can cost up to $21,000 a year in the county, she said.

“We know that we have a serious affordability gap in our community, especially for families that are working in the tourism industry,” said Hawk. “They often are making too much to qualify for child care subsidies or Head Start, but not enough to really afford the cost of care.”

Grand County’s lodging tax measure passed with about 60% of the vote on Tuesday. It will boost the county’s existing lodging tax from 1.8% to 2% and allow the county to use 30% of the proceeds — or about $675,000 a year — for housing, child care, or services that benefit visitors.

A county official previously told Chalkbeat how the money is spent could vary from year to year, with a housing initiative one year, a child care initiative the next, and so on.

Voters in the City of Montrose, the largest city in Montrose County, agreed to raise the hotel room tax from .9% to 6% Tuesday, with 52% of voters in favor of the measure. Of the revenue from that tax, 17% — or about $158,000 a year — will go toward child care initiatives. The rest will fund street maintenance, affordable housing, and tourism services.

A city official previously told Chalkbeat the city would likely draft a plan for spending lodging tax money dedicated to child care by next spring. One of the greatest needs in the area is for more child care slots, he said.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Low-income families are struggling to get child care aid in many states. Here’s why.

2024-10-21T21:56:53+00:00

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Come January, a new baby is scheduled to enroll at Angel Hugs Early Learning, a top-rated child care program in the suburbs west of Denver. Owner Sarah Hewitt is especially excited because the little boy will be her first grandchild.

There’s just one problem: Hewitt will lose about $18,000 a year by accepting the infant.

That’s because Colorado’s child care subsidy program, which helps low-income families pay for child care so they can work or attend school, is facing a major budget crunch. Although Hewitt’s daughter, who works as a teacher at Angel Hugs, will likely qualify for a subsidy based on her income, she won’t get child care aid. Instead, the single mother will land on her county’s long waitlist.

Since Hewitt doesn’t want to lose her co-teacher, she’ll give her grandson the spot for free.

The challenge Hewitt and her daughter face is playing out in states across the country now as federal COVID aid for child care expires and states gear up to adopt new federal rules aimed at improving the child care subsidy program. In many states, those twin developments mean subsidy waitlists, enrollment freezes, or tighter eligibility requirements. The bottom line is that fewer low-income families will get help paying for child care.

“We’re just going to be serving thousands and thousands less children, which is horrible,” said Barbie Prinster, executive director of the Arizona Early Childhood Education Association. “It’s a bummer for families that want to go to work.”

Advocates like Prinster worry that as subsidies become harder to get, low-income parents will drop out of the workforce or be forced to put their children in unlicensed or even unsafe care. Those decisions will ripple out to employers and the economy.

About 2 million children nationwide, most under 6, receive child care subsidies each year. The federal government provides most of the funding, with states and sometimes counties kicking in smaller amounts.

Advocates say more public funding is needed to bolster child care subsidies.

“A very wise legislator said to me once, ‘Show me your budget, and I’ll show you your values,’” said Mindy Binderman, Executive Director of the Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students. “This is a time for our state legislature to … value kids and families in the workforce.”

Some experts say that while states should do what they can to boost funding for subsidies, the federal government must do the heavy lifting.

“We don’t think this can be solved by states on their own,” said Karen Schulman, senior director of state child care policy at the National Women’s Law Center. “We need significant federal investment.”

Federal rules bring positive but pricey improvements

Advocates praise the new rules from the Biden administration that must be phased in over the next two years. They’ll limit monthly co-pays to no more than 7% of a family’s income and change reimbursement policies so providers get paid before they provide care, not after, and don’t lose money when a child is absent.

The downside is that the rules come with hefty price tag, and there’s no new federal money to pay for them. President Biden’s unsuccessful Build Back Better package would have provided enough aid to cap child care costs for many working parents at 7% of household income. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has made a similar pledge. It’s unclear how Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, would tackle the cost of child care.

Diane Girouard, state policy senior analyst at Child Care Aware of America, said the new federal rules are critically important, but acknowledged that states will face “difficult tradeoffs” over the short term.

Schulman said by paying providers “prospectively” — before care is provided — and basing the reimbursement on enrollment, not a child’s attendance record, the subsidy system is moving closer to how the private child care market operates.

“The goal is to have a child care assistance system look a lot more like that, so that a provider doesn’t look at the two options and say, ‘Well, why wouldn’t I just serve the private pay parent?’” she said.

That doesn’t mean the private pay market is ideal. Far from it, said Schulman, who like many experts describe child care as a broken market — too expensive for many parents even as workers get paltry wages and child care businesses survive on tiny margins.

The subsidy system, she said, “shouldn’t be providing even less stability and fewer resources than a broken market.”

States make efforts to cut caseloads

A number of states have started waitlists for child care subsidies in the last year. Oregon instituted one in November, Nevada in April, and Arizona in August. In Colorado, where the subsidy program is administered by counties, six of 64 counties now have waitlists or freezes, and state officials expect most other counties to have one or the other by June.

Typically, children from certain priority groups can bypass waitlists or freezes. In many states, these groups include children in the foster care system, the child welfare system, or whose parents receive aid through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

But for families outside of those groups, the outlook can be grim

Binderman said Georgia was serving 72,000 children a month while the state was flush with COVID relief money. Now, state officials say the rolls must be reduced to 50,000 children.

To get there, Binderman said, the state limited eligibility starting in September to families making 30% of the state median income — about $32,000 for a family of four. Previously, families with incomes up to 50% of the state median income qualified.

Nevada also instituted tougher eligibility requirements this fall. New families qualify for a subsidy with a household income at or below 41% of the state median income — about $39,000 for a family of four. Previously, the threshold was 85%.

Sarah Dawson, who heads Colorado’s subsidy program, said the expiring COVID aid, along with the state’s $20-million-a-year plan to boost subsidy reimbursement rates for providers, will mean a 22% decrease in the number of full-time-equivalent children the state can afford to subsidize.

That doesn’t mean families who currently receive subsidies will be kicked out of the program, but rather fewer new families will be able to enroll.

“This is what keeps me up in the middle of every night, ” she said.

Providers face ‘tough decisions’

Amy Ogilvie, who heads the Wild Plum Center in the northern Colorado city of Longmont, said she currently has 22 open slots for children who receive child care subsidies. But nobody’s coming to fill them because Boulder County, where her program is located, has been on a subsidy freeze since April.

Wild Plum enrolls 220 children, all of them from families living in poverty. Most of the funding comes from government sources, including state child care subsidies. Ogilvie said the center lost about $17,000 in child care subsidy funding this September compared with September 2023.

Children play with colored tiles at Wild Plum Center in Longmont, Colorado.

“As a program, we have to figure out where we’re coming up with $17,000, and if this repeats month over month over month, I’m going to have to start making tough decisions,” she said.

To pay the bills, the center could eventually be forced to increase class sizes or accept families who can afford to pay tuition, she said.

Hewitt, who owns the home-based program Angel Hugs, said without the extra funding her grandson’s subsidy would bring in, she’ll have less money to provide free parent classes on CPR or safe sleep, pay for supplies like paint and markers, or make planned improvements to encourage nature play in her backyard.

“It’s going to be tough,” she said.

States action helps, but not enough

Some states got a jump on the subsidy program changes now required by the federal government because they took action at the state level. Oregon passed a child care subsidy reform law in 2021. Before that, the state often left subsidy dollars on the table.

“Not enough families signed up for child care subsidies, or they did sign up for child care subsidy and [they] couldn’t find a provider who would take it, because it was a really crappy program,” said Dana Hepper, director of policy and advocacy at the Children’s Institute, an Oregon advocacy group.

But with a host of improvements phased in since the 2021 law — mirroring several of the new federal rules — there’s now a waitlist of more than 7,000 families, she said.

“We made all these reforms to make it a better program, and the result of that was families signed up for the program in droves and child care providers were willing to take subsidy,” she said.

Oregon lawmakers increased funding for the subsidy program this year, but it wasn’t enough to eliminate long waits for most qualifying families.

Across the country in Connecticut, state lawmakers also recently sent more money to the subsidy program.

Merrill Gay, executive director of the Connecticut Early Childhood Alliance, said state lawmakers upped spending on child care subsidies from $57 million a couple years ago to $130 million this year. The move allowed the state to clear its subsidy waitlist of about 2,000 children over the summer.

“We’ve made some real progress,” he said. “We’re far from nirvana.”

Only about 20% of eligible families are getting subsidies, he said. There’s little publicity about the program, and many parents don’t learn about it unless they call the 211 social services hotline or hear about it from their child care provider.

Gay’s solution to the perennial struggle to adequately fund subsidies is simple: “Tax rich people and pay for child care.”

He laughed, but he wasn’t joking.

“I know it’s a lot easier to say than to do, but we have, across the country, cut taxes for rich people every way we can think of,” Gay said. “As a result, government has less money to do what it needs to do.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

After decision in Catholic preschool lawsuit, Colorado moves to repeal religious preschool rule

2024-10-10T22:23:17+00:00

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Religious preschools that participate in Colorado’s state-funded preschool program are allowed to reserve seats for members of their congregations. But that may soon change.

State officials have proposed a repeal of the so-called “congregation preference” after a recent federal court decision that highlighted problems with that rule. The judge in that case, which was brought by two Denver-area Catholic parishes that run preschools, said the preference could be used to deny children equal access to preschool based on their religion — a scenario barred by state non-discrimination rules.

The repeal, which a state advisory council approved Thursday with little discussion, is the latest development in the state’s fraught effort to include religious preschools in the popular free preschool program without compromising Colorado’s non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ children and families. The rule change could become legal fodder as the Catholic parishes move forward with an appeal of the judge’s June decision. It’s a case some experts believe could wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The universal preschool program launched in August 2023 and provides tuition-free preschool to nearly two-thirds of the state’s 4-year-olds.

Lisa Roy, executive director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, will likely approve the rule change in November and it will take effect in January, just before families start signing up for universal preschool for the 2025-26 school year. The new rule will not affect children attending preschool through the state program this year.

Of about 2,000 preschools participating in the state program, more than 40 are religious programs. A spokesperson for the early childhood department said she couldn’t provide numbers showing how often the congregation preference has been used by religious preschools.

Ironically, it was state officials who originally proposed granting the congregation preference, back when they were planning Colorado’s new universal preschool program. They thought it would help address concerns from some religious preschools who wanted to join the preschool program, but didn’t want to accept LGBTQ students or students from LGBTQ families.

The problem, at least for the Catholic preschools at the center of the lawsuit, was that the congregation preference didn’t satisfy them. The preschools wanted exemptions from non-discrimination rules that covered sexual orientation and gender identity. The state refused to grant that request and the preschools never joined the program.

In August 2023, the two parishes that run the preschools, St. Mary in Littleton and St. Bernadette in Lakewood, sued the state. Nine months later, the federal judge, John L. Kane, largely ruled against them, saying if the Catholic preschools joined the state preschool program, they couldn’t turn away LGBTQ children or families.

But Kane ruled narrowly for the parishes on the question of the congregation preference. He said the state couldn’t “have it both ways” by granting the preference only to religious preschools while saying the preference wasn’t tied to religion. State officials said the congregation preference was meant to let religious preschools serve children they had existing relationships with in their congregations, but wasn’t specifically about religion.

The state’s answer to Kane’s critique was eliminating the congregation preference.

An attorney representing the Catholic parishes in the lawsuit called the proposed rule change disappointing, saying the state previously held out the congregation preference as a critical feature that would allow many religious preschools to join the universal preschool program.

“But it also only further confirms what we already knew — unfortunately, the State seems to think it’s more important to try to make sure Catholic preschools can’t participate than it is to make sure that every Colorado family has access to the school that best meets their needs,” Nick Reaves, an attorney from Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said in a statement.

“We’re confident the courts will recognize this targeted action for what it is and uphold the right of Catholic schools and families to participate in [universal preschool] consistent with their beliefs.”

No trial date has been set in the appeal.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

In search of new child care money, more Colorado communities look to hotel guests

2024-10-08T19:19:26+00:00

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Three western Colorado communities hope to raise new dollars for child care through taxes paid by out-of-town visitors who stay in hotels or short-term rental housing.

La Plata and Grand counties and the City of Montrose all have lodging tax measures on the November ballot, with at least some of the proceeds intended to help make child care easier for local residents to find and pay for.

The three communities are the latest in a string of mostly mountain resort areas to ask voters for permission to spend lodging tax dollars on housing and child care. The idea is that local workers power the tourism industry, so visitors should contribute to efforts supporting a stable workforce.

The lodging-tax-for-child-care trend emerged in Colorado after a 2022 state law allowed counties and local marketing districts, which are created by communities to promote tourism, to use lodging taxes to support child care or housing, provided they get voter approval. Lodging taxes don’t typically raise huge sums in the context of local governments. But they offer a new stream of public money for child care at a time when a growing chorus of experts say it should be considered a public good, not a private burden.

Before the 2022 law went into effect, lodging taxes in counties and marketing districts had to be used for tourism efforts. Some Colorado cities and towns have long had the authority to levy a lodging tax to support child care, but few have done so.

Currently, about a dozen counties, towns, or local marketing districts in Colorado levy lodging taxes that can be used for child care initiatives. Some use the proceeds for scholarships to help families pay tuition or wage bumps for teachers.

A few such ballot measures have failed. One such measure in the City of Pueblo in 2023 would have been the first lodging tax for child care in a non-resort region.

Among the lodging tax measures on the ballot this year, only La Plata County’s measure wouldn’t raise taxes. Instead, the measure would reallocate 70% of the existing revenue from the 2% tax to housing and child care. About $500,000 would go to child care each year.

Heather Hawk, executive director of the Early Childhood Council of La Plata County, said the money would help middle-income parents pay for infant and toddler care — the hardest-to-find child care in many communities. It would also boost teacher pay, possibly through annual stipends, and help fund child care center renovations or new buildings.

Hawk said child care is so expensive in the area that it routinely eats up 25 to 30% of family income.

“Being able to reallocate the lodging tax was the perfect opportunity … because it doesn’t increase our local taxes in a way that impacts the families that live here,” she said.

The City of Montrose will ask voters to increase the lodging tax from .9% to 6%, with about 17% of the revenue going to child care initiatives. That’s about $158,000 per year.

William Woody, communications manager for the city’s office of business and tourism, said housing and child care have for years been the two most pressing issues cited by residents who respond to the city’s community survey. The shortage of child care seats has even caused turnover at City Hall.

“We have employees here at the City of Montrose that have had to move to other places in the United States, closer to family ... because of lack of child care,” he said.

Woody said during the pandemic, Montrose saw an “influx of workers who left bigger communities to work remotely and find a place that is rural but still has all the amenities.”

But that growth made housing and child care even harder to find, he said.

Meanwhile, Grand County will ask voters both to boost the lodging tax from 1.8% to 2% and allow the county to use some of the proceeds for housing and child care. If the ballot measure passes, the tax would generate about $2.25 million a year. About 30% of that — or $675,000 a year — would go to housing, child care, or services that benefit visitors.

Christine Travis, the county’s communications director, said how that 30% is spent could vary from year to year, with a housing initiative one year, a child care initiative the next, and so on.

She said Grand County commissioners have considered routing tax revenue to housing and child care for several years.

“Being a mountain resort community, affordable housing for the workforce and childcare to support that workforce has not been getting any easier over the years,” Travis said.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Inside Colorado’s high-stakes preschool lawsuit pitting religious liberty against LGBTQ rights

2024-09-19T19:31:39+00:00

At a time when the U.S. Supreme Court has opened the door to greater public funding for private religious schools, a lower court ruling in Colorado could have big implications for the separation of church and state in education.

At the center of the case are two Catholic preschools in suburban Denver that want exemptions from state non-discrimination rules based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The parishes that run the preschools sued the state last year because they didn’t want to have to admit LGBTQ children or children from LGBTQ families if the preschools joined Colorado’s popular new state-funded preschool program.

A federal judge largely ruled in the state’s favor in June. But the preschools are now appealing — and the case could wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Colorado case is one of several unfolding across the country, including in Maine and Vermont, that ask whether religious schools are bound by state non-discrimination rules if they join state-funded programs.

If the Catholic preschools win, it’s possible Colorado children could be shut out of some preschools because of their or their parents’ identities.

Brittany, the mother of a 7-year-old transgender girl, choked up as she talked about the lawsuit.

“It’s so upsetting that there’s so much hate for our kids,” she said. “These kids are just kids. They don’t have a political agenda.”

Brittany’s daughter Naomi is an art-loving, tree-climbing second grader who enjoys reading “Captain Underpants” books and playing pretend with her little sister, who is 4.

The Denver family, who asked that their last name not be used to protect their privacy, is the kind that could be affected by the outcome of Colorado’s Catholic preschools appeal. And if the case — or another one like it — ends up at the Supreme Court, the decision could have a nationwide impact.

Katie Eyer, a law professor at Rutgers University, said, “There are so many of these cases that are currently working their way up through the courts,” she said. “Whether this particular one lands on [the Supreme Court] docket remains to be seen, but it is certainly the type of case that they’ve shown quite a lot of interest in in recent years.”

Colorado invited religious preschools to join state program

As Colorado leaders prepared to roll out universal preschool in the fall of 2023, they invited public and private preschools across the state to join the program. Among them were St. Mary Catholic Virtue School in Littleton and Wellspring Catholic Academy of St. Bernadette in Lakewood, the two schools now at the center of the lawsuit.

The “mixed delivery” approach — meaning both public and private schools can participate — is common in states that fund large preschool programs. In Colorado, it helped ensure there were enough seats available for all of the families that wanted one. This year, about 41,000 4-year-olds are getting half- or full-day tuition-free preschool through the program.

Dozens of religious preschools have joined Colorado’s universal preschool program, including those with Methodist, Lutheran, Jewish, and Muslim underpinnings. One participating preschool is Catholic: St. Columba Catholic Montessori Preschool in Durango.

Experts say that families choose religious preschools for lots of reasons, ranging from a shared faith to factors such as a convenient location, open slots, and high ratings.

But the Archdiocese of Denver wouldn’t let most of the 36 preschools it oversees sign off on the state’s non-discrimination agreement, a requirement to participate.

The big sticking point was the agreement’s protections for people based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Officials from some religious preschools, including from St. Mary, raised their concerns during regular meetings with state preschool leaders before the program launched.

That’s when state leaders mentioned an idea they’d come up with to allow religious preschools who joined universal preschool to reserve some or all of their seats for members of their congregations, according to testimony from the trial last January. But the archdiocese didn’t like that solution because it didn’t want to limit preschool enrollment to only parish members, an archdiocese official testified.

The Catholic preschools instead wanted the state to exempt them from the parts of the non-discrimination rule covering sexual orientation and gender identity. Other religious groups, including an Orthodox Jewish group and a conservative Lutheran group, also expressed interest in exemptions in a letter to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis. State officials refused to grant them, saying non-discrimination protections were part of state law.

“In a sense, church leaders want to have their cake and eat it too,” said Bob Shine, associate director of New Ways Ministry, a Catholic group based near Washington, D.C. that advocates for LGBTQ inclusion.

“They want public funding because in most cases the church cannot sustain a lot of its educational or charitable efforts now, so they need the government money, but they don’t want any of the conditions that come with [it].”

In Denver, the archdiocese this month announced the impending closure of Wellspring and two other Catholic schools due to declining enrollment and financial problems. Last year, the archdiocese closed a K-8 school in Aurora.

Wellspring Catholic Academy of St. Bernadette in Lakewood is one of two Catholic preschools that sued the state of Colorado.

Archdiocese allows some preschools to join state program

While the Denver Archdiocese barred most of its preschools from signing the non-discrimination agreement and joining the state preschool program, there were exceptions. Five preschools under the Archdiocese umbrella signed the form and joined. All serve low-income families and are operated by Catholic Charities of Denver, the Archdiocese’ charitable arm.

Rick Biekers, executive director of early childhood education programs at Catholic Charities of Denver, said the five preschools use a secular curriculum and are open to all families in need.

“We absolutely serve anyone who comes to our doors,” he said in an email.

Lawyers for the Catholic preschools said during the trial that the reason Catholic Charities preschools were allowed to participate in the state preschool program is because they have a different mission than the rest of the Archdiocese preschools. That is, to serve the poor.

In contrast, the other Archdiocese preschools are dedicated to “raising the next generation in the faith,” said Joseph Davis, one of the preschools’ lawyers from the Washington, D.C.-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, during the trial.

Another lawsuit over Colorado’s non-discrimination rules

In June 2023, about two months before the Catholic preschools filed their lawsuit, an evangelical Christian school in the southern Colorado town of Buena Vista sued the state.

Busy Bees Preschool, part of Darren Patterson Christian Academy, had signed the state’s non-discrimination agreement and joined the universal preschool program. But school leaders, who are represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom based in Scottsdale, Arizona, said they feared the state rules on sexual orientation and gender identity would force the preschool to hire employees who don’t share its faith and change school policies related to restrooms, pronouns, and dress codes.

The lawsuit is similar to the Catholic preschool lawsuit, which also cited concerns about hiring LGBTQ employees. But unlike the Catholic preschools, Darren Patterson leaders say all children are welcome to enroll in Busy Bees, including those from LGBTQ and non-Christian families.

In October, Darren Patterson won a preliminary injunction that blocks Colorado from punishing the school for policies that don’t align with state non-discrimination rules.

Federal District Court Judge Daniel Domenico, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, wrote in his decision that those rules force the preschool “into the unconstitutional choice of abandoning religiously motivated practices or foregoing otherwise available public funding.”

No trial date has been set.

Supreme Court grows more sympathetic to religious liberty claims

In recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court has become more conservative and more sympathetic to religious liberty claims, often at the expense of arguments favoring a strict separation of church and state.

In a landmark 2022 Maine case called Carson v. Makin, the high court ruled that religious schools can’t be excluded from publicly funded programs if secular private schools are allowed to participate. But the court didn’t clearly address whether states could require those religious schools to agree to non-discrimination rules in order to participate.

“That then tees up this tension,” said Robert Kim, executive director of the Education Law Center. “The religious schools are arguing, … ‘Having to abide by those non-discrimination policies violates our religious rights.’”

In the Colorado case, Senior U.S. District Judge John L. Kane, who was appointed by former President Jimmy Carter, disagreed with the Catholic preschools on that point in his ruling.

He wrote of Colorado’s non-discrimination rules: “The purpose of the requirement is not to invade religious freedom but to further the implementation of a strongly embraced public value.”

Scott Skinner-Thompson, associate professor of law at the University of Colorado Boulder, said of the opinion, “He makes absolutely clear that it is constitutional and unproblematic for states and local governments to apply LGBTQ non-discrimination provisions to recipients of state funds.”

Sarah Taitz, constitutional legal fellow at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said court decisions often hinge on whether states apply the rules in a “neutral and generally applicable” way.

In his 101-page opinion, Kane concluded the state met that threshold.

Kane did give the Catholic preschools a narrow win in the case — exempting them from rules banning discrimination based on religion. He did that because of Colorado’s decision to let religious preschools prioritize children from their own congregations. He said the state can’t have it both ways — allowing the congregation preference, which is based on religion, while telling participating preschools they can’t discriminate based on religion.

Mom of trans daughter relieved by ruling on LGBTQ inclusion

Brittany, Naomi’s mother, said she and other parents she’s talked to were relieved by Kane’s decision upholding protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

“We were really happy that the ultimate ruling that came out was that you can’t discriminate against our community,” said Brittany, who runs a monthly park play group for transgender children and started the Denver chapter of the national group TransParent

“That just felt really, really nice to hear, even though we kind of think it shouldn’t have been an argument to begin with,” she said.

Brittany said her family was lucky because when Naomi came out as transgender at age 4, the teachers at her private preschool were supportive. They even helped with her daughter’s social transition at school, including the switch in pronouns and her name change. The family has found the same openness at their public elementary school in Denver, where Naomi is in second grade and their 4-year-old attends preschool through Colorado’s universal preschool program.

In both kindergarten and first grade, Naomi told her entire class — with teachers facilitating the conversation — that she was transgender and answered questions from classmates.

“She came home happy and excited and said, “Mom, I told my whole class that I was trans and they’re all still my friends,” she said.

When sharing about her daughter’s gender identity, Brittany said, “It’s never the kids that we worry about.”

Brittany said her in-laws are practicing Catholics and when she and her husband broke the news about Naomi’s gender identity, they felt a twinge of uncertainty.

“Specifically because of their faith, we weren’t sure what their reaction was going to be,” she said. “They just told us that they love her no matter what and have been champions for her and other kids like her.”

Catholic preschools want to avoid “conflict” and “confusion”

The Catholic preschools in the Colorado case describe their refusal to enroll children from LGBTQ families as a way to avoid confusing children who might hear one thing from their parents and another from their preschool teachers.

An Archdiocese education official addressed a slice of those potential conflicts at the trial — noting that teachers at the Catholic preschools wouldn’t use a transgender child’s preferred pronouns, or let them wear uniforms or use bathrooms not associated with their gender at birth.

But it’s unclear what other conflicts might arise, for example, if a preschooler’s parents are gay. During the trial, Avery Coats, co-principal at one of the Catholic schools, described the preschool’s instruction related to gender and sexual orientation as age-appropriate.

“We do this in vocabulary like mommy and daddy and marriage and family,” she said.

Coats referred an interview request from Chalkbeat to Kelly Clark, director of communications for the Archdiocese of Denver. Clark did not respond to repeated email requests from Chalkbeat asking about such conflicts.

Nick Reaves, an attorney from Becket, sent an emailed statement on behalf of the Archdiocese, saying in part, that Colorado has excluded Archdiocese preschools and the families they serve from the universal preschool program “simply for staying true to their faith.”

Amanda Henderson, director of the Institute for Religion, Politics & Culture at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, said the possibility that children from LGBTQ families will encounter contradictory perspectives at school isn’t a new dilemma.

“Let families navigate that on their own,” she said. “LGBTQ families have been navigating a culture that was counter to their family for a long, long time.”

Ish Ruiz, assistant professor of theology at Pacific School of Religion, said keeping children from LGBTQ families out of Catholic preschools won’t prevent other students from asking about or sharing what they see in their daily lives.

“That 4-year-old will show up to the classroom … saying, ‘My friend Tommy who doesn’t go to this school has two mommies or two daddies,’ or ‘I have an uncle who’s married to his husband,’” he said. “You cannot sanitize the school from reality.”

Catholics have diverse opinions on LGBTQ issues

Despite guidance crafted by the Archdiocese of Denver that calls for the exclusion of LGBTQ students and families from some schools, not all Catholics agree with the stance.

“The church is not a monolith,” said Ruiz. “The church, in and of itself, has a lot of internal disagreement on the matter.”

Henderson said diverse opinions within the church create a thorny job for the courts.

“It becomes really difficult when a specific court is defining … what a religious belief is or whose religious belief is prioritized over others,” she said.

Beth Mueller Stewart and her husband Dan Stewart are practicing Catholics who disagree so strongly with the Catholic preschools’ argument, they urged the Archdiocese to drop the lawsuit.

In a May letter to Aquila and other church officials, published on the New Ways Ministry web site, the couple described the “tough position” they were in.

“The lawsuit forced us to ask: ‘Do we keep our child at Wellspring Catholic Academy and seemingly support the lawsuit, forsaking our values and our consciences? Or do we forgo Catholic education at Wellspring to stand in solidarity and love with our own LGBTQ loved ones?’”

Ultimately, they withdrew their child from the school.

Meanwhile a Catholic family with a preschooler at St. Mary Catholic Virtue School, joined the two Catholic parishes in suing the state over the non-discrimination agreement. The mother, Lisa Sheley, is a front office coordinator at St. Mary school, and testified at the January trial.

She said she and her husband Dan feel it’s important to give their six children a Catholic education. If St. Mary had participated in Colorado’s universal preschool program, her family would have saved nearly $5,000, she said.

“Obviously with inflation, everything is extremely expensive, but even more so for a family of eight,” she said. “So, anything we could save would be extremely helpful.”

Lisa Sheley could not be reached for comment, including through her lawyers.

Will Colorado’s preschool case lead to K-12 impacts?

In the near-term, the outcome of the Catholic preschools case — or the cases unfolding in Maine and Vermont — won’t affect Colorado’s public K-12 education system.

That’s the question at the heart of another lawsuit over Colorado’s preschool program, as well as lawsuits in Maine and Vermont. In those two states, religious schools want exemptions from rules about sexual orientation and gender identity so they can participate in state programs that cover private school tuition for students who live far from public schools.

But there could be spillover eventually, experts say. Considering Colorado’s charter-friendly environment, an unprecedented effort in Oklahoma to create a charter school run by the Catholic church shows one way that might happen. Charter schools are free publicly funded, privately managed schools.

While the Oklahoma Supreme Court in June ruled the Catholic charter school unconstitutional, the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Lurking in that case is this notion that a religious entity could not only seek to participate in public programs, but actually become a public school,” said Kim, of the Education Law Center,

The idea of normalizing public funding for private religious education is concerning, he said “especially if in that process, there’s an erosion or evisceration of non-discrimination principles.”

Already many states have voucher programs that provide students funding for private school tuition, including at religious schools with anti-LGBTQ policies. Colorado has no voucher program, though some experts worry that Amendment 80, a ballot measure up for a vote in November, is a step in that direction.

Despite years of questions about potentially discriminatory practices at voucher-accepting schools, Taitz said the legal questions are a bit different than Colorado’s Catholic preschool case. That’s because in voucher programs, schools don’t get funding directly from the state. Instead, families are the go-between.

“But in terms of some of the principles at stake about discrimination and separation of church and state, vouchers pose a similar, really major problem,” she said.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado infants and toddlers will benefit from 7 grants seeded with MacKenzie Scott gift

2024-09-16T23:01:53+00:00

Stay up-to-date on the latest news in early childhood education and development across the U.S. Sign up for Chalkbeat’s free monthly newsletter The Starting Line.

In November, voters in La Plata County in southwest Colorado will consider reallocating part of the county’s lodging tax to support child care and affordable housing.

Local advocates plan to use a new $100,000 grant to urge a yes vote from residents and think ahead about how to distribute the money if the ballot measure passes.

The grant is one of seven focused on prenatal and birth-to-3 issues announced Monday by the nonprofit Early Milestones Colorado. Other recipients include Hunger Free Colorado, Immunize Colorado, and Mile High United Way. The grants, several of which aim to help Hispanic and immigrant communities, came through Early Milestones’ “Impact on Equity Fund,” a new program seeded with a $2.5 million gift from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.

The grant program unfolds at a challenging time for Colorado’s youngest children and their families. Federal COVID relief funds for early childhood have dried up, infant and toddler care is hard to find, and in recent years, much of the state’s energy has gone toward 4-year-olds served by the state’s new tuition-free preschool program.

In La Plata County, the $100,000 Early Milestones grant will fund a bilingual “navigator” to help Spanish-speaking child care providers and families. It will also help leverage a consistent stream of money for child care — about $500,000 a year if the lodging tax measure passes. (Another $200,000 in lodging tax proceeds would go toward housing efforts.)

“It’s a child care desert down here,” said Rachel Landis, executive director of the Good Food Collective, which is part of the La Plata Food Equity Coalition that received the grant. “I know folks with babies are desperate.”

The lodging tax measure money would fund 100 child care scholarships for middle-income families with babies and toddlers and bump up wages for infant and toddler teachers by 6 percent, she said.

Landis credits a group of Latine moms for pushing for more child care support. The mothers began meeting on their own every Friday night to discuss the issue and ultimately raised their idea to the broader coalition, she said.

“I think initially the coalition was like, ‘Huh, that’s interesting, child care. How’s that related to food security?’” Landis said.

The mothers made a compelling case, connecting their ability to work and put food on the table to the availability of child care.

“It was this very systemic, upstream way to try to address multiple issues that feed into … food insecurity,” she said.

Across the state in Jefferson County, another $100,000 Early Milestones grant will support a project focused on early childhood nutrition and mental health.

The grant, awarded to Triad Bright Futures, will fund a yearlong program called Maternal Child Health Leaders for Equity that includes training and leadership opportunities for 20 Hispanic community members. They’ll receive stipends for participating and will practice what they’ve learned by shadowing home visitors who support parents with young children or helping facilitate community meetings on mental health or food access.

Participants will also be part of a “co-mentorship” program in which local community leaders — from home visiting, parent support, and mental health groups — will provide guidance and advice. Participants will also share feedback and suggestions with their co-mentors.

Paulina Erices, director of development and strategic initiatives for Cuenta Conmigo Cooperative, one of the project partners, said the idea is to bridge the gap between local organizations that are working on health and social service efforts and community members with different ideas or approaches.

Often, the two groups are working on the same problems, “but they are not talking to each other,” she said.

At the end of the yearlong program, which will start in January, Erices said she hopes local organizations and community members will have deeper connections and more shared projects.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

They were babies and toddlers when the pandemic hit. At school, some still struggle.

2024-09-05T20:46:53+00:00

Stay up-to-date on the latest news in early childhood education and development across the U.S. Sign up for Chalkbeat’s free monthly newsletter The Starting Line.

One minute, the 4-year-old boy was giggling. The school’s new behavioral specialist made a game of helping him put on his shoes, playfully sniffing them then scrunching up her face in pretend horror.

A minute later, he was inconsolable, an emotional U-turn perhaps sparked by the transition to clean-up time. A teacher cradled the boy in her lap, calmly dodging his small flailing arms. He quieted when he got his pacifier and the shield of a cozy blanket over his head.

Such scenes — of young children struggling to cope — have become more commonplace in Colorado and nationwide as a generation of babies and toddlers whose early life was marked by the pandemic now enter preschool and kindergarten. Experts say many of these children carry more emotional baggage than their predecessors, owing to the stress that coursed through families as isolation, unemployment, sickness, and grief took their toll.

“Any child who was impacted by the pandemic during their first three years of life is bound to have something lingering,” said Karen Wolf, mental health manager at Clayton Early Learning in Denver, where the boy cried under the blanket.

More of Colorado’s pandemic babies and toddlers are showing up with developmental delays than their counterparts born just a few years before. In 2019, about 9,000 children from birth to 3 years old were eligible for free state services because of development delays. By 2023, that number jumped 17% to about 10,600.

There’s also a group of young children who don’t have official delays, but missed out on basic social skills when preschool and playdates stopped during the pandemic. Preschool enrollment in Colorado’s public schools dropped by more than 20% during the 2020-21 school year compared with the year before, according to the Colorado Department of Education.

Early educators say they’re seeing more children who struggle with speech, communication, and managing their emotions than in years past. More students also now struggle with classroom expectations. Jennifer Lussier, a kindergarten teacher at Coyote Ridge Elementary in Broomfield, said a couple years into the pandemic she experienced an unfortunate first: A kindergartner told her, “I’m not doing that. That’s stupid.”

Some teachers and advocates say it’s hard to untangle the effects of COVID from other factors, such as children’s frequent use of smartphones and tablets — a phenomenon exacerbated by the pandemic.

Many schools and child care centers are working to meet students’ extra needs. They’ve added more teacher training or hired new staff to work with children who hit, bite, or have tantrums. They devote more class time to social-emotional skills and call in mental health specialists when big problems erupt.

But some worry that chronic industry problems, including a shortage of therapists who work with young children, high turnover among early childhood educators, and a lack of funding for the field at large, are stunting recovery efforts.

The demands on preschool teachers and daycare workers have grown even as their resources have shrunk, said Lori Ganz, clinical director of The Resource Exchange, which provides early childhood services in El Paso County and nearby counties.

“Their classrooms are larger and the children are more challenging,” Ganz said, “and some days they just can’t do it.”

New parents in pandemic faced an uncertain world

Chmura Smith was in her last semester of community college when the pandemic hit. She was also pregnant with her first child.

“The pandemic kind of shut down my whole life,” she said.

Classes moved online, a format Smith didn’t like. She remembers a chronic feeling of uncertainty. She worried about “getting COVID and it never going away and always being in lockdown.”

A few days after her May graduation, she went into labor much too early. Her son Jadon was just two pounds and two ounces when he was born. He came home healthy after two months in the hospital, but as he grew, he struggled to pronounce words and would sometimes stutter. He’ll say things like “Gween Gwoblin” when talking about his favorite Spider-Man villain.

Jadon, now 4, has a special education plan and gets speech therapy at Clayton Early Learning, where he attends preschool. His 3-year-old brother, born full-term as the world was opening back up in 2021, never had any speech problems.

Chmura Smith and her two sons in Colorado.

For Smith, it’s hard to pinpoint the reason for Jadon’s speech delay. She said her own stress during the pandemic could have sparked his premature birth, which in turn could have contributed to his speech problems.

“That year was a lot,” she said.

Erin and JK Perry, who live in the western Colorado town of Eagle, also wonder about the effects of the pandemic on their 4-year-old son. In so many ways, he’s thriving. He’s an outgoing child with a big vocabulary and good friends.

But he also struggles with anxiety at times — for example, if his parents switch off who’s bringing him to preschool without telling him.

“He will yell. He will refuse to eat his breakfast. He will refuse to put his shoes on,” Erin Perry said.

“I feel like some of that could have been me and JK and just the levels of anxiety we were dealing with,” she said. “It wasn’t just being new parents. It was being new parents in a pandemic. It was like being scared to go to the grocery store.”

Erin Perry said teachers at their son’s child care center talked of behavior post-COVID that they’d never seen before. When their son was 2, one teacher was responsible for shadowing a toddler in the class who continuously acted out. When that teacher turned her back momentarily, the toddler bit their son hard enough to draw blood, she said.

Fewer young children flagged for extra help

During the first year of the pandemic, thousands of babies and toddlers with delays or disabilities missed out on services that would have helped them catch up. They weren’t going to the routine doctor appointments or to child care where professionals might have noticed an issue and referred them for a free state evaluation.

In addition, Colorado temporarily raised the bar in 2020 for the level of delay children needed to receive early intervention services because of a budget shortfall. A version of the earlier threshold was reinstated in 2023.

To make matters worse, early intervention services switched to virtual as the pandemic raged. Some families opted out all together, while others tried them but struggled to realize the benefits. A lag in getting kids set up with therapies and other services can compound their problems, experts say.

Lussier, the kindergarten teacher in Broomfield, said before the pandemic she typically had one or two children with delays in her classroom, but now it’s often double that.

She recalled a boy in her class last year who spoke only in short phrases like, “Bathroom, bathroom. I use bathroom.” Once, she told the boy, “Put your name on your paper.” He looked at her in bewilderment. He didn’t understand that she was asking him to write his name.

A nationwide study conducted by Johns Hopkins University researchers and published this year found modest decreases in screening scores for three developmental areas for children from birth to age 5 during the first two years of the pandemic compared with children the same age before the pandemic. They include communication, problem-solving and personal-social, which includes skills like feeding and dressing.

Researchers said the findings were generally reassuring in the short term and “suggest reason for cautious optimism.” But they warned that more kids with delays could tax the already overburdened system. They noted that the additional deficits translate to about 1,500 more children nationwide being referred for developmental delay evaluations each month.

Classrooms problems aren’t always due to developmental delays

Early educators and mental health specialists say there’s also a growing group of young children who don’t have developmental delays or disabilities, but struggle with classroom norms.

Early in the pandemic, when fewer kids attended child care and preschool — and many adults were constantly sanitizing — some children missed out on the sights, sounds, and textures of a normal classroom: The jumble of classmates finger-painting, playing in sandboxes, and shaping Play-Doh.

When children eventually did experience those things for the first time, it was often overwhelming.

“A typical scenario is a kid who’s pushing and shoving the kids in the line, and it’s because they can’t handle the sensation of touch with other people close to them because they’ve not experienced that before,” said Ganz, of The Resource Center.

Anna Clark, a kindergarten teacher in Cottonwood Elementary in the western Colorado city of Montrose, used to take out a box of fidget toys occasionally when a child needed a calming activity. Now, the box is always out because so many children need sensory breaks.

Taryn Long, who evaluates children ages 3 to 5 to see if they qualify for special education services in the Brighton-based District 27J, said since the pandemic, more children are being referred for evaluations because of “behavior.” Perhaps they pushed a classmate at child care, hit a teacher, or had a meltdown.

“They’re getting kicked out left and right. All sorts of write-ups,” said Long.

But often such children don’t qualify for special education because they are doing fairly well in some ways, she said. They can follow directions, answer questions, and know colors or parts of the body, for example.

Long, and other professionals who work with young children, say some of the struggles young kids have experienced are because in the thick of the pandemic they didn’t have regular interactions with other children and were on screens more than ever.

Parents told Long, “We couldn’t go to the park. The park was taped off. All they had was us.”

Clark, echoing concerns raised by other educators, believes constant stimuli from screens has made it harder for children to enjoy simple things, partake in imaginative play, and even hone their fine motor skills.

With all the one-finger swiping, she said, “They’re not pinching their fingers to turn pages in a book or a magazine as often, and so it kind of just all escalates into these deficits we’ve been seeing.”

Educators say children’s development ‘not a lost cause’

Some early educators say young children today need more practice and more time to pick up key social and emotional skills they would typically learn before kindergarten. Even with early setbacks, children are adaptable and resilient.

“It’s a magical time,” said Wolf, of Clayton Early Learning. “We can have so much good impact still. It’s not a lost cause.”

Earlier this summer, Clayton hired its new behavior specialist — a roving teacher with a background in special education — to help the growing number of preschoolers with challenging behavior. She’s the one who made a silly game of putting on the boy’s shoes.

Last year, Lussier, the kindergarten teacher in Broomfield, spent eight weeks early in the year on lessons and stories about feelings and friendships, not the usual six. She also started going over the rules of afternoon play time, like not grabbing things out of people’s hands, every day.

In the Eagle County school district, all 98 preschool teachers and assistant teachers will receive training this year on how to manage children with the most extreme behaviors — a change from the “as-needed” approach of years past.

Feedback from annual staff surveys prompted the added training, said Shelley Smith, the district’s director of early childhood programs: “It always is a need, but it grew significantly, from ‘I need more resources’ to ‘I don’t feel safe. I can’t keep the other children safe.’”

Several local early childhood leaders said they need more funding for early childhood mental health consultants, specialists who work with parents and teachers to prevent and manage challenging behavior in children.

Ganz, of the Resource Exchange, said the demand for such services far outstrips supply. Her program provides early intervention and early childhood mental health consultation to about 1,200 children at any given time in El Paso County and three nearby counties.

Her mental health consultant budget was recently cut by $300,000 after federal COVID relief funds dried up. Her program turns away five or six callers a week who want mental health consultations, she said

“Now is exactly when those children need the help,” she said. If they land on a waiting list, “we miss a window of opportunity, because for a child, six months is a very long time.”

Asked how much money she’d need to fully staff her early intervention and mental health consultant programs, she said, “We can use a magic wand of a million dollars.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

More Colorado children will get state-funded full-day preschool classes this year

2024-07-25T22:38:21+00:00

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State officials say over 11,000 Colorado children will get free full-day classes through the state’s universal preschool program this year, more than double the number last year.

The increase means progress towards one of the state’s original goals for the preschool-for-all program: extra hours for 4-year-olds with the greatest needs, like those from low-income families, as well as kids who are learning English, have special education plans, are homeless, or in the foster care system.

It’s a significant contrast from last summer, when the state backpedaled on plans to cover full-day preschool for every child with one of those five risk factors. So many families applied for half-day seats in the new program that Colorado didn’t have the money to fund as many full-day seats as it had hoped. State officials notified thousands of families that were expecting to get free full-day preschool about the pullback just weeks before the start of school. That left many parents in the lurch and angered preschool providers.

Several school districts stepped up to cover the full-day preschool costs themselves last year, but expressed frustration about the budget hit. Some districts cited the state’s last minute decision to limit full-day preschool in a wide-ranging lawsuit over universal preschool alleging broken funding promises, among other things. (A Denver district court judge dismissed the case in early July.)

Not every 4-year-old with one or more risk factors will qualify for free full-day preschool this year. But at least 6,000 more will qualify compared with last year, and that number could rise as more families apply for universal preschool in the coming weeks.

Dawn Odean, director of the universal preschool program, said the increase shows progress toward the state’s goal of serving students equitably: “We’re really excited.”

Two factors helped pave the way for more children to qualify for full-day preschool this year.

First, the state has more money for it. That’s because voters approved about $24 million in additional preschool funding in November.

Also, state officials rewrote some of the program’s rules last fall to more carefully target the children from the lowest-income families for full-day preschool.

Colorado’s universal preschool proved popular immediately, serving about 39,000 4-year-olds in its inaugural year — about 62% of that age group in the state. Most received 10 to 15 hours a week of tuition-free preschool, but some received 30 hours a week, which the state considers full-day preschool.

When state leaders were rushing to plan the program in the year before its launch, they decided to offer full-day preschool to children with certain risk factors. The idea was to provide more learning time to children facing extra challenges.

But one risk factor captured a particularly large group of kids: the low-income category. That category covered children in families with household incomes up to 270% of the federal poverty line, or about $84,200 in annual income for a family of four.

Last July, as the program was about to begin, 15,000 children with at least one of the five risk factors had joined. But there was only enough funding to serve a fraction of that number with full-day classes. The shortfall triggered a provision requiring students to have both the low-income risk factor and a second risk factor in order to get full-day preschool.

Initially, only 3,700 students qualified for full-day classes, though that number grew to 4,800 by the end of the school year, according to officials at the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, which runs the universal preschool program. Many of the children who lost out on full-day preschool were from low-income households but did not have a second risk factor.

“We heard from many families and many providers … that we were missing our most vulnerable, or specifically those families living in poverty,” Odean said.

For year two, which starts in August for most preschools, state officials decided to add a sixth risk factor to ensure that children from the lowest-income families were not passed over for full-day preschool. This “poverty” risk factor captures children whose families have household incomes up to the federal poverty line, which this year is $32,100 for a family of four.

Because such families are also covered by the “low-income” category, they have the two factors needed to receive full-day preschool.

So far this year, the majority of students eligible for full-day preschool — 63% — have the poverty risk factor. The rest are in the higher-earning tier of the “low-income” category and have one or more additional risk factors.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Inside a dyslexia screening program for some of Colorado’s rural students

2024-07-16T19:45:51+00:00

When teacher Cindy Haralson would point at her preschool class with a stuffed owl named Baby Echo, most children quickly repeated the letter, word, and sound they’d just heard her say. Think “B, bat, b.”

But one little girl — a good listener and natural problem-solver — stared blankly at her teacher day after day last year, unable to reproduce what she was hearing and seeing. Haralson recalled the girl looking at her classmates, as if to say, “How do you guys do that? How do you know that?”

The girl’s struggle with alphabet lessons was the kind of red flag that can signal problems learning to read, problems that Haralson believes too often go unaddressed for years.

“It seems like we always wait till kindergarten or first grade, and sometimes second grade,” said Haralson, who teaches in the tiny La Veta School District in southern Colorado. “I think we wait too long to figure these things out.”

So Haralson was thrilled when her district joined a regional pilot program last year to screen students in preschool through first grade for signs of dyslexia, a common learning disability that makes it hard to identify speech sounds, decode words, and spell them. Other participating districts include Cotopaxi, Aguilar, Manzanola, Primero, and Huerfano. This year, two more districts — Crowley and Fowler — will join, and participating schools will start screening second-graders as well.

The screening program, which is run by the South Central Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or BOCES, comes amid a yearslong push by Colorado leaders to improve early reading instruction through better curriculum, more teacher training, and timely help for struggling readers. While state lawmakers have stopped short of requiring schools to screen students for dyslexia, more districts are spearheading such efforts on their own, including large ones like Boulder Valley and Denver.

But educators say dyslexia screening is doable in small rural districts, too.

Rachel Arnold, literacy coordinator for the South Central BOCES and the leader of the pilot program, said extending dyslexia screening to all Colorado children is a matter of equity.

“Depending on your area code, ZIP code, where you live, not everyone has access to that,” she said.

Arnold believes the state should mandate and fund dyslexia screening statewide.

Southern Colorado pilot uses new dyslexia screening tool

About 200 children were screened for signs of dyslexia through the BOCES pilot program last year. That number could double as the program expands in 2024-25.

The pilot relies on a relatively new dyslexia screener called EarlyBird that was developed by researchers from Harvard University and the Florida Center for Reading Research. Arnold, who’s using part of an $86,000 state grant to help pay for the two-year pilot, estimates EarlyBird screening costs about $7 per student per year.

The screener is administered three times a year, with students answering questions on an iPad while a teacher looks on. Typically, each screening takes about an hour, but it’s often administered in 15- to 20-minute chunks over a couple weeks.

Arnold said she was initially leery about an online assessment, but said kids enjoy the game-like format and the cartoon bird that leads them through it. EarlyBird assesses a variety of early reading skills, such as rhyming, vocabulary knowledge, making connections between letters and sounds, and retrieving information quickly and automatically.

While Colorado’s flagship reading law — known as the READ Act — already requires elementary school teachers to evaluate students’ reading skills in kindergarten through third grade, some parents and educators say the assessments used for that can miss students with dyslexia.

“The READ Act has many wonderful things, but it is not dyslexia legislation,” said Arnold.

Holly Massarotti, a kindergarten teacher and elementary dean of students in the Primero district, said the READ Act assessment her district uses — IStation — isn’t as sensitive as EarlyBird in flagging children with signs of dyslexia.

Some kids who were “on the bubble” on the IStation assessment were caught by EarlyBird, she said.

“As we dug deeper into what their data showed, it was evident that they had a problem,” she said.

While dyslexia can interfere with the ability to read and learn for a lifetime, with the right instruction, students can do as well as their peers.

In Haralson’s preschool classroom, 13 students ages 4 and 5 were assessed with EarlyBird. Six were flagged for extra help during short sessions twice a week, including the little girl who’d previously looked confused during alphabet lessons.

She made “astounding progress,” Haralson said. “What a gift to catch it early.”

Screening takes time, but pleases parents

Arnold said the biggest pushback to the dyslexia screening was over the extra time it would take to administer.

Massarotti admitted she was hesitant when Arnold proposed the idea. But her school adjusted the reading assessment schedule, and teachers and aides worked together to administer the screener as efficiently as possible, she said.

“It can be done, and I think the data is worth the challenge that it takes,” she said.

In many cases, parents were notified about the results of the EarlyBird screening at parent-teacher conferences. Often, the results confirmed suspicions families already had that something wasn’t quite right — say, their child wasn’t picking up the ABCs, or couldn’t find the right words to express themselves.

Haralson said parents appreciated seeing the screening results and learning how they could shore up their children’s weak areas with early reading activities at home.

“They were so psyched,” she said. “They thought it was brilliant that we were even looking this early to see if there was any type of issue.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Judge dismisses universal preschool lawsuit brought by Colorado school districts

2024-07-04T02:16:06+00:00

A Denver district court judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by several Colorado school districts over the state’s universal preschool program, ruling that the plaintiffs don’t have legal grounds to sue.

In his 20-page ruling, Judge Jon J. Olafson concluded that the six school districts, two education groups, a cooperative education services board, and two families that sued the state last year had not suffered any “injury” covered by state or federal law. The districts, groups, and families had argued that the universal preschool program administration was harming students with disabilities, in addition to other claims.

The decision is a win for the state and for Gov. Jared Polis, who spearheaded the popular free preschool program, which launched last summer after a rushed and rocky planning process. It comes a month after a partial victory for the state in another universal preschool lawsuit — one brought by Catholic preschools who don’t want to enroll children from LGBTQ families. (The Catholic preschools plan to appeal.)

State officials had no comment on Olafson’s ruling Wednesday evening.

Melissa Gibson, deputy executive director of the Colorado Association of School Executives, one of the plaintiffs in the case, said in a statement Wednesday, “We are disappointed by the court’s decision, but we will continue our focus on doing everything possible to advocate for resolution to the issues impacting students and families in the [universal preschool] system.”

She said filing the lawsuit was “a last resort,” and that the plaintiffs will continue to work with the state to push for solutions and transparency.

In addition to Gibson’s group, the plaintiffs include the Consortium of Directors of Special Education, Centennial Board of Cooperative Educational Services, two families, and the six school districts: Brighton-based 27J, Cherry Creek, Harrison, Mapleton, Platte Valley, and Westminster.

They filed the lawsuit against the state last summer, claiming its administration of the universal preschool program was harming children with disabilities and breaking financial promises to families and school districts. In response, the state asked the court to dismiss the suit. Olafson held a hearing on that motion at the end of April.

Olafson acknowledged that the school district plaintiffs had faced “headaches” in adapting to the new universal preschool system, but said “these growing pains are not legally protected injury.”

He also said that some of the plaintiffs’ concerns would be better addressed through legislative or administrative means, rather than through the courts.

During the 2023-24 school year, about 39,000 4-year-olds received tuition-free preschool through Colorado’s universal preschool program — representing 62% of children in that age group in the state. Enrollment is expected to be even higher next year.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Catholic preschools to appeal ruling in Colorado universal preschool case

2024-07-03T21:57:03+00:00

Two Catholic preschools will appeal a June federal court ruling that would prevent them from barring children from LGBTQ families if they choose to participate in Colorado’s state-funded preschool program.

Lawyers for the preschools filed the notice of appeal in late June, about three weeks after Senior U.S. District Judge John L. Kane rejected most of the claims the preschools made when they sued the state of Colorado last August.

The appeal to the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals means it will take longer to get a final answer to a key question: Can religious preschools exclude children from LGBTQ families when the state is footing the tuition bill?

Currently, the answer is no, but a higher court may rule differently.

The two preschools at the center of the case are run by St. Mary Catholic Parish in Littleton and St. Bernadette Catholic Parish in Lakewood. Neither participated in the first year of Colorado’s universal preschool program last year because preschool leaders said they couldn’t sign off on the state’s non-discrimination rules, which prohibit discrimination based on religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity, among other characteristics. Lawyers for the preschools argued during a January trial that enrolling preschoolers from LGBTQ families would conflict with their religious beliefs.

Colorado’s $322 million universal preschool program, which is funded partly with a nicotine tax, provides 4-year-olds with 10 to 30 hours per week of tuition-free preschool. Families can pick classrooms in public schools, private child care centers, state-licensed homes, or faith-based programs. Of the 1,900 preschools that participated last school year, 40 were faith-based.

Although Kane ruled in the state’s favor on most of the claims, he agreed with the Catholic preschools on one: That religious preschools can reserve seats for students from their congregations. As part of his decision, he issued an injunction allowing the two Catholic parishes to participate in the universal preschool program without having to agree to the part of the nondiscrimination clause about religion.

Becket, the law firm representing the Catholic preschools, focused narrowly on that injunction in its publicity about Kane’s ruling. Its June 4 press release on the decision was headlined, “Federal court blocks Colorado’s discrimination against Catholic preschools.”

But it wasn’t the win the preschools wanted.

Asked about the appeal, Nick Reaves, senior counsel at Becket, said in a statement, “While the district court correctly recognized that the state has no right to prevent Catholic schools from considering religious affiliation in their enrollment decisions, the court still did not permit them to participate in the [universal preschool] program while operating consistently with their Catholic mission.”

Ian McKenzie, a spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, said the state doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Callegari said the foundation recently created a toolkit and has grants available to help Colorado communities secure dedicated local funding for efforts focused on young children, including through special districts. Although special taxing districts for early childhood are now allowed in the state, there are reasons none have come to fruition yet, he said.

“Special taxing districts are not easy,” he said. “You need to have a lot of governance expertise to figure out how to cross the t’s and dot the i’s.”

Olivia Allen, vice president of strategy and advocacy at the Children’s Funding Project, said local tax levies for early childhood — whether in special districts or a single municipality — can help build trust among voters and momentum for broader public investments.

“These local measures ladder up to state-level support and successes,” she said.

Boulder-St. Vrain leaders seek child care funding again

The push to create a special district encompassing most of the Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley school districts grew out of a narrower effort in 2019 aimed at doing more for young children in Longmont, a city of 100,000 where the St. Vrain Valley district is based.

As more nonprofits and government representatives came to the table, leaders realized that focusing just on Longmont risked leaving out too many non-resident children and families who have school or work ties in the area, said Tim Waters, a former Longmont City Council member and a co-founder of the Early Childhood Alliance, the group spearheading the special district.

The group eventually broadened their focus to the two school districts, specifically the portions in Weld and Boulder counties. Leaders excluded a small portion of the St. Vrain Valley district in Larimer County, as well as pieces of the Boulder Valley district in Gilpin and Broomfield counties, to avoid having to win approval from five counties for the new district.

But even with just two counties in the mix, the plan was ambitious.

“We made the decision to go big or go home,” Waters said.

The alliance sought to raise about $60 million a year through a 5 mill property tax levy — the equivalent of $5 worth of tax per $1,000 of assessed value. The money would help child care providers raise teacher wages, expand childhood mental health services, provide more services for children with disabilities, and provide child care subsidies to families, especially for infant and toddler care.

Their bid failed after Boulder County commissioners rejected the plan in 2023, before voters could consider the proposal.

This time around, Waters said, “we’ll make a smaller ask with a more focused scope of work.”

He said the group’s plan for using special district funding will be similar to the first time, though they will seek a levy of less than 5 mills in 2025, He also said they’ll include a sunset date instead of asking to make the tax permanent from the outset.

Rural resort region seeks to bolster child care

A coalition of business, government and nonprofit leaders in the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys hopes to create a special district that would raise $10 million a year to help families find child care, provide sliding-scale child care subsidies, and help local providers improve quality.

The district would stretch 84 miles from Aspen to Parachute, and include Pitkin and Garfield counties, and part of Eagle County.

“Our region is very economically and socially interconnected,” said Tiscornia, of the Confluence Coalition. “It really doesn’t make a lot of sense to look at one subregion and provide supports there.”

Hannah Berman, senior manager of sustainability and philanthropy at Aspen Skiing Company, said resort leaders advocated for the 2019 special district law and belong to the coalition because child care — like housing — is a major financial and logistical struggle for many of their 4,000 employees, particularly women.

A recent coalition report found that there are enough licensed child care slots in the region for 47% of children under 5, but that staff shortages prevent some of those seats from being filled.

In addition, child care for one preschool child eats up 15% to 18% of the median family income in the region — more than twice the 7% “affordability threshold” set by the federal government.

Berman said, “We want to make sure our employees and community members have a genuine option to stay in the workforce if they want to, and that means we need to improve child care access and affordability.”

Berman said the biggest challenge in creating a special district in the two valleys isn’t getting prospective voters to understand why child care is a big issue — recent polling shows they do — but rather persuading them to raise taxes. Many already feel stretched financially, she said.

That feedback was part of what prompted the Confluence coalition to hold off on pursuing a special district ballot measure this year.

Tiscornia said the coalition still has some key questions to answer before going forward with a ballot measure in 2025: What kind of tax should it be? What size should it be? And how many years should it last?

As one of the first early childhood special districts under consideration, she said, “it requires a really careful approach.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Outdoor preschools could soon get state licenses in Colorado, unlocking public dollars

2024-05-13T22:54:32+00:00

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Fourteen preschoolers sang “Eggs, larva, pupa, adults,” on a recent morning, curling up on the grass, wriggling around like caterpillars, lying still, and then flapping their arms in search of wildflowers.

The song, along with redwing blackbird calls and a bit of traffic noise, was the soundtrack of their morning circle, which kicked off near a wetland in southeast Denver.

The children weren’t on a field trip. They were attending preschool outside like they always do, under the supervision of teachers from Nature School Cooperative. It was early May and, although the 3- and 4-year-olds didn’t know it, a momentous week for schools like theirs.

Colorado lawmakers were about to pass a bill that would allow outdoor preschools — sometimes called forest schools — to be recognized with state child care licenses adapted to their format.

Advocates say the great outdoors is an ideal classroom, giving young children the chance to move freely, learn about the natural world, and assess risks and solve problems in a way indoor classrooms don’t allow. They say licensing will open the programs to a wider swath of families by unlocking public dollars available through Colorado’s universal preschool and child care subsidy programs.

A child at Nature School Cooperative explores in southeast Denver.

Candace Johnson, whose two children attend Nature School Cooperative five days a week, said the school is a big expense, but worth it because her kids get so much out of it, even on cold, snowy days

She said it would be “invaluable” if the schools could be licensed and access funds to cut costs for parents.

Gov. Jared Polis is expected to sign the bill, which received support from some Republicans, into law in the next few weeks. Colorado will then become the second state after Washington to license outdoor preschools. State officials still have to hammer out detailed rules, so it will be a year or two before Colorado begins handing out licenses.

In the meantime, advocates are celebrating the creation of a clear, state-approved pathway for outdoor preschools.

“We are just very excited and thankful,” said Jennifer Kollerup, who heads the Colorado Collective for Nature-Based Early Education.

Ryan Pleune, who co-owns Nature School Cooperative, said he was thrilled when lawmakers passed the bill. He hopes someday his program can be tuition-free for every family.

State rules aren’t tailored to outdoor preschools

Matt Hebard cried when he was testifying in support of the outdoor preschool bill in February.

He began pushing for state recognition for outdoor preschools more than a decade ago, when he worked for what was then Colorado’s Office of Early Childhood and is now the Department of Early Childhood.

“It just didn’t really get a whole lot of traction,” said Hebard, who now lives in Alaska.

In 2020 Hebard founded Denver Forest School, an outdoor school that serves more than two-dozen children ages 2 to 7 at Bluff Lake Nature Center on the city’s eastern edge.

It’s one of about 45 outdoor early childhood programs in Colorado, according to Kollerup. Some, called hybrid programs, operate in a building part of the time and outdoors part of the time and have a traditional child care license.

Others operate entirely outdoors and follow rules that make them “license exempt” — for example, by having only four children in the group, requiring parents stay for the session, or focusing on a single skill the way a gymnastics class does.

But these arrangements are more or less workarounds since the highly regulated child care licensing system was never designed for outdoor preschools. And since license-exempt programs aren’t generally eligible for public funding, most families have to pay full tuition.

In Washington, which began licensing outdoor preschools in 2019, 17 such programs are licensed. Together, they have space for about 330 children, and 57 children enrolled in them receive state child care subsidies, according to a spokesman for the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families.

A child holds an insect in their palm at Nature School Cooperative.

Colorado officials say new rules for hybrid programs and part-day outdoor programs will be finalized by the end of 2024, with licenses available in early 2025. Licenses for full-day outdoor programs will take until 2026, in part because rules will be customized based on each program’s geographic location and features. The outdoor preschool bill includes $260,000 for 2024-25 for new licensing specialists who will focus on full-day outdoor preschool programs.

“This legislation actually gives us that staffing and ability to do those site-specific risk-benefit analysis and risk mitigation plans,” said Carin Rosa, director of the licensing division at the Colorado Department of Early Childhood.

The ability to get licensed could bring a variety of benefits to outdoor preschools, including allowing them to enroll more children, extend their hours, and serve more low-income and working families. Licenses may also grant more flexibility in what children can do, potentially allowing activities like tree-climbing, using sharp tools, or gathering around a fire pit.

Although some parents worry their kids will end up miserable in bad weather — with cold hands or wet feet — outdoor educators say with the right gear and planning, that rarely happens.

Parents see the benefits of outdoor schools

Johnson grew up in Houston, a city she remembers as full of concrete. Even when her family moved to Minnesota, aside from fishing once in a while, they didn’t do outdoorsy things. Her parents spent most of their time working.

“We never did vacations, we never went to cabins — that just wasn’t something that we did,” she said.

Johnson, who is Black, wanted to make sure her children felt at home in the outdoors in a way she never did growing up. Nature School Cooperative provides that, giving her 4-year-old and almost-3-year-old the chance to play in streams, jump off rocks, and develop resilience to whatever the day throws at them.

“This school goes above and beyond to make it an inclusive space and make people feel it’s for them,” she said.

The school’s ethos has rubbed off on Johnson. She’ll sometimes use the “deers ears” hand gesture to get her children’s attention when an argument is brewing. She’s also let go of her need for control in every situation, taking “a leap of faith that they can handle things that are challenging.”

Zac Sigl’s 3-year-old son Leonardo attends Nature School Cooperative one half-day a week and a traditional preschool run by the Denver school district the other four days.

Outdoor preschool is his favorite — he likes pulling on his yellow rain boots, digging in the dirt, and climbing anything he can. Sigl said they tried gymnastics, but Leonardo couldn’t focus on it and made a game of running away from the class.

That doesn’t happen when he’s at outdoor school. In fact, teachers there told Sigl that Leonardo is a natural leader, staying with the group and helping other children.

“Every single time after picking him up he’s on cloud nine,” Sigl said.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Preschool is popular, and more Colorado school districts are adding it

2024-05-03T18:21:14+00:00

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Two best friends sat at a small wooden table planning a party on the phone. Would they have cake or cupcakes? Both, they decided.

But the dessert, like the party, was pretend. The girls were 4 years old, the table was knee-high, and the phones were red plastic. The girls sometimes held them up to their ears and other times gleefully spun them like tops on picture books in front of them.

The girls are part of the inaugural class of preschoolers at High Plains Elementary School in the Cherry Creek school district southeast of Denver. Their classroom, tucked inside a portable building, is one of dozens added over the past year as part of the district’s dramatic preschool expansion.

Last school year, the 52,000-student district offered preschool classes at about half of its 44 elementary school campuses. Today, all but one offer preschool.

The district’s growing early childhood footprint has been pushed along by Colorado’s new universal preschool program and the availability of vacant space as elementary enrollment declines. It also fits with broader trends as public schools nationwide increasingly jump into the preschool game — particularly for 4-year-olds.

Two preschoolers at High Plains Elementary School spin their plastic phones while they plan a pretend party.

If the trend persists, “We’ll see what we kind of saw happen with kindergarten over the past 40 years, where kindergarten [became] institutionalized as a fixed part of elementary schools,” said Michael Little, assistant professor of educational evaluation and policy analysis at North Carolina State University.

Generally, experts say adding preschool in public schools is a good thing, expanding options for families, aligning preschool learning to what’s taught in higher grades, and easing the transition for incoming kindergartners. At the same time, they note that administrators and educators must ensure their preschool classrooms are developmentally appropriate, with lots of time for play.

“I don’t want to see preschool become this mini boot camp for third grade reading scores,” said Cathrine Aasen Floyd, director of ideal learning initiatives at the Trust For Learning. “Play isn’t a distraction from learning. Play is the vehicle for learning.”

Cherry Creek is one of four districts among the state’s 15 largest that offer preschool at more than 90% of elementary and K-8 buildings. The others are Aurora, Colorado Springs 11, and the Brighton-based District 27J. Two-thirds of the 15 largest districts also have at least one standalone early childhood center with preschool. Greeley-Evans, a growing district in northern Colorado, offers preschool at the smallest share of schools — 35%.

Cherry Creek spent $6 million to create or retrofit classrooms at 23 campuses for preschool this year. It will add preschool at the last elementary school by August. The district currently enrolls about 1,500 4-year-olds in preschool, and officials say most schools have room for more.

District leaders said expanding preschool districtwide was “the right thing to do” because district families strongly prefer schools near their homes.

“They want to go to their neighborhood school where they’re going to go to kindergarten, where they see their siblings go, where the other kids in the neighborhood are going,” said Scott Smith, the district’s chief financial and operating officer.

While the state’s universal preschool program influenced Cherry Creek to expand its preschool offerings, the district has not been entirely happy with the program. Cherry Creek is among six school districts suing the state, alleging that the officials have broken funding promises and that the program’s administration has harmed special education students.

Preschool students at High Plains Elementary School on Thurs., April 4, 2024 in Greenwood Village, Colorado.

Families want easy access to preschool

Dana Polun and her family live around the corner from High Plains Elementary. She can hear children on the playground from her backyard.

Her youngest son, 5-year-old Dexter, attends morning preschool classes at High Plains four days a week. That part of the day is free because of Colorado’s new universal preschool program, which covers the cost of part-day preschool for 4-year-olds statewide.

The Poluns, who also have a son in third grade at High Plains, pay for Dexter to stay at school for lunch and afternoon “enrichment.” He could have continued at the child care center he attended last year, but convenience was a key factor in the family’s decision.

“Why do two picks-up and two drop-offs, one of them walking, one of them driving?” she said.

She is pleased with Dexter’s experience this year. He’s recognizing letters and numbers, and can write his name. He’s met children from the neighborhood and sometimes her boys hug when they come across each other in the school hallway.

The only downside this year is that Dexter has no school on Fridays. That’s when Polun, who works for an interior designer, tries to arrange playdates with her son’s preschool friends. If that doesn’t pan out, her work on the computer is often accompanied by a constant refrain: “Mom, mom, mom, mom.”

Rachel Rosen, who co-teaches preschool at High Plains Elementary School, reads a book about a mouse who travels into outer space.

Colorado tracks national trends

In the mid-1980s, about 10% of the nation’s elementary schools offered preschool, according to a 2021 Urban Institute report. By 2019-20, that number was close to 60%.

Some early childhood advocates worry the push for preschool in public schools could hurt private child care programs by siphoning off 4-year-olds, leaving them with younger children who are more expensive to serve.

Dawn Alexander, who heads the Early Childhood Education Association, a trade group for private child care providers, said putting preschools in public schools is one of several public policies “undermining the economics of the child care industry.”

While there’s certainly some competition for preschoolers, there are also many thousands of children who don’t attend preschool at all. Only about 40% of 3-year-olds and 60% of 4-year-olds attended in 2022, according to U.S. Census data.

The proliferation of government funded preschool programs has contributed to the growth of preschool in public schools. That’s true in Denver, said Priscilla Hopkins, the district’s director of early education.

Preschool offerings in the district ramped up after voters passed a sales tax hike in 2006 to fund the Denver Preschool Program, a citywide preschool tuition assistance program, she said. At the time, 53 district schools offered preschool.

Today, 77 of 90 district-run elementary and K-8 schools offer preschool. The district also has four stand-alone preschool centers and seven charter schools with preschool.

“One of the things that is really striking to me is how kind of first-on-the-scene Denver was seeing this is something our families want,” Hopkins said.

Falling birthrates have also led public schools to embrace preschool.

“A school begins to be financially impractical” as enrollment declines, said W. Steven Barnett, senior co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University. “Nobody in that neighborhood wants you to close that school … Preschool is certainly another way of making the finances work.”

That’s part of the calculus in the Cherry Creek district, which has lost about 3,400 students in the last five years, dropping from nearly 56,000 in 2018-19.

If there’s a benefit to such losses, said Smith, the district’s chief financial and operating officer, it’s that “we can look at space differently and not have a deficit mindset of just saying, ‘Oh, we have to close schools because we’ve got declining enrollment in certain areas.”

There are 18 children in the preschool class at High Plains Elementary School in the Cherry Creek district southeast of Denver.

In the Adams 12 district northwest of Denver, only 17 of 35 elementary and K-8 schools currently offer preschool, but leaders there say they plan to bring preschool to every elementary eventually.

“I don’t think it’s going to happen overnight, but I do know that there are four to six schools on the docket as we think about the next year or so,” said Kim Walsh, the district’s interim preschool director.

All have lost enrollment in recent years, she said. So has Adams 12 as a whole, shrinking by 4,300 students — or nearly 11% — over five years, dropping from 39,000 in 2018-19.

Even growing districts try to provide preschool

Preschool expansion can be a trickier scenario in growing school districts.

The 27J district, just north of Denver, has been one of the fastest-growing districts in the state in recent years. But officials gradually added preschool classrooms at older schools and incorporated them into the floor plan at new schools. By 2018, every elementary and K-8 school had preschool, said Bethany Ager, the district’s early childhood education coordinator.

The streak ended in 2023, when the district opened Discovery Magnet School, a new science-focused school. District officials tried to find a way to shoehorn one preschool classroom into the floor plan, but couldn’t make it work. There simply wasn’t enough space.

While the district has preschool classrooms in nearly every school, plus a stand-alone early childhood center, Ager said demand for preschool seats is outpacing supply, especially in the rapidly developing southern part of the district.

District officials will add five new classrooms across three elementary schools by August. Even so, Ager said, “We’ll make it by the skin of our teeth next year.”

Preschoolers at High Plains Elementary attend class in a spacious portable building just behind the school four mornings a week.

Public school programs can benefit preschoolers

Experts say top-notch preschools exist in both public schools and private centers, and that each setting can meet the needs of families depending on work schedules, location, and the age of other kids in the family.

But public schools have the potential to provide unique benefits in terms of a child’s educational continuity, they say.

Potential is the operative word.

Little, the North Carolina State University professor, said research is generally inconclusive about the benefits of attending preschool in a public school versus a private setting, likely because public schools don’t take full advantage of the opportunities that come with on-site preschool.

For example, they may not include preschool teachers in training and planning sessions, share preschool data with teachers in higher grades, and ensure that preschoolers have chances to visit kindergarten classrooms as part of “moving-up” days.

“We hear often that pre-K programs might just sit down at the end of the hall and there’s no integration and alignment happening,” Little said. “That might be part of why we don’t necessarily see really, really clear advantages in terms of student outcomes.”

Barnett, of the National Institute for Early Education Research, said his research indicates that preschools in public schools offer more developmentally appropriate instruction than private preschools do.

A working paper he co-authored — but has not yet published — found that preschool teachers in both public schools and Head Start programs reported more play-based and child-centered activities and less frequent use of flashcards and math worksheets than did teachers in private preschool programs.

The popular conception that preschool in public schools is more “skill and drill,” he said, “is completely opposite of reality.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado argues in court for dismissal of universal preschool lawsuit

2024-04-30T23:23:00+00:00

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A lawyer for the state of Colorado argued in court Tuesday that a lawsuit filed by six school districts and other education groups over the state’s new universal preschool program should be dismissed because the plaintiffs don’t have legal grounds to sue.

The six districts, which allege in their lawsuit that the state’s new program broke funding promises and harmed preschoolers with disabilities, argued that they do have grounds to sue.

The lawsuit is one of three the state is facing over its new $322 million universal preschool program, which launched in August and offers free preschool to 4-year-olds statewide. A dismissal in the school district case would be a win for Gov. Jared Polis, who’s championed universal preschool since he hit the campaign trail in 2018.

The other two lawsuits were brought against the state last year by faith-based preschools and have not yet been decided. In one of them, a Christian preschool in Chaffee County alleged that a non-discrimination agreement that the state requires preschool providers to accept would prevent it from operating in accordance with its religious beliefs. Two Catholic parishes that operate preschools filed a similar suit.

This year, about 39,000 4-year-olds receive 10 to 30 hours of tuition-free preschool through the universal preschool program — representing 62% of children in that age group in the state. Enrollment is expected to hit 65% next year.

While much of Tuesday morning’s hearing was technical, filled with legal language about how previous court decisions, the state constitution, and federal and state laws apply to the complex case, lawyers for both sides had very different takes on how the new universal preschool is going.

Joe Peters, a lawyer for the state, described the new preschool program as an “extraordinary success” that serves far more Colorado preschoolers than the old state-funded preschool program did.

He said school districts are upset about changes that have come with the new program, including how the state distributes funding and how families apply to and get matched with preschools. He said state officials have already remedied some of the early problems that emerged and are willing to work with school districts to smooth out other issues.

Jonathan Fero, a lawyer for the districts, said, “This isn’t just folks who are upset about change.”

He described the preschool program as failing to serve preschool children and their families, particularly students with disabilities. He also said the program has exposed school districts to legal liability related to special education laws and diverted funding previously earmarked for students with disabilities to private preschools that don’t serve such students.

One of the plaintiff’s key arguments is that the state’s centralized universal preschool application system, which is used to match students with preschools, has created confusion for families and made it harder for school districts to properly place preschoolers with disabilities.

The plaintiffs in the case include the Colorado Association of School Executives, the Consortium of Directors of Special Education, Centennial Board of Cooperative Educational Services, two families, and the six school districts: Brighton-based 27J, Cherry Creek, Harrison, Mapleton, Platte Valley, and Westminster.

The defendants include Gov. Jared Polis, the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, and the Colorado Department of Education.

A ruling on the state’s dismissal motion could come in the next few weeks.

Denver district Judge Jon Jay Olafson, told the courtroom after the briefing, “I do want to move on this. I don’t want to take too long.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Will a child care center at Denver’s airport take off?

2024-04-19T21:53:35+00:00

Denver airport leaders are considering building a child care center — maybe more than one — to help recruit and retain employees at the growing airport campus.

To further study the concept, the airport hopes to win City Council approval Monday for a 3-year, $800,000 contract with a Denver advocacy group that will assist with research and planning. A council committee already approved the proposal on April 10.

The airport’s plan reflects the reality that child care — or the lack thereof — can have big economic consequences for employers that rely on working parents to fill their ranks. More than 40,000 employees, ranging from aviation officials to janitorial staff, work at the airport, which is the country’s third busiest. There are so few state-licensed child care options near the airport in far northeast Denver, it’s considered a child care desert.

Airport officials say they have many questions to answer before committing to a child care center or some other form of employee child care support, but suggested their eventual decision could be momentous.

“We’re on a global stage and we have the ability to do something really special,” said Andrea Albo, deputy chief of staff for Denver International Airport, which is owned and operated by the city.

She said project leaders will carefully consider the needs of the airport’s lowest wage earners and historically marginalized communities in deciding how to proceed. A final decision is likely by spring of 2026.

Nicole Riehl, president and CEO of Executives Partnering to Invest in Children, the group being considered for the $800,000 contract, said employers aren’t a panacea for child care challenges but can help build up child care supply.

“Employers can’t just sit around and wait for the federal government to fix it or the states to fix it,” she said.

Other U.S. airports offer child care

If the Denver airport moves forward with a child care center, it will join a handful of other American airports that already offer on-campus child care, or soon will, including Los Angeles International Airport, Pittsburgh International Airport, and, starting in 2025, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

Sky Harbor’s child care efforts were born during the pandemic, said Matt Heil, the airport’s deputy aviation director for strategy, policy, and administration.

“We had nowhere near the traffic, but we still had to have all the operations up and running,” he said. “It was a priority to make sure we could continue to do what we could to support workers.”

The Phoenix City Council agreed to use $5 million in federal COVID relief money to help fund a two-pronged approach to child care help.

Starting in 2022, Sky Harbor launched sliding scale child care scholarships for employees who earn up to 400% of the federal poverty guidelines — $124,800 for a family of four. About 40 households currently receive the scholarships, which can be used at child care facilities across Maricopa County, Heil said.

The other half of the plan is a soon-to-be-built child care center for up to 100 children on the airport campus. It’s slated to open in 2025.

Placing a child care center at an airport is complicated, Heil said. It needs to be accessible and convenient for employees, while having enough separation from the terminal that long lines, tight security, and abandoned-suitcase incidents won’t jeopardize its operations.

In addition, space is limited on Sky Harbor’s campus in southeast Phoenix. Officials there settled on a site in a courtyard under a Sky Train station near an employee parking lot.

Heil said helping parents with small children secure child care can incentivize them to work at the airport.

“If you talk to other airports, this is definitely an ongoing conversation in the industry,” he said.

How big a role should employers play in child care?

When Stephanie Burke moved to Denver two years ago to start as director of the airport’s Center of Equity and Excellence in Aviation, she struggled to find child care for her two boys, then 11 months old and 3 years old.

She found a spot for her 3-year-old son, but nothing for the baby, so her husband stopped working for 11 months and stayed home with him. At that point, they found a neighbor who was willing to watch him until they found a permanent spot.

“My story is not unique,” said Burke, who is helping lead the airport’s child care effort. “It’s something that we hear from other employees … the wait lists are really long, you have to get on before you even think about having a child or when you’re in your early pregnancy.”

Burke said there are plenty of anecdotal stories, but the airport still needs to collect concrete data on employee needs. About 19,000 of the more than 40,000 employees at the airport fall into the 20- to 39-year-old age group, but it’s not clear how many have young children and need child care. That’s part of what the work with Executives Partnering to Invest in Children, or EPIC, will reveal.

Elliot Haspel, senior fellow at Capita, a child and family policy think tank, said the airport’s plan to study the issue makes sense and praised EPIC as a thought leader on employer-based child care.

But he also sounded a note of caution about the trend of employers launching child care programs — and the growing use of public dollars in the form of tax incentives or grants to help fund such projects. He worries that using those dollars on child care linked to a parent’s job may take away from broader public investment in a child care system that serves everyone.

“For employers writ large, we need to ask them to pay into a universal system via taxation,” he said.

In recent years, there has been a flurry of legislation to encourage employer-based child care, including a 2022 federal law that will allow semiconductor manufacturers who receive federal subsidies to use some of those dollars for child care programs.

“Employers can start to feel like a solution to child care problems, and they are not,” he said. They are “one piece of a larger puzzle.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Gift from billionaire MacKenzie Scott seeds grant program to help Colorado’s youngest children

2024-04-17T22:10:02+00:00

A $2.5 million gift from billionaire MacKenzie Scott will jump-start a new grant program that aims to improve outcomes for Colorado’s youngest children.

Early Milestones Colorado, a statewide policy and research group, received the donation from Scott last year after what leaders there describe as an exciting and mysterious process. They used the gift to create the Impact on Equity Fund, which will begin awarding $100,000 grants this fall to Colorado organizations that work on prenatal and birth-to-3 issues.

The new grant program comes during a challenging moment for Colorado’s youngest children: Federal COVID relief funds for early childhood are drying up, and, in recent years, much of the state’s energy has gone toward 4-year-olds served by the state’s new tuition-free preschool program.

Jennifer Merva Stedron, executive director of Early Milestones Colorado, said the youngest Coloradans and their families need more help. She cited the state’s rising maternal mortality rate, mediocre toddler vaccination rates, and billions in economic losses because working parents can’t find care for babies and toddlers.

“It’s just not good enough,” she said. “We’re a better state than that.”

Merva Stedron said the new Impact on Equity grants — up to 10 this year — will be given to groups that propose innovative local early childhood efforts.

“We feel very, very firmly that those that are closest to the problem really have the solutions,” she said.

Early Milestones was one of at least three Colorado organizations that received gifts last year from Scott, a philanthropist who received a 4% stake in Amazon as part of her divorce settlement with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Valley Settlement, which provides a mobile preschool program and other services to Latino and immigrant families in the Roaring Fork Valley, received $2 million from Scott. Parent Possible, which provides home visiting and early learning programs to families with young children statewide, received $1 million.

Merva Stedron said she learned about the prospect for a major donation — though Scott was not initially named — when Early Milestones received an “out-of-the-blue” email in January 2023. The firm that sent the email, which she later learned vets potential recipients of Scott’s fortune, requested “loads and loads” of documents and an interview.

In the interview that month, staff from the firm told Merva Stedron, “If you don’t hear anything by the end of the year, you didn’t get a grant,” she said.

Even then, the Early Milestones team didn’t know who was giving out the money, how much was being awarded, or how much competition there was for the funds. Several months later, they learned the organization had been selected.

Merva Stedron, who hopes Scott’s donation will help attract another $7.5 million in donations for the Impact on Equity Fund, calls the money “a dream come true.”

Applications for the Impact on Equity grants are slated to open in June. Organizations can sign up here for notifications about the program.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Worries flare over funding cuts to local groups that help run universal preschool in Colorado

2024-04-12T00:20:23+00:00

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Colorado relies on 32 local organizations to help parents and providers navigate its popular new universal preschool program. Now some of them worry that proposed state funding cuts could “cripple” their operations.

More than a dozen of these groups, including those based in Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs and Grand Junction, sent a letter this week to Gov. Jared Polis, the state’s powerful Joint Budget Committee, and other officials expressing concern about potential cuts in each of the next two years.

In the Wednesday letter, the groups said a proposed cut of $1.7 million for next year and an additional cut of $700,000 the following year “will deplete up to 68% of funding for some of us who serve the largest child populations in the state.”

The group’s comments echo concerns raised since universal preschool’s inception about whether there’s enough money to run the program as state leaders envisioned. Some preschool providers and early childhood advocates have worried the state is compromising on its pledge to provide high quality preschool and extra class time for children with the greatest needs as it tries to serve the flood of interested families.

Not all of the local groups involved in the preschool program are concerned about the possible cuts. And if the cuts do occur, the groups would likely be able to recoup some funding through accounting maneuvers at the Colorado Department of Early Childhood. But that backup plan is a promise of future aid, not guaranteed funding.

The $322 million universal preschool program launched in August, and despite a rocky rollout, attracted more families than state leaders expected. This year, 62% of Colorado’s 4-year-olds get 10 to 30 hours a week of tuition-free preschool through the program. Enrollment is expected to hit 65% next year.

The program is funded partly with a voter-approved nicotine tax, and partly with funding from Colorado’s previous smaller state-funded preschool program.

This year, the 32 local groups — which typically have one to four staff members dedicated to universal preschool — received about $5.2 million for their work, which includes helping preschools sign up for the universal program and helping families troubleshoot application and placement problems. That amount is slated to go down to $3.5 million for the 2024-25 school year and, because of expiring federal COVID relief funding, to $2.8 million the year after.

In response, the groups are asking state early childhood leaders to revise the budgeting process that funds them and provide another year of full funding, which would be a total of $5.2 million.

Ian McKenzie, a spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, said department officials are meeting this week and want to respond to the local groups that sent the letter as soon as possible.

“We’re taking it very seriously and want to collaborate with the [local groups] on this,” McKenzie said.

He said the state will be able to partially mitigate next year’s cut through a budget mechanism called a “footnote” that will allow the department to move $1 million to the local groups from another line item if needed.

Mackenzie also said that, collectively, the local groups significantly underspent their state funding allocation last school year, and are on track to do so this year, albeit to a lesser extent.

But leaders of some of the groups, officially called Local Coordinating Organizations or LCOs, say the state’s underspending argument obscures key facts, including that many of the larger groups spent most or all of their state allocations last year and are on track to do the same this year.

They also note that the early childhood department and the 32 local groups were brand new in the 2022-23 school year, and so underspending that year was sometimes because of state administrative lags or the challenge of ramping up a new program.

McKenzie said 28 of 32 local groups underspent their allocations in 2022-23, but said he couldn’t provide numbers showing how many are on track to do so this year.

Christina Taylor, CEO of the Early Childhood Council of Larimer County, one of the 13 local groups that signed the letter, said the budget footnote that would restore some of the lost funding next year will help, but not enough.

Taylor said her group’s state allocation in part funds two employees who are “working their butts off” to help parents and preschool providers figure out how universal preschool works.

If their hours are eventually reduced due to funding cuts, she worries that families would face longer wait times and missed deadlines, and that providers might “throw up their hands” and opt out of the program because they can’t get the necessary support.

Kathleen Merritt, executive director Bright Futures, a local group in western Colorado that didn’t sign the letter, said she is grateful for the early childhood department’s “footnote” money next year, but said, “I do worry that’s not sustainable.”

She said the universal preschool manager she pays with her state allotment works with preschools in a five-county area the size of New Jersey. “They all have her on speed dial,” said Merritt.

Merritt said she’s pleased that state officials recently agreed to start monthly meetings with local groups to look more closely at their costs.

Diane Smith, executive director of the Douglas County Early Childhood Council, another group that signed the letter, said with federal COVID relief now expiring after years in which state coffers were flush with cash, many in the early childhood field feel generally anxious about funding.

When the announcement about cuts to the 32 local groups came down from the state in recent weeks, she said, the feeling was, “Oh here’s another one.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado lawmakers advance a new tax credit that could cut child poverty in half

2024-04-09T17:51:47+00:00

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A bill supporters say could cut Colorado’s child poverty rate in half by providing new tax credits to low-income families narrowly passed its first legislative hurdle on Monday

House Bill 24-1311 would create the “Family Affordability Tax Credit,” which would be available only in years when the state has enough surplus tax revenue. The idea is that the new credit could be layered on top of the state’s existing child tax credit to provide a larger sum to the lowest-income families and reach a wider swath of Colorado families with children. The new credit would become available next year when Coloradans file their 2024 income taxes.

The lowest income families with children under 6 would be eligible for a $3,200 tax credit under the bill. Families with children ages 6 to 16 and those with incomes up to $95,000 could get smaller credits.

Many Democratic lawmakers and advocates see the bill as a chance to address Colorado’s high cost of living by sending extra money to up to hundreds of thousands of cash-strapped families. They also say it would pick up where the federal government left off when its expanded child tax credit expired in 2021. With action on another child tax credit expansion stalled in Congress, several states have recently expanded or created their own child tax credits.

During Monday’s hearing in the House Finance Committee, some Republicans expressed concerns about the bill’s price tag and the fact that the tax credit would be available only in good economic times, not bad ones.

The new tax credit would cost around $700 million annually in years when state revenue exceeds caps put in place by Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, a 1992 constitutional amendment that limits the growth of state spending according to population growth and inflation.

This year, the credit would use about 35% of the anticipated $2 billion surplus. In years when the state doesn’t collect surplus tax revenue, the family affordability credit would not be given and in years when the state has some surplus revenue but not enough to fully fund it, the credit would be reduced proportionally.

The tax credit bill passed the House Finance Committee in a 6-5 vote Monday evening, with State Rep. Bob Marshall, Democrat of Douglas County, joining four Republicans in voting no. The bill’s next stop is the House Appropriations Committee.

Marshall, in explaining his no vote, said the bill’s plan to use surplus tax money for the tax credit instead of refunding it to Coloradans shows a “deep contempt” for what voters put in place in 1992.

“We’re trying to find a way around it because we don’t like the fact that we have to give $2 billion back to the taxpayers and we want to direct it where we want,” he said.

A long list of supporters from health, education, and early childhood groups who urged lawmakers to pass the bill during public testimony described the bill as a game-changer that would benefit 45% of Colorado families, helping them cover basic needs and give young children a more stable foundation during a critical time of development.

Several said affording a one-bedroom apartment in Colorado on a minimum-wage job requires 77 hours of work per week.

Moriah Rodriguez, a single mother who grew up in Colorado, said it’s discouraging and stressful to see the cost of living in the state continually rise. She said the new tax credits would help families cover basics and by extension, help children succeed in school.

“I know firsthand that the economic stability in the home is reflected in how the child shows up in the classroom,” she told lawmakers.

When the federal government gave out a more generous child tax credit during the pandemic — a portion of it delivered in monthly allotments — most low-income families spent it on food, utilities, housing, clothing, and education costs, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Census numbers show that the expanded federal child tax credit cut child poverty nearly in half nationwide — from 9.7% in 2020 to 5.2% in 2021. But once the expansion lapsed, the child poverty numbers quickly spiked to previous levels.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

4 takeaways from Colorado’s new rules on universal preschool quality

2024-03-28T21:48:11+00:00

New rules governing Colorado’s popular universal preschool program could cut class sizes at some preschools, put modest guardrails on curriculum, and require teacher training on trauma-informed care and preschool suspension and expulsion.

But these and most other preschool quality rules adopted by the state Thursday won’t take effect until the third year of universal preschool, which starts in the fall of 2025. In other words, the state’s more than 2,000 universal preschool providers won’t have to make many immediate changes.

The new rules are the culmination of months of debate about how to ensure quality in the state’s new $322 million preschool program without heaping new regulations on already strained providers. Coming a year later than originally planned, the rules are also symptomatic of the program’s rushed and sometimes chaotic rollout.

Despite these stumbling blocks, families have flocked to join. This year, about 39,000 4-year-olds receive 10 to 30 hours of tuition-free preschool through the universal preschool program — 62% of that age group in the state. Next year, enrollment is expected to rise.

Universal preschool is funded with money from Colorado’s previous smaller state-funded preschool program along with proceeds from a voter-approved nicotine tax.

Here are some key takeaways from the new rules:

Class sizes capped at 20, with exceptions

After months of debate about preschool class size, including pushback from private preschools that warned they’d lose money if they had to cut class sizes, Colorado will phase in a 20-student class size cap for most universal preschool providers over the next two years. These limits match recommendations from national early childhood groups.

The current 24-student class size maximum and staff-student ratio of 1:12 will stay in place for the 2024-25 school year, drop to 22 students and 1 to 11 for the 2025-26 school year, and finally settle at 20 students and 1 to 10 for the 2026-27 school year.

There is one major exception to these eventual limits. Universal preschool providers that have earned one of the highest two ratings — Level 4 or 5 — on the state’s Colorado Shines quality rating system, will be allowed to have classes of 24 4-year-olds and staff-student ratios of 1 to 12. Currently, about 40% of Colorado’s more than 1,900 universal preschool providers have ratings of Level 4 or 5.

However, many of these highly rated providers voluntarily keep 4-year-old class sizes lower than 24. For example, Denver Public Schools caps class sizes at 20 at its more than 70 preschool locations, all of which have Level 4 ratings.

In addition to the exception for highly rated preschools, exemptions from class size rules will be available — as they are now — through hardship waivers granted to preschools where larger classes are a key part of the educational model, for example, in Montessori preschools.

Curriculum rules fuzzy, more clarity coming in 2025

When school starts in the fall of 2025, preschools in Colorado’s universal program will have to use curriculums from a state-approved list, according to the new rules adopted Thursday. But that list, which will be housed in an online “resource bank” with lots of other preschool-related material, has not been created yet. In addition, the criteria that will be used to select acceptable curriculum has not yet been established.

The approved curriculum list is the state’s chance to put guardrails on what is now ungoverned territory. Currently — and for 2024-25 school year — universal preschool providers can use any curriculum they want or none at all.

Training on social-emotional health, trauma, and school removal

Starting in July 2025, new universal preschool teachers must have five hours of training above what’s required for their counterparts at preschools that aren’t in the state’s universal program. Those five extra hours must touch on trauma-informed care and the prevention of suspension and expulsion among other things.

“We know those are issues a lot of families are facing right now,” Ian McKenzie, a spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, said of the training topics. “To make those things the requirement feels correct for Colorado.”

Existing universal preschool teachers must also take five hours of training each year covering trauma-informed care, preschool suspension and expulsion, and other topics. While those hours must touch on the topics spelled out by the state, they count toward the 15 hours of training all early childhood teachers are already required to take annually.

New rules don’t come with state funding

With no state money specifically earmarked for preschool quality improvements, it will be up to preschool providers to figure out how to comply with the new rules over the next few years. McKenzie said the early childhood department may have some one-time dollars available for quality improvement efforts, but the amount and timing is not yet clear.

Large or veteran preschool providers may have an easier time complying with new quality rules, but others will have to find money to buy new state-approved curriculum or lower class sizes.

Such costs spotlight the ongoing tension between the lofty ambitions of universal preschool leaders and the reality that there’s a limited pot of funding for the program. Last summer, just weeks before the program launched, thousands of families who had expected the state to cover full-day preschool found out the program would only pay for half-day classes because there wasn’t enough money.

While the state has proposed a partial fix to this problem for the coming school year, some preschool providers and advocates continue to worry there’s not enough funding to provide the caliber of program state leaders, including Gov. Jared Polis, envisioned.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Bill to overhaul Colorado’s child care subsidy program clears first legislative hurdle

2024-03-12T21:15:29+00:00

The price tag of a bill to overhaul a Colorado program that helps low-income families pay for child care shocked some lawmakers Tuesday, but that didn’t stop a legislative committee from giving it initial approval.

House Bill 24-1223 would simplify the application process for the $156 million subsidy program, called the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program or CCCAP. It would also boost subsidy amounts for some families, make the program more attractive to child care providers, and cover child care tuition for the children of some full-time child care employees regardless of family income. Some of the proposed changes wouldn’t take effect until 2026.

The House Health and Human Services Committee approved the bill in an 8-4 vote Tuesday, with the most vociferous opposition coming from Rep. Richard Holtorf, a Republican representing several northeastern Colorado counties. He expressed concerns about the bill’s cost — about $81 million in the first year — among other things.

“When I first saw this bill and the fiscal note, I was shocked,” he said.

Rep. Lorena Garcia, a Democratic co-sponsor of the bill, noted that some of the bill’s provisions are part of new federal regulations and will come with federal money to pay for them.

“This is not the first time that the state has to preemptively pass policy in order to be able to draw down federal dollars,” she said. “In this case … we are extending the timeline out for two years. If something happens where these dollars then do not become available, we have time to correct.”

The bill’s next stop is the House Appropriations Committee.

Key provisions of the amended bill include:

Limiting parent co-pays to no more than 7% of family income, down from the current cap of 14%. An amendment approved Tuesday would delay the effective date of this provision to July 1, 2026.
Creating a uniform statewide application that doesn’t ask for extraneous information, such as custody agreements or child immunization records.
Allowing families to get or continue receiving child care aid for 90 days while their application or renewal paperwork is being reviewed, a provision that will help parents start working immediately and keep children in care. An amendment approved Tuesday would delay the effective date of this provision to July 1, 2026.
Paying child care providers who accept subsidies based on the number of subsidized children enrolled, not on the number of days those children attend. Currently, providers can lose money for days the child is absent beyond the number allowed by their county.
Making child care employees eligible for full subsidies regardless of their family income. An amendment approved Tuesday would limit this benefit to full-time child care employees who work at a facility that accepts CCCAP subsidies.

More than 20 people testified about the bill at Tuesday’s hearing, including single mothers who have used the subsidy program, providers who accept the subsidies, and advocates from groups such as Healthier Colorado, the Colorado Children’s Campaign, and the Women’s Foundation of Colorado.

Most expressed support for the bill, but a few, representing counties, voiced concerns.

Katie First, legislative director at Colorado Counties, Inc., a group that represents county commissioners, said allowing child care employees to access subsidies regardless of family income could take aid away from other families who need it.

“While we appreciate the need to support and recruit child care providers, we fear that prioritizing these providers will decrease the number of low-income families that we would be able to serve in our community,” she said.

Child care is a low-wage, high-turnover industry with many providers facing staff shortages in recent years.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Child care aid: Colorado lawmakers want more parents to get it — and more providers to accept it

2024-03-08T22:19:00+00:00

Colorado helps about 17,000 lower-income families pay for child care each year through its child care subsidy program. That’s only a fraction of the families eligible for assistance, and yet there are millions of dollars left on the table every year.

Theresa Ramirez, a single mother in Fort Collins, can attest to one reason why. Although she submitted her annual renewal paperwork early, a lag in getting it processed forced her to quit working for weeks after her baby’s subsidy was canceled.

Now, lawmakers are considering a bill that would overhaul the program, making it easier for families to access, boosting aid for some families, and making it more attractive for providers who accept subsidies. The bill would also cover full tuition for child care employees with kids in child care regardless of family income — a major benefit given the industry’s chronically low wages.

House Bill 24-1223, sponsored by three Denver area Democrats, will be heard in the House Health and Human Services Committee on March 12.

The proposed improvements to Colorado’s subsidy program — officially called the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program or CCCAP — come at a time when many families are struggling with the cost of living and some child care providers are raising tuition to cover their expanding costs. While lawmakers and advocates say it’s high time for fixes that allow more families to get subsidies and entice more child care providers to accept them, one of the bill’s co-sponsors said the price tag could be large. State legislative staff have not yet released the bill’s fiscal note, a detailed analysis of how much it will cost.

Kyle Piccola, vice president of communications and advocacy at Healthier Colorado, said he’s pleased the state is taking a “big holistic approach” to the child care subsidy bill.

“It’s a program that definitely needs improvement,” he said.

Rep. Lorena Garcia, a co-sponsor of the bill, said she’s encountered no opposition to the spirit of the bill, but acknowledged the cost could be a stumbling block for some lawmakers.

“I’m confident we’ll get it to a place where we’ll get it done,” she said.

Colorado’s $156 million child care subsidy program is funded by the federal government, the state, and counties. It’s available to homeless families as well as lower-income families in which parents are working, looking for work, or going to school. Most families who qualify for subsidies still pay a portion of child care costs in the form of a co-pay.

Several advocates and providers interviewed said the subsidy application, which is different in every county, can be invasive and intimidating. That can lead parents to skip it even if they need the help.

Nearly two-thirds of the state’s 64 counties use less than 75% of their subsidy dollars annually and this year, the program is on track to have up to $7 million in leftover funding, according to the Colorado Department of Early Childhood.

“It’s underutilized,” Garcia said.

More aid for families and incentives for child care providers

The bill would make a number of changes required by newly released federal rules aimed at reducing the cost of child care and some changes that are Colorado specific. Key provisions of the bill include:

Limiting parent co-pays to no more than 7% of family income, down from the current cap of 14%.
Creating a uniform statewide application that doesn’t ask for extraneous information, such as custody agreements or child immunization records.
Allowing families to get or continue receiving child care aid for 90 days while their application or renewal paperwork is being reviewed, a provision that will help parents start working immediately and keep children in care.
Paying child care providers who accept subsidies based on the number of subsidized children enrolled, not on the number of days those children attend. Currently, providers can lose money for days the child is absent above the number allowed by their county.
Making child care employees eligible for full subsidies regardless of their family income.

Overall, the bill aims to better serve families that currently receive subsidies, attract new ones, and incentivize more child care providers to accept subsidies.

This year, nearly 26,000 Colorado children get subsidized care through the program, only about 11% of eligible children, according to estimates from Healthier Colorado. Just over 2,000 child care providers accept state subsidies, fewer than half of the state’s providers.

What parents and providers are saying

Ramirez, who lives with her four children in Fort Collins, described CCCAP subsidies as a lifeline that allowed her to work starting when her youngest child, 13-month-old Sarai, was six weeks old.

Ramirez brings home about $1,300 a month from her work cleaning houses. Her co-pay is $4 a month at The Family Center/La Familia, a family resource center that runs a highly rated child care program in the northern Colorado city. Her daughter loves it there, she said.

But when Ramirez lost her subsidy for a few weeks after her renewal application stalled, she had no choice but to bring Sarai home and decline all cleaning jobs. It’s the kind of wrinkle the subsidy bill could help fix.

Under the bill, such cancellations would be averted by giving families what’s called “presumptive eligibility,” essentially a 90-day grace period in which subsidies would start or continue while officials review applications or renewals.

Ramirez said anything in the bill that streamlines and strengthens the application and renewal process will make a difference for families like hers.

Corinne Bernhardt, executive director of Young Peoples Learning Center in Fort Collins, said the plan to give full subsidies to employees will help about a quarter of her 25 staff members. It will also make it easier to hire new employees amid industry-wide labor shortages.

The center’s current staff discount for child care isn’t always enough to get qualified candidates with young children in the door, she said.

“To have to say, ‘Well, we can give you a 50%-off discount, but it’s still going to cost you $1,500 a month to bring your kid here, but we’re only going to pay you $17 an hour,’ a lot of people are like, ‘OK, I guess I’m just going to stay home,’” she said.

Bernhardt said she also likes the provision requiring that providers be reimbursed based on enrollment instead of attendance because it will reduce administrative hassles for her staff.

Overall, she believes by making much needed improvements to the state’s subsidy program, the bill will help Colorado’s economy.

“Parents can’t go into the workforce, if they can’t find child care,” she said.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

¿Son 24 alumnos de preescolar por salón demasiados? Colorado pronto decidirá.

2024-02-29T20:20:57+00:00

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Mientras líderes en Colorado se preparan para el segundo año del popular programa nuevo de preescolar universal en el estado, también están tratando de resolver una pregunta muy discutida.

¿Cuántos alumnos de 4 años en un salón de clases son demasiados?

Desde que el programa de preescolar universal de $322 millones se lanzó en agosto, el estado ha permitido que los salones de clases tengan hasta 24 niños, y requiere que haya un empleado por cada 12 alumnos. Pero muchos expertos y observadores creen que esas cantidades son demasiado altas y socavan la promesa del estado de proporcionar educación preescolar de alta calidad. Quieren que el tamaño de las clases se limite a 20 alumnos y la relación entre la cantidad de alumnos y el personal (o cociente) a 10 por cada uno.

El otoño pasado, líderes estatales aparentaban estar listos para lanzar los límites de clases con 20 estudiantes y cocientes de 10 a 1 para el año 2025. Pero han enfrentado meses de oposición, en su mayoría de proveedores privados de educación preescolar.

Lisa Roy, directora ejecutiva del Departamento de la Primera Infancia en Colorado, está examinando estudios sobre el tema y comentarios de un comité asesor, y tomará una decisión a más tardar el 28 de marzo.

El debate sobre la cantidad de alumnos por salón resalta una de las tensiones clave en el nuevo programa de preescolar universal en Colorado: la necesidad de balancear lo que es mejor para los niños con las realidades financieras impersonales.

Este año, alrededor de 39,000 niños de 4 años recibieron entre 10 y 30 horas de enseñanza preescolar gratis a través del programa—el 62 por ciento de todos los niños de esa edad en el estado. El próximo año, se espera que la cantidad de alumnos inscritos aumente.

Debido a que la enseñanza preescolar se financia por estudiante, muchos proveedores que han luchado para mantener 24 estudiantes por salón de preescolar universal advierten que perderán decenas de miles de dólares anualmente si tienen que reducir la cantidad a 20 alumnos por salón y a 10 estudiantes por cada integrante del personal. Algunos dicen que quizás tengan que aumentar las mensualidades o hasta cerrar permanentemente sus puertas.

Docenas de proveedores preescolares y grupos dedicados a la primera infancia han enviado comentarios escritos al estado en meses recientes sobre las propuestas reglas de calidad preescolar. Un par de proveedores han respaldado la reducción en la cantidad de alumnos y un menor cociente entre alumnos y el personal—pero la mayoría no lo han hecho, y varios los han criticado intensamente.

Un proveedor privado sugirió que las reducciones en la cantidad de alumnos y el cociente alumnos/personal tienen sentido en preescolares administrados por escuelas públicas—los cuales atienden a la mayoría de los estudiantes con necesidades especiales—pero no en preescolares privados. Un par de personas comentaron que los preescolares Montessori con frecuencia incorporan 24 niños o más de diversas edades porque los estudiantes trabajan con más independencia en esos programas.

Ron Montoya, quien con su esposa es dueño de una franquicia de la guardería Goddard School en Westminster, dijo en una entrevista que si el tamaño de las clases se reduce a 20 alumnos eso significará que deberá eliminar ocho espacios de preescolar universal—cuatro en cada uno de sus salones para alumnos de 4 años.

Ofrecer menos espacios para niños, dijo, va en contra del “mandato de los votantes y del gobernador”.

El prescolar universal es una de las iniciativas distintivas del gobernador Jared Polis y se financia en parte con un impuesto en la nicotina aprobado por los votantes.

A Montoya también le preocupa que los ingresos perdidos debido al propuesto límite en la cantidad de alumnos por salón cause que sea más difícil pagarles un salario competitivo a los maestros.

Datos sobre la cantidad de alumnos por salón son difíciles de encontrar

Una de las preguntas más importantes que quedan sin contestar en el conflicto del tamaño de las clases es cuántos estudiantes en los 1,932 preescolares que participan en el programa universal de Colorado realmente tienen clases con 24 estudiantes y 12 estudiantes por cada empleado. El estado no da seguimiento a esa cantidad.

Eso hace que sea difícil saber cuántos espacios de preescolar universal se perderían si se cambian las reglas. Algunos proveedores de educación preescolar dicen que miles de espacios desaparecerán alrededor del estado. A la vez, los funcionarios estatales dicen que hasta 150 preescolares nuevos están preparándose para unirse al programa de preescolar universal para el año escolar 2024-25, y agregarán nuevos espacios al total.

Algunos salones en Colorado simplemente no tienen el espacio físico que el estado requiere para acomodar a 24 niños. Además, el programa preescolar anterior financiado por el estado, a través del cual se atendía a niños con factores de riesgo principalmente en escuelas públicas, limitaba el tamaño de sus clases a 16 alumnos y la cantidad de estudiantes por cada empleado a ocho.

El distrito escolar de Durango en el sudoeste de Colorado sigue administrando sus 13 salones de educación preescolar con 16 niños por salón y un integrante del personal por cada ocho estudiantes, aunque ya no es un requisito.

“Creo que es lo mejor para los niños”, dijo Jennifer Baufield, la coordinador de la primera infancia en el distrito. “Nuestros maestros pueden cubrir mejor sus necesidades”.

El distrito de Denver, el más grande en Colorado, implementó un método diferente al de Durango. Aumentó el tamaño de sus clases de 16 alumnos a 20 cuando el nuevo programa de preescolar universal del estado empezó el año pasado.

Pero Priscilla Hopkins, la directora ejecutiva de educación temprana en el distrito, dijo que esa cantidad será la más alta que el distrito usará, excepto en entornos de aprendizaje Montessori.

“Me gusta mantener tamaños de clases lo más manejables posible [para ofrecerles] una sólida supervisión y programas y atención de alta calidad a los estudiantes”, dijo.

Los expertos dicen que las clases más pequeñas son mejores

Grupos dedicados a la primera infancia, incluidos el Instituto Nacional para el Estudio de la Educación Temprana en la Universidad de Rutgers y la Asociación Nacional para la Educación de los Niños Pequeños, recomiendan máximos de 20 niños por salón de clases y cocientes de 10 alumnos por cada empleado.

Muchos estados con programas preescolares grandes respaldados con fondos públicos también mantienen esos límites.

Durante una reunión en diciembre de la Comisión estatal de Líderes en la Primera Infancia, la copresidenta Susan Steele reconoció la tensión entre crear un preescolar de alta calidad con fondos limitados, pero dijo que otros estados han logrado hacerlo.

“¿Cómo pueden tener requisitos más altos [de capacitación para maestros]? ¿Cómo pueden tener tamaños más pequeños de grupos? ¿Cómo es posible eso en otros lugares y no en Colorado? Digo, no tiene sentido para mí”, dijo.

Los estudios sobre el tamaño de las clases muestran resultados variados; algunos estudios encuentran más beneficios sociales, de comportamiento o lectoescritura en los niños en salones con menos alumnos, mientras que otros no encuentran diferencias. Un estudio de 2017 que analizó décadas de investigaciones concluyó que límites de 20 en el tamaño de las clases y cocientes de 10 alumnos por cada empleado “son en gran parte adecuados para la mayoría de los niños”.

Ese mismo año, otro grupo de investigadores que analizó docenas de estudios sobre los cocientes entre la cantidad de alumnos por cada empleado concluyó que otros esfuerzos para mejorar la calidad de la educación preescolar, como la capacitación del personal, pueden dar “mejores resultados” que reducir los cocientes.

Alissa Mwenelupembe, directora gerencial de aprendizaje temprano en la Asociación Nacional para la Educación de los Niños Pequeños, dijo que queda claro que los niños pequeños se benefician de conexiones profundas con adultos confiables.

“Llega un punto en el tamaño del grupo en el que esas conexiones profundas no suceden”, dijo. “La realidad es que, mientras más pequeño sea el grupo, más atención individual y apoyo podrán recibir los niños en el salón de clases”.

Pero Mwenelupembe también entiende a los proveedores preescolares que han estado funcionando con 24 niños por salón durante años y que temen perder dinero si se aprueban los límites más estrictos en Colorado.

“Al final del día, pensamos que los cocientes más bajos son mejores, pero tampoco podemos ignorar el hecho de que los programas de aprendizaje temprano tienen que ser negocios viables”.

Ann Schimke es reportera senior de Chalkbeat y cubre temas relacionados con la educación en la niñez temprana y la alfabetización temprana. Para comunicarte con Ann, envíale un email a aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

Is 24 preschoolers in a classroom too many? Colorado will soon decide.

2024-02-23T16:00:00+00:00

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As Colorado leaders prepare for the second year of the state’s popular new universal preschool program, they’re grappling with a hotly debated question.

How many 4-year-olds in a classroom is too many?

Since the $322 million preschool program launched in August, the state has allowed classes of up to 24 children and required one staff member for every 12 students. But many experts and observers believe those numbers are too high and undermine the state’s promise to provide high-quality preschool. They want class sizes capped at 20 and staff-to-student ratios limited to 1 to 10.

Last fall, state leaders appeared ready to phase in the 20-student class size and 1-to-10 ratio limits by 2025. But they’ve faced months of pushback, mostly from private preschool providers. A state advisory committee has also recommended the rules allowing higher class sizes and ratios stay in place.

The final decision rests with Lisa Roy, executive director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood. She said in a statement she’s weighing research on the topic and feedback from the advisory committee, and will decide by March 28.

The class size debate highlights one of the key tensions in Colorado’s new preschool program: the need to balance what’s best for young children with cold financial realities. Not only is early childhood education a notoriously low-margin business, but there’s limited state funding for the program.

This year, about 39,000 4-year-olds receive 10 to 30 hours of tuition-free preschool through the program — 62% of that age group in the state. Next year, enrollment is expected to rise.

Because preschool is funded per student, many providers who’ve argued for keeping universal preschool classes of 24 students have warned they’ll lose tens of thousands of dollars annually if they have to drop down to 20 children per classroom and one staff member for every 10 students.

In addition, some say such rules would lead to tuition hikes for hours not covered by universal preschool, push providers to drop out of the universal program, or force them to close their doors permanently.

Dozens of preschool providers and early childhood groups have submitted written comments to the state in recent months about the proposed preschool quality rules. A few providers have endorsed smaller class sizes and lower staff-to-student ratios — but most have not, and several have sharply criticized them.

One private provider suggested that lower class sizes and ratios make sense for preschools run by public schools — which serve most young students with special needs — but not for private preschools. A few commenters noted that Montessori preschools often incorporate 24 or more children of varying ages because students work more independently in such programs.

Ron Montoya, who with his wife owns a Goddard School child care franchise in Westminster, said in an interview that class sizes of 20 would mean he’d have to cut eight universal preschool seats — four from each of his two 4-year-old classrooms.

Fewer spots for children, he said, run counter to “the mandate from the voters and from the governor.”

Universal preschool is one of Gov. Jared Polis’ signature initiatives and is funded partly with a voter-approved nicotine tax. Preschools get about $6,000 for every child enrolled for 15 hours a week. That funding is set to increase by only 2% — about $120 — next year.

Montoya also worries that lost revenue stemming from the proposed class size cap could make it harder to pay teachers a competitive wage.

Class size data hard to pin down

One of the biggest unanswered questions in the class size conflict is how many of the 1,932 preschools in Colorado’s universal program actually have classes of 24 students and staff-to-student ratios of 1 to 12. The state doesn’t track that number.

That makes it hard to know how many universal preschool seats would be lost by changing class size rules. Some preschool providers say thousands of seats would disappear statewide. At the same time, state officials say up to 150 new preschools are poised to join the universal program for the 2024-25 school year, adding new slots to the total.

While Colorado’s licensing rules have long allowed 24 4-year-olds in preschool classes and staff-to-student ratios of 1 to 12, many providers operate with lower numbers for logistical or historical reasons.

Some classrooms simply don’t have the square footage required by the state to accommodate that many kids. Plus, Colorado’s previous state-funded preschool program, which served children with risk factors mostly in public schools, capped class sizes at 16 and staff-student ratios at 1 to 8.

The Durango school district in southwest Colorado continues to run its 13 preschool classrooms with 16 children per class and one staff member for every eight students even though it’s no longer required.

“I think it’s best for kids,” said Jennifer Baufield, the district’s early childhood coordinator. “Our teachers are better able to meet their needs.”

Much is expected of early childhood teachers and smaller class sizes make it easier, she said: “Being a preschool teacher is a stressful job.”

The Denver district, Colorado’s largest, has taken a different tack than Durango. It bumped up class sizes from 16 to 20 when the state’s new universal preschool began last summer.

But Priscilla Hopkins, the district’s executive director of early education, said that’s as high as the district will go except for Montessori classroom settings.

“I like keeping class sizes as manageable as possible because you want strong supervision and high-quality programming and attention for students,” she said.

Denver’s move to a maximum 20 students per class will lead to around 20 preschool classroom closures across the district next year because it will take fewer classrooms to hold the same number of students.

“We are just being efficient and consolidating programs,” Hopkins said.

Experts say smaller class sizes are better

Early childhood groups, including the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University and the National Association for the Education of Young Children, recommend preschool class size maximums of 20 children and staff-to-student ratios of 1 to 10.

Many states with large, publicly funded preschool programs hew to those limits, too.

At a December meeting of the state’s Early Childhood Leadership Commission, co-chair Susan Steele acknowledged the tension in creating high quality preschool with limited funding, but said other states have managed.

“How can they have higher [teacher training] requirements? How can they have lower group sizes? How is that possible other places and not in Colorado? I mean, it doesn’t make sense to me,” she said.

Research on class size is mixed, with some studies finding social, behavioral, or literacy gains for children in smaller classes and others finding no effects. A 2017 study that analyzed decades of research concluded that class size caps of 20 and staff-to-student ratios of 1 to 10 “are largely adequate for most children.”

The same year, another group of researchers that analyzed dozens of studies on staff-to-student ratios concluded that other efforts to boost preschool quality, such as staff training, might yield “better payoffs” than reducing ratios.

Alissa Mwenelupembe, managing director of early learning at the National Association for the Education of Young Children, said it’s clear that young children profit from deep connections with trusted adults.

“There is a point in the size of the group where those deep connections cannot happen,” she said. “The reality is the smaller the group size, the more individual attention and support children can get in the classroom.”

But Mwenelupembe is also sympathetic to preschool providers who’ve long operated with 24 children per class and fear losing money if Colorado’s proposed stricter limits come to pass.

“I think it’s really challenging to turn a ship,” she said. “At the end of the day, we do think lower ratios are better, but we also can’t let go of the fact that early learning programs have to be able to be viable businesses.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

This Colorado county aimed to create thousands more child care slots. Here’s how it went.

2024-02-03T00:14:19+00:00

A little over a year ago, Grace Luchavez opened a child care program in her Grand Junction home in western Colorado. Today, the former nursing assistant cares for a handful of children in a living room accessorized with a colorful alphabet rug and lined with toy bins.

Five miles away, a new state-of-the-art child care center is going up in a former alfalfa field, rising steadily from a skeleton of metal beams and concrete. A longtime local child care provider will operate the center, which will be the first in Clifton, an unincorporated community with more than 1,000 small children, many from low-income families.

Luchavez’s child care business and the future Clifton center represent some of the fruits of an ambitious campaign to double the number of child care slots and boost child care quality in Mesa County. The effort began in 2017 and was originally dubbed Child Care 8,000 for the number of slots county leaders hoped to reach. At the time, the county was losing child care seats by the dozens, parents were hamstrung by long waitlists, and employers were struggling to keep working parents on the job.

Jeff Kuhr, who then headed the county health department and was the chief architect of Child Care 8,000, believed high-quality child care could improve child and family well-being, and by extension, community well-being. It could help address everything from low elementary test scores to high suicide rates and workforce turnover.

Today, leaders and advocates in Mesa County say parents have more child care choices, quality is higher, and it’s easier for prospective child care providers to get into the field. But the county fell short of its ultimate goal: Instead of 8,000 child care slots, it has 5,000. That represents about 800 more slots than there used to be, but still not enough to meet the need.

Child Care 8,000 no longer exists as an official county initiative, but leaders say its message and momentum live on.

“We’re not done for sure, but definitely making strides,” said Stephanie Bivins, director of Mesa County’s early childhood council, a group that supports child care providers and families with young children.

Stephanie Bivins, director of Mesa County's early childhood council, stands last fall in front of the building that will house the new Clifton child care center.

She said Child Care 8,000 created a stronger early childhood ecosystem by getting county agencies, city leaders, local colleges, and businesses to work together on child care in an unprecedented way. The effort brought in new grant money, streamlined parts of the process for opening a child care business, and dramatically expanded free training for child care teachers.

Kuhr said more needs to be done to raise wages for early childhood staff, but he’s proud of what the effort has accomplished.

“It changed the values of Mesa County,” he said, “It put early childhood education on the map.”

Finding child care that’s still far away

Parent Kaycie Crider knows what it’s like to scramble for child care. When she had her first child five years ago, “I ended up rearranging my entire life to stay home,” she said.

She cared for her daughter while working from home in the tiny ranching town of Colbran in eastern Mesa County. She assisted a real estate broker with paperwork on a contract basis. But things got tricky when her second child, a son, grew into a busy, inquisitive toddler.

“He was too active … climbing on counters when I was trying to put on my professional voice and answer the phone,” she said. “It just was too crazy.”

Last summer, Crider, who now sells commercial playground equipment, decided to put her children in child care a few days a week. She found a licensed home-based provider near Grand Junction who’d opened about six months before. She also relied on her father to care for the children one day a week. She and her husband, a lineman for the local power utility, took turns caring for the children on Fridays.

The hard part of Crider’s child care search wasn’t finding open slots, but finding them in a convenient location for an affordable price. Last fall, her commute to work in Palisade was an hour and 20 minutes, partly because she drove 12 miles out of her way to drop the kids at child care each morning.

This winter, she switched her son and daughter to a Grand Junction child care center partly because tuition was lower — $78 a day instead of $110 — and partly so her son could be around more kids his age. Her commute each way is eight miles longer now.

Ideally, Crider said, there’d be more child care options in or near Colbran. The local school district operates a preschool that her 4-year-old daughter now attends tuition-free two days a week through the state’s universal preschool program. But her son, who just turned 3, won’t qualify for more than a year.

Planning for healthy children and a healthy county

When Child Care 8,000 launched in 2017, the 8,000-slot goal represented about 60% of the county’s population of children age 12 and younger — the approximate proportion who needed child care either because both parents work or their household is led by a single parent who works.

Curtis Englehart, executive director of the Grand Junction Economic Partnership, which helps recruit companies to the area, said child care is a big issue for the business community.

“It can be right up there with cost of living,” he said. “If child care remains a huge barrier … then getting businesses to relocate or expand, they won’t have the workforce to do it.”

Bivins, who was early childhood coordinator for Mesa County Public Health before moving to the early childhood council in 2021, started her work on Child Care 8,000 by gathering data at five child care centers. She discovered they were operating at about 70% capacity, not because of a lack of demand, but because they couldn’t find qualified staff.

“There were so many costs associated with entering the field,” she said. “To get [an entry-level Child Development Associate credential] is about two grand and these folks are making minimum wage. They can’t afford that.”

Bivins and the rest of the team set about making it easier and cheaper for people to enter the field and advance once they were in it. They gave out scholarships for training courses, offered stipends so prospective providers could afford to take off work for child care credential exams, and dramatically expanded coaching and technical assistance for new providers.

“Now, we have a full career pipeline that we’ve built over the last few years,” she said.

The work of Child Care 8,000 was funded through a variety of sources, including a state 2Generation Opportunities grant, county health department dollars, and federal COVID aid.

Several employees at the Grand Junction’s Eureka! McConnell Science Museum — which launched a full-day preschool program three years ago — have taken advantage of the free early childhood classes and training.

They include staff who worked at the museum’s reception desk and in other non-child care jobs. The financial help allowed them to land full-time early childhood jobs with benefits, said Jenn Moore, the museum’s executive director.

“They would never have done it without the county providing these financial offsets just because it’s too expensive,” she said.

Englehart said although it’s still particularly tough to find infant care in the county, it’s getting easier for families to find child care generally — and for businesses to take a chance in the region. In 2023, 10 companies relocated or expanded to the Grand Junction area, creating 150 new jobs.

“Progress is definitely being made,” he said.

Employers expand child care options for employees

In a field marked by low pay, high stress, and lots of regulation, Child Care 8,000 was always destined to be a huge lift. And perhaps unsurprisingly, the topline goal of increasing the number of child care seats from 4,200 to 8,000 by the end of 2020 — a 90% jump — never materialized. Instead there was a more modest 20% increase in child care capacity.

“I didn’t ever expect that this was going to happen quickly” said Kuhr, who left his job at the health department last summer. “I feel like we’ve made some headway but we still have a ways to go.”

Mesa County did exceed its goal on child care quality, boosting the proportion of providers with one of the top three ratings on the state’s Colorado Shines rating system from 10% in 2017 to 40% today. That’s higher than the original goal of 30% and the statewide average of 24%.

There have been other high-profile gains, too. In the past few years, several local employers have opened centers to provide child care to their workers. Both Grand Junction and Community Hospital have opened child care centers for their employees — together creating 184 new seats.

Jennifer Knott operates the new child care center at Community Hospital and will also operate the center opening in Clifton later this year.

County leaders also have high hopes for the Clifton project, which will create nearly 200 new child care slots, plus space for early childhood offices, training, and conferences.

In addition, a center that will serve employees of the Eureka museum along with four other nonprofits, is slated to open in 2025, provided the nonprofits can raise enough money for construction.

Several people involved in Child Care 8,000 said it shouldered much of the work that should have fallen to the county’s early childhood council, which was dysfunctional when Child Care 8,000 began. Today, under Bivins’ leadership, the council is well-regarded.

“That council is completely changed and it’s awesome,” said Kuhr.

Giving families flexibility and an attractive setting

One day last fall, Luchavez distracted a toddler who was on the brink of bumping a wobbly baby by asking him to tell a visitor his age.

“How old are you?” she said, from her perch on a blue pillow that looked like a beach ball. “Show your fingers.”

Gazing at Luchavez, who was holding up her own fingers as a hint, the 2-year-old rested his fists on his chin, with both index fingers pointing skyward. Then he hopped on a blue ride-on car and inched around the living room.

Grace Luchavez takes the children she cares for to her yard for outdoor playtime.

As a licensed home-based provider, Luchavez provides the cozy setting and flexible hours that lots of families seek, especially for infants and toddlers. Some days, she starts at 6:15 a.m. and sends the last child home around 7 p.m. — a long day for her, but priceless for parents who work 12-hour shifts.

During the pandemic, Luchavez worked nights as a nursing assistant at St. Mary’s Medical Center. But when a colleague struggled to find child care for her young son after her husband died, Luchavez offered to help out on her days off. From there, she decided to get a state license so she could accept more children and turn it into a full-time business.

Luchavez has a warm personality, calm demeanor, and lots of experience with children. She’s the mother of three adult daughters and used to help out at her sister’s child care program in Montrose. Still, she initially had doubts about whether she could jump through the hoops required to enter the highly-regulated world of licensed child care.

“Maybe I will not be able to pass or maybe I’ll not get that license,” she recalled thinking when she started the journey.

But she credits her coach from the early childhood council for helping every step of the way.

While Child Care 8,000 has encouraged home-based child care providers like Luchavez to enter the field, there are still fewer seats in home settings than before the pandemic. Bivins said the county is still working its way back from a huge deficit of such providers. But 2023 was a good year, with a net gain of 38 home-based child care slots in the county — a 9% increase from 2022.

Today, Luchavez gets calls about twice a week from parents looking for child care.

“Sorry, I’m already full,” she tells them.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Will Colorado lawmakers save a team that helps Spanish-speaking child care providers get licensed?

2024-01-25T22:13:26+00:00

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Nehife Sanchez raised five kids as a stay-at-home mom and always helped her relatives and friends when they needed child care. Her youngest is 15, and the only child she takes care of regularly now is her granddaughter.

So when she was watching Univision with her husband one night in 2022 and saw an ad for a course to get certified in child care, she decided she was ready to take her love of caring for kids to the next level.

“Really, I always wanted to have something like this,” Sanchez said.

After taking the course, she was motivated to apply for a child care license. But Sanchez almost quit several times, not having realized all that it would require — background checks, visits to her local government office, inspections and changes to her home, buying the right materials, and taking more courses. She credits having Spanish-language help from the Colorado Department of Early Childhood with helping her persevere when, for example, she was shunted between county offices amid confusion about which one was responsible for her.

Lawmakers could soon provide more support to people like Sanchez. A bill introduced in the Colorado legislature this session is looking to keep and expand the department’s bilingual support team. The legislation’s sponsor, Democratic state Rep. Junie Joseph, said she hopes it is one small piece of a solution to the larger problem of the shortage of child care.

“We have a large population that could provide that service,” Joseph said. “But we have to make all of our community members feel supported.”

Joseph, who is bilingual herself, is sponsoring House Bill 1009 to make funding for the support permanent. If the bill is passed, the state would give the department an additional $235,000 per fiscal year to pay for the bilingual licensing unit.

Joseph says that the bill is important to her for many reasons, including as a way to increase the number of safe, quality, child care spots available across the state.

“We know this has been an underserved community,” said Carin Rosa, director of the licensing division for the department.

Sanchez said the Spanish-speaking team at the state department always answered her calls, responded to her emails, and helped her find solutions. She calls them her guardian angels.

Helping providers get licensed and avoid scams

In 2022, the early childhood department was able to hire a team of three bilingual staff members who help people through the licensing process to become licensed child care providers. The department used COVID relief money to do it. But that funding won’t be available after September.

Right now, the department says it is actively processing 25 applications for Spanish speakers, and is supporting another 69 who are already licensed but say they prefer their support in Spanish. They expect that number to grow as more people learn about their ability to access licensing.

Part of the reason for the expected increase is that in 2021, Colorado made it legal for people who can’t prove legal residency to pay for and earn certain work licenses including in childcare or education. Word has been slow to spread, and advocates say even local government employees are sometimes unaware of that new access.

Carla Colin, a program manager for the Latino Chamber of Commerce in Boulder, is supporting the bill because she believes it makes sense to help businesses.

“We don’t think language should be a barrier for a business,” Colin said. Supporting people in the language they understand “puts those in home businesses in a better position instead of working in the shadows.”

Joseph and Colin also see the bill’s purpose, and the early childhood department’s outreach to Spanish speakers, as an important part of discouraging scammers and those who overcharge and underdeliver.

Groups have popped up that claim to help Spanish speakers and those without legal status navigate the application process for professional or business licenses. But they often charge thousands of dollars, and sometimes may not actually deliver what they promise.

Colin said people sometimes call her to find out if they’re being lied to. But people often hesitate to report who the bad actors are.

Colin said she hears reports of people paying these groups more than $5,000 for a child care license.

“It’s an outrageous amount of money and especially for someone who might not be working yet,” she said.

Getting accurate information to people and support from the proper authorities is necessary, she said. She wishes the government would work more closely with teams like hers that work directly with the community.

At the early childhood department, much of the bilingual team’s first year after they were hired in 2022 was trying to get the word out. Rosa said the team has connected with some groups that work with the Latino community, translated documents, and created Spanish trainings. But the team is limited and hasn’t always been able to meet the requests for more training in the community.

Building trust and creating awareness takes time, state officials said.

If the bill is passed, one goal for the funding is to have the state’s website translated so people can find more information easily, and to do some other technology upgrades that would allow the team to carry their own caseload instead of just assisting other team members when they’re working with Spanish speakers.

Technology changes would also allow reports to be automatically generated in Spanish for Spanish-speaking providers, such as after an on-site inspection.

Rosa said the department knows Spanish speakers who apply for licenses often have had to use a child or friend who spoke English to interpret for them at on-site inspections or other meetings.

“That never felt right to us,” Rosa said.

“We really want children to have caregivers that reflect their communities, their families,” Rosa added.

Nehife Sanchez got Spanish-language help from the Colorado Department of Early Childhood in her quest to become a licensed child care provider.

And if things go well, the department leaders would like to eventually add support for languages other than Spanish. For now, they’re starting by collecting data on what the preferred language is for each applicant and existing provider.

Because she primarily speaks Spanish, Sanchez was first relying on her husband, who is bilingual, to make calls for her when he was home from work, before they learned about the bilingual licensing team.

After an eight-month process that Sanchez said she was only able to complete with the bilingual team’s hand-holding — and her own persistence — , Sanchez became a licensed home care provider in August.

She’s now in the process of getting the word out and trying to recruit families. She’s hoping to have more than 10 children in her care in the next year, which might eventually allow her husband to quit his day job so they can work together at home. He’s taken the same courses as her, and they plan to keep learning together about how to help children learn.

It’s the dream, she said.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado’s free preschool application in 2024: Here’s what parents need to know

2024-01-17T20:34:24+00:00

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Note: This story is about the 2024 free preschool application. For information about the 2025 free preschool application, read our updated story.

Colorado families can start applying for the state’s free preschool program for the 2024-25 school year on Feb. 29.

The $322 million program, which launched in August, is open to all 4-year-olds and some 3-year-olds. More than 39,000 4-year-olds are currently enrolled in the program — about 62% of that age group in the state. About 10,000 3-year-olds are also enrolled.

After a chaotic and confusing application rollout last spring and summer, state officials made several changes to this year’s process. The goal is to make it easier for families already connected to a preschool to stay with that program for universal preschool. The state also is making a change to ensure that children in poverty get access to full-day tuition-free preschool.

Here’s what families need to know about the preschool program and the online application.

Who gets free preschool and how much do they get?

Two groups of children qualify: All 4-year-olds and some 3-year-olds who need extra help.

The preschool program is primarily designed for children in the year before they go to kindergarten — children who turn 4 before the state’s Oct. 1 cutoff date. Most 4-year-olds will get 15 hours of preschool a week, though some preschool providers offer only 10 hour-a-week schedules.

Starting this year, 4-year-olds from families with incomes at or below 100% of the federal poverty level — up to $31,200 for a family of four — will qualify for 30 hours of tuition-free preschool a week.

In addition, 4-year-olds in families with income between 100% and 270% of the federal poverty level — $31,200 to $84,240 for a family of four — who also fall into at least one of the categories below qualify for 30 hours a week:

Speak a language other than English at home.
Have a special education plan, also known as an IEP.
Homeless
In foster care

Remember, not every preschool offers a 30-hour a week schedule — or if they do, has open seats available. That means qualifying for 30 hours of free preschool through the state isn’t a guarantee that a child will get it.

Compared to 4-year-olds, only a small number of 3-year-olds — children two years away from kindergarten — qualify for tuition-free preschool. This year, about one-third of 3-year-olds in universal preschool are children with disabilities and the rest are from low-income families or have other risk factors.

Only 3-year-olds who have special education plans are guaranteed free preschool. The number of hours depends on what’s spelled out in their special education plan. Parents of these 3-year-olds should fill out the state’s online application.

If there’s enough funding, 3-year-olds with one of the other risk factors listed above may get at least 10 hours of free preschool a week. Parents of these children can skip the state application and apply for free preschool directly through their local school districts.

What about 5-year-olds who aren’t in kindergarten yet?

A small number of 5-year-olds are eligible for free preschool in the year before they attend kindergarten. Specifically: Those living in school districts with kindergarten cut-off dates earlier than the state’s Oct. 1 cut-off whose birthdays fall between the two cut-off dates. For example, a child in a district where children must turn 5 by July 30 to attend kindergarten, will qualify for free preschool if they turn 5 in August or September.

Five-year-olds who could go to kindergarten but have been held out by their families — a practice often called redshirting — aren’t eligible for free preschool in that year.

When can I fill out the universal preschool application?

This year’s application will open on Feb. 29, about a month later than last year.

Starting then, certain families will get to preregister, specifically those who want to send their child to the preschool where the child is currently enrolled, where a sibling is enrolled, or where the parent is employed. These families will get an email from the state that links to a universal preschool application preloaded with their current preschool. Once the family accepts the placement, the match will be confirmed immediately.

To ensure you get a preregistration link, talk to your current preschool or child care provider about your plans to stay with the program for universal preschool. The provider will then let the state know about all continuing families.

Families not eligible to preregister can still fill out the universal preschool application starting on Feb. 29 but they won’t be matched to a preschool until April. Families who apply after that will get their preschool matches in June.

Starting in late June, walk-ins will be allowed. That means families can apply for universal preschool by calling or visiting a local preschool directly. If that preschool is participating in the state program and has space, staff there will help families apply and secure a spot.

Unlike last year, some parents of 3-year-olds can skip the state’s online application and apply for preschool directly through their school districts. This includes parents of 3-year-olds from low-income households, or who are learning English, are homeless, or in foster care. Parents of 3-year-olds with special education plans still have to apply using the state’s online application.

What do I need to fill out the application? Are there income requirements?

If you qualify for preregistration, you’ll receive a link from the state with a prepopulated application. If not, you’ll create your online application using an email address or phone number. Most families will need about 15 minutes to fill it out. The application is offered in English, Spanish, and Arabic.

Families with incomes at or below 270% of the federal poverty line will need to upload proof of income, such as pay stubs or tax forms, when they apply for universal preschool.

My child has a disability. What’s the application process?

Families will get a link from the state with a preloaded universal preschool application if their child will be 3 or 4 next school year, has a special education plan — also known as an IEP — and are already getting services for their disability through their local school district.

If the family of a child with a special education plan is not currently connected to their local district — perhaps they recently moved — they can fill out the universal preschool application when it opens. Once they indicate on the application that their child has an IEP, the district will reach out to them about next steps. Most preschoolers with IEPs will be placed in classrooms run by their school districts.

Parents who are worried their preschooler may be delayed in speech, learning, or development but don’t have a diagnosis or IEP, should contact Child Find, a state program that screens children suspected of having a disability. Check this list for Child Find coordinators by region.

Can I pick my 4-year-old’s preschool?

Yes. Families who don’t qualify for preregistration or want a program other than the one their child currently attends will be asked to pick up to five preschools and will be able to rank their choices. Options include school-based preschools, faith-based preschools, preschool programs inside child care centers, and state-licensed home-based programs.

Search and map functions are available within the universal preschool application to narrow down the choices. There are some cases where preschool providers can turn down a universal preschool applicant. For example, a school-based preschool might turn away a child who lives outside district boundaries or an employer-based preschool that mainly provides care to children of company employees may decline a child of a non-employee.

Can I pick my 3-year-old’s preschool?

Possibly, but you won’t have as many choices as 4-year-olds do. It all depends on your school district since districts are in charge of placing 3-year-old preschoolers. Some districts primarily serve 3-year-olds in district-run classrooms while others work with community child care programs to serve 3-year-olds. When you fill out the universal preschool application, you’ll select your school district and then work with them on preschool placement.

My district’s school choice application is due before the universal preschool application opens. What should I do?

Families who want to send their child to a district-run preschool run may have to fill out two applications. First up is the district’s school choice form. Next, fill out the universal preschool application when it opens.

If your child or a sibling already attends your favored district-run preschool, or you work there, the state will send you a preregistration link to a universal preschool application preloaded with your preschool choice in late February.

If you have no current affiliation with a district-run preschool, the state will send you a link to the general universal preschool application using your contact information from the school choice form. Fill out the application and choose your top five preschools and you’ll find out your child’s preschool match in April.

What if I need more hours than what my preschooler is eligible for?

I have more questions. What should I do?

You can also contact the state’s help desk from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding state holidays. The number is 303-866-5223 and the email is cdec_upkcolorado@state.co.us.

Do you have a question you don’t see answered here or can’t find the answer to elsewhere? Let us know at co.tips@chalkbeat.org and we’ll do our best to find an answer.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado backs off proposed ban on religious instruction in state-funded preschool

2024-01-05T00:38:08+00:00

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Colorado officials leading the state’s new universal preschool program originally planned to ban religious lessons and activities during state-funded class time. Not anymore.

In the latest round of proposed state rules posted publicly on Wednesday, they have removed an explicit ban on religious instruction during universal preschool hours. The rules, which would take effect next summer, are set to be considered by a state advisory committee on Jan. 11 and adopted in February.

The new draft rules mark the latest in a series of flip-flops by state officials on the subject of religious education in its new $322 million preschool program. The state’s shifting approach stems partly from the program’s rushed rollout, and partly from a new legal landscape shaped by recent U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions permitting the use of public funds for religious education.

Practically speaking, the state’s decision to remove the ban on religious instruction could attract more faith-based preschools to the universal preschool program, which provides tuition-free classes to more than 60% of the state’s 4-year-olds this year. Currently, there are 40 faith-based preschools among more than 1,900 preschools in the program. Because of mixed messages about whether religious instruction was allowed, some faith-based preschools may have decided not to participate this year.

State officials declined to comment Thursday about why they eliminated the ban on religious instruction in the proposed preschool rules. Ian McKenzie, a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, said the department will comment following the conclusion of a trial in a federal lawsuit brought by two Catholic preschools challenging the universal preschool program’s nondiscrimination rules.

“We’re just letting the trial finish before any comments on any of its content,” he said Thursday.

The trial centers not on religious instruction, but on whether religious preschools in the universal preschool program have to accept students from LGBTQ families. It began Tuesday and is expected to finish late this week or early next week.

Colorado always planned to offer universal preschool classes in a variety of settings, including public school classrooms, private child care centers, and faith-based preschools. They never planned to let faith-based preschools teach religion during state-funded classes.

But state officials at the early childhood department ran out of time to make rules on the topic before the program launched in August. There was a widely distributed fact sheet that talked about religious instruction being prohibited, but no official rules. That allowed faith-based preschools participating in the program to incorporate religious stories, songs, and prayers however they wished this year.

In October, the state proposed rules that would do what officials had intended all along: ban religious instruction in universal preschool. But in December, the conservative group Advance Colorado threatened to sue if the state followed through with the proposed ban. With the state’s latest draft rules, it appears the state has shelved its plan for now.

Faith-based preschools participating in the universal program differ widely in how much religion they incorporate into their preschool classes.

Leaders at Grand Junction’s Landmark Preschool, which is housed in a Baptist church, say religion is incorporated into everything they do, including math and reading. One morning last fall, a class of 4-year-old preschoolers recited Bible verses with their teacher.

“OK, here we go,” said teacher Corrie Haynes to the 13 children sitting in front of her on a green rug. “Philippians 4:19. My God shall supply all your needs,” they said together. Next, they sang songs about God and talked about sin and forgiveness.

At King Baptist Child Development Center and Preschool in Denver, preschool classes look much different. The school, which is owned by the adjacent church, uses a secular curriculum and doesn’t incorporate religious content during the school day.

Telaya Purchase, assistant director of the center, said during an interview with Chalkbeat earlier this school year that children can participate in what’s called a devotional before school starts at 9 a.m. That includes the Pledge of Allegiance, the Lord’s Prayer, and the song “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” She also said children say grace at meals, but can skip it if they choose.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado Catholic preschools make their case at trial challenging nondiscrimination rules

2024-01-03T03:56:38+00:00

Enrolling preschoolers from LGBTQ families would conflict with the religious beliefs and obligations of Catholic preschools, attorneys for two Denver-area Catholic parishes said Tuesday as the trial began in a lawsuit challenging the nondiscrimination rules in Colorado’s universal preschool program.

Two Catholic parishes that run preschools — St. Mary’s in Littleton and St. Bernadette’s in Lakewood — and the Archdiocese of Denver sued the state in federal district court in August. They argued that a nondiscrimination clause in an agreement required by the state for participation in the preschool program conflicts with their mission to provide a Catholic education. Senior U.S. District Judge John L. Kane, who is presiding over the trial, recently issued an order dismissing the archdiocese as a plaintiff.

Attorneys for the state said Catholic preschools under the archdiocese are being treated the same as other preschools in the program, and that the nondiscrimination agreement in question is similar to the ones some Catholic schools have signed in the past for other kinds of publicly funded programs.

The lawsuit could have big implications for the new $322 million preschool program, which launched in August and enrolls more than 60% of the state’s 4-year-olds this year. A win for the Catholic preschools could bring more faith-based schools into the preschool program, but it could limit the state’s ability to set nondiscrimination policies for an education program that it pays for.

A win for the state could deter some faith-based preschools from participating, but it means families with LGBTQ parents or children couldn’t be shut out of preschools because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The trial is expected to last several days, with the judge making the decision.

Four witnesses testified for the Catholic preschools on Tuesday, including the mother who said her family would have saved several thousand dollars if the Catholic preschool her 4-year-old attends had been able to participate in universal preschool this year.

Colorado’s universal preschool program offers 10 to 30 hours of tuition-free preschool a week to 4-year-olds. Families can pick preschool classrooms in public schools, private child care centers, faith-based programs, or state-licensed homes.

The two parish preschools that sued declined to join the program after the archdiocese instructed them not to sign the state’s nondiscrimination agreement, which prohibits discrimination based on religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity, among other factors. The lawsuit asserts that the nondiscrimination clause could prevent them from prioritizing children from Catholic families for enrollment, or force them to admit a child who identifies as a gender “at odds with their biological sex,” or a child whose parents “identify as gay or lesbian” or are “part of a same sex couple.”

The suit also argues that the state’s nondiscrimination rules would prohibit preschools from hiring employees who agree with the Catholic Church’s mission and teachings, including “that marriage is limited to one man and one woman for life.”

The lawsuit is one of two that religious preschools have filed over the state program. The other one, filed by a Christian preschool in Chaffee County that’s participating in the universal preschool program this year, also argues that the nondiscrimination provision could impede hiring, but didn’t focus on enrollment questions. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in October in that case, barring the state from punishing or withholding funds from the Chaffee County preschool even though some of its policies appear to violate the nondiscrimination agreement.

A third lawsuit was filed by several school districts last summer and deals with services and funding for preschoolers with disabilities as well as other high-needs students.

Nick Reaves, a lawyer for the Catholic preschools, said that in rare circumstances, schools overseen by the Archdiocese of Denver have turned away families on the grounds that their beliefs or practices conflict with what the school teaches. He said there have been no complaints from any LGBTQ families about any of the 36 preschools that operate under the archdiocese.

During her testimony Tuesday, Avery Coats, principal of the pre-K-8 school operated by St. Bernadette’s, described turning away a prospective fifth-grade student because the parents were a same-sex couple and school officials worried Catholic teachings would cause confusion and conflict in the family.

Of the more than 1,900 preschools that joined Colorado’s universal program this year, 40 are faith-based. Together, they serve about 900 children. State rules allow faith-based preschools to give children in their congregations priority for enrollment. But beyond that, they don’t allow enrollment decisions based on a family’s religion or beliefs.

While some families choose religious preschools to match their faith, others choose them because the schools are close to their homes or jobs, or because they offer full-day care or flexible schedules.

Lawyers for the Catholic preschools asked a state witness to clarify what kind of enrollment restrictions or conditions preschools in the universal program are allowed to have. For example, Reaves asked, could a Jewish preschool, as a condition of enrollment, ask parents to sign a statement of faith saying they won’t eat pork and will keep kosher?

The witness, Michael Cooke, who helped roll out the universal preschool program, said that the question hadn’t come up before but that the state wouldn’t object to an enrollment condition based on the preschool’s particular program.

“Where we would object is if there was something in a statement that a family needed to sign or acknowledge that is contrary to anything that’s in statute or in policy or rule,” Cooke said.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Four takeaways from the rocky rollout of Colorado’s popular new free preschool program

2023-12-13T23:03:04+00:00

With its new universal preschool program, Colorado joins a small but growing group of states that offer tuition-free preschool to all 4-year-olds.

So far, the program is popular with families, but there have been lots of bumps in the road, including three lawsuits against the state and the threat of a fourth. Some of the hiccups and headaches are usual new-program fare while others stem from the program’s rushed rollout by a new state agency.

Despite the problems, the $322 million program is a big deal. Funded partly with a nicotine tax that Colorado voters passed easily, it’s cutting preschool tuition costs for thousands of families and helping more Colorado children get ready for kindergarten. Nearly 50,000 preschoolers are enrolled this year, more than double the number served in the state’s previous smaller preschool program.

Universal preschool has long been one of Gov. Jared Polis’ signature initiatives and its launch last August represents the second and harder half of the governor’s ambitious early childhood agenda. Free full-day kindergarten, which kicked off in 2019, was the other major component.

Here’s a closer look at four key issues that have cropped up during the preschool program’s first six months.

A surge in demand led to tough decisions — and could again

More than 38,000 4-year-olds — 60% of that age group in the state — are enrolled in universal preschool this year. That’s about 8,000 more 4-year-olds than the state expected. In addition, the program includes more than 10,000 3-year-olds with risk factors.

The surge in demand meant state officials had to spread the money more thinly than planned. Last summer, just weeks before preschool was set to start, they told thousands of families that their children wouldn’t get free full-day preschool, only half-day, because there wasn’t enough funding. Some of the students who lost out — low-income students and English language learners — are those who stand to benefit the most from extra preschool.

The state has already taken steps to remedy this problem for about 3,000 children next year, specifically those living in poverty. A proposed rule would prioritize those 4-year-olds for full-day classes. At the same time, the state expects even more 4-year-olds — as much as 64% of that group — to enroll in universal preschool next year. With next year’s state budget not yet set, the possibility of another surge in demand, and a slew of new rules under consideration, it’s unclear how far the money will go.

State leaders promised high-quality preschool. It will take years.

One of the casualties in the race to stand up the new preschool program were rules governing program quality. State officials ran out of time to craft those rules, so they told participating preschools last spring to “keep doing what you’re doing.”

That means preschools are required to meet only basic health and safety standards this year, not other benchmarks of quality, such as small class sizes, highly trained teachers, and strong curriculum. Some participating preschools already embrace high-quality practices, but not all do. That leaves the current universal preschool landscape a mish-mash of superior programs, mediocre programs, and everything in between.

Experts say quality standards matter because when preschool is done well, it can have short- and long-term benefits for children — boosting academic skills, increasing the likelihood of graduating from high school, and even improving adult job and health outcomes.

Colorado officials are planning to adopt some quality rules for the 2024-25 school year and a separate set of rules on preschool staff credentials for the 2025-26 school year. But with some likely to be phased in over time, four or more classes of universal preschoolers may graduate from the program before a binding set of quality requirements take hold.

Colorado faces lawsuits as church-state legal landscape changes

Although faith-based preschools make up a tiny fraction of Colorado’s universal preschool providers, they’ve played an outsize role in recent legal challenges over the program’s policies.

Two of three lawsuits the state is facing over universal preschool revolve around a non-discrimination agreement state officials asked participating preschools to sign. The agreement bans discrimination based on various factors, including religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity, but a Christian preschool in Chaffee County and two Catholic preschools in metro Denver sued over the provision last summer.

In October, a federal judge blocked Colorado from withholding universal preschool funds or disciplining the Chaffee County preschool even though its policies on employee hiring and bathroom and pronoun use appear to violate the non-discrimination clause.

The lawsuit by the Catholic preschools, which is set to go to trial in early January, is broader. Like the Chaffee County case, it takes issue with the possibility of hiring staff who don’t reflect the schools’ religious tenets, but it also challenges the state’s mandate to accept all children and families regardless of religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity. The schools argue that enrolling all children conflicts with their religious beliefs and mission to provide a Catholic education.

There’s likely another battle over religion on the horizon. That’s because of a proposal to ban religious instruction during universal preschool classes starting next fall. The state intended to put that ban into place from the outset, but didn’t follow through — allowing participating faith-based preschools to incorporate religion however they see fit this year. That omission, set Colorado up for a conspicuous mid-stream flip-flop. The conservative group Advance Colorado has already threatened to sue if the state goes through with the proposed ban, citing a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing public funding for religious education.

Class size debate is another symptom of funding challenges

This year, universal preschool classes can have up to 24 4-year-olds. That’s higher than most early childhood experts recommend, so the state has proposed capping the number at 20 starting next fall. A related rule would require one staff member for every 10 children, down from one per 12 this year.

But some participating preschools literally banked on having 24 students per class and 12 students per staff member. (The state pays about $6,000 per child for half-day preschool.) If the proposed changes are adopted, these providers stand to lose tens of thousands of dollars next year and some have said they would pull out of the program altogether.

The class size dilemma, especially in a field known for razor-thin margins and low pay, is another example of the tension between Colorado’s promise of high-quality preschool-for-all and the reality of limited funding. Although universal preschool’s $322 million price tag sounds like a hefty sum, preschool providers, school districts, and lawmakers have questioned whether it’s enough to support the program Colorado leaders envisioned.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

How Colorado used COVID early childhood aid to spark innovation

2023-12-06T00:23:57+00:00

Much of the federal relief aid sent to Colorado’s child care providers during the pandemic helped keep doors open and businesses solvent.

But one small stream of federal COVID funding — $23 million — was used for innovation in the sector rather than its survival. That money was distributed through the CIRCLE Grant program and helped fund more than 200 projects around the state. The projects included weekly bilingual preschool classes for Armenian-American children, a training program for Head Start parents working as classroom aides, and a loan program to help child care employees cover emergency expenses.

While the grant funding represents a fraction of the $678 million in federal COVID relief sent to Colorado’s early childhood sector, program leaders are proud of the grassroots efforts it sparked.

“Once again, we are seeing that folks that are closest to the problems have the best solutions,” said Jennifer Stedron, executive director of Early Milestones Colorado, which distributed the CIRCLE grants.

The yearlong grants ranged from $10,000 to $300,000. Many of them focused on making child care more accessible to families. In some cases, that meant creating new infant and toddler classrooms or sending mobile preschools to underserved neighborhoods. In others, the goal was to better meet specific needs, say, by adding programs for bilingual students or children with disabilities.

The nonprofit Armenians of Colorado Inc. used its $35,000 CIRCLE grant to pilot a free Saturday preschool class that incorporated both English and Armenian. A dozen children attended the program last spring at the First Baptist Church of Denver, some who didn’t know a word of Armenian and some who spoke only Armenian. They listened to poems and stories in Armenian and also did activities in English, including one on the Easter bunny.

The idea was to “show the kids you can use both languages to have academic and social interactions,” said Simon Maghakyan, an activist in the Armenian community and a CIRCLE Grant consultant for Armenians of Colorado. “It’s important they see value in both.”

Some of the children, who ranged in age from 2 to 5, had never attended any kind of preschool, he said. For most, it was “their first introduction to either language in the written form.” The two languages have different alphabets.

The Armenian community has deep roots in Colorado, with some of the earliest immigrants arriving in the late 1800s. Statewide, there are about 5,000 people of Armenian descent. The Armenian Genocide during the World War I era, as well as more recent displacements, have gradually brought more Armenians to the United States and Colorado.

But it’s still a relatively small group, and because of assimilation pressures and the dominance of English globally, it can be a struggle to maintain the Armenian language, Maghakyan said. That’s why the Saturday preschool program is important. The CIRCLE grant supplied only enough money to plan and run a three-month pilot, but leaders with the organization hope to find a way to keep it going in the future.

Besides funding new programming for children, many CIRCLE grant projects focused on supporting the chronically underpaid early childhood workforce with increased wages, training, or other benefits.

The Denver nonprofit WorkLife Partnership used its CIRCLE grant to offer a program that’s usually available to employers for a fee to child care providers free of charge. The program helps employees quickly access small loans at a lower interest rate than payday lenders would charge.

The process is simple: Employees struggling with a large or unexpected expense, such as a security deposit, utility bill, or car repair, can request a $1,000 loan through WorkLife with no credit check or collateral requirement. The money lands in their bank account in as little as 24 hours. They then pay back the loan through monthly payroll deductions over the course of a year. With interest and a $20 administrative fee, the total repayment on a $1,000 loan is $1,116.

Logan Jones, financial services manager for WorkLife, said, “it’s really designed to be an anti-payday loan.” It helps employees, especially those with bad credit, avoid exorbitant interest rates when they’re in crisis.

He said about 15 employees at two participating Denver area child care centers have taken advantage of the loans, most often for housing costs. Borrowers don’t have to say why they’re seeking the loan, but many do later in voluntary surveys, he said.

Jones said that although the loan benefit was offered free to child care providers through the CIRCLE grant, many didn’t take advantage of it because there were so many CIRCLE grant opportunities and offers at the same time.

“It needs to be staggered out longer,” Jones said.

Stedron, of Early Milestones, agreed that the one-year grant timeline was too short.

“I wish they could have gone on forever, certainly more than one year,” she said.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Proposed ban on religious instruction in Colorado’s state-funded preschools may spark legal fight

2023-11-28T23:24:42+00:00

Leer en español

When teacher Corrie Haynes asked the preschoolers gathered on the green rug in front of her what sin is, a little boy answered confidently: “All the bad things we do.”

“Very good,” she said.

Next, the 13 children, most wearing maroon or blue polo shirts and dark skirts or pants, learned that everybody sins — even teachers, moms and dads, and the church pastor — and that although God hates sin, he doesn’t hate people who sin.

“He still loves us very much even when we sin,” Haynes said.

A minute later, Haynes led the 4-year-olds in a song about manners: “Always say thank you, always say please. When we’re ungrateful, God is not pleased.”

Such religious content has long been woven through the lessons at Landmark Preschool, which is nestled inside Landmark Baptist Church in the western Colorado city of Grand Junction. What’s different this year is that state taxpayers are covering the bill — more than $100,000 — for 20 preschoolers to attend classes there.

Colorado explicitly invited faith-based preschools to participate in its new $322 million universal preschool program, which despite a rocky rollout has proven popular with families. But state officials have sent mixed messages about whether preschools can offer religious instruction during state-funded class time. Prior to the launch, they said it was forbidden. Now, they say it’s not, but that next year it could be.

Debates about public funding for religious education come amid an ongoing conservative push to break down long-held ideas about the separation of church and state, including in a lawsuit underway now over a religious charter school in Oklahoma. Colorado’s Constitution, like those in many other states, prohibits using public money for religious purposes. But a series of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions has hollowed out such provisions.

In order to participate in Colorado’s universal preschool program, preschools, including Landmark, had to sign a contract agreeing to a variety of conditions, including that they would not discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity. That requirement is now the subject of two lawsuits — one by a Christian preschool in Chaffee County and the other by two Catholic parishes that run preschools near Denver. The contract that providers signed did not mention religious instruction.

Lauren Weber, the director of Landmark Preschool, said such instruction is “built into pretty much everything we do.”

But some experts say mixing public dollars and religious education clashes with the nation’s historical underpinnings.

“If our taxpayer money is funding religious exercise … then we are putting ourselves in a position of the state and the church getting entangled in a way that the founders were trying to avoid,” said Kevin Welner, director of the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado Boulder.

State plans to restrict religious lessons in universal preschool

Colorado early childhood officials have proposed a ban on religious instruction in a set of rules they plan to approve next spring. It’s not clear where that would leave programs like Landmark, where leaders hope to open two additional universal preschool classrooms next year.

Such questions are playing out amid a rapidly changing legal landscape. The latest shift came in June 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in a Maine voucher case called Carson v. Makin. The court ruled that Maine could not exclude schools that offer religious instruction from a state-funded program open to secular private schools. The ruling built on a series of decisions in which the high court has grown more sympathetic to the idea of using public money for religious purposes, including religious education.

Steven Green, a law professor at Willamette University who specializes in church and state issues, said the shift has come as the share of Christians in the United States shrinks and the share of people without a religious affiliation grows.

Amid these demographic changes, “We’re seeing a kind of circling of the wagons and a feeling of being dispossessed of privilege, particularly white, conservative Christians,” he said.

That narrative has created growing support for measures that allow or inject religion into public life, he said.

Green said that five or six years ago, Colorado could have banned religious instruction during state-funded preschool classes fairly easily. But the U.S. Supreme Court has mostly invalidated state constitutional provisions that prohibit public funds for religious purposes. Now, such provisions — often referred to as Blaine amendments — are “pretty much unenforceable,” he said.

Michael Bindas, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest law firm, agreed. He also said the ruling in the Carson case, which he argued on behalf of the plaintiffs before the Supreme Court, makes clear that asking faith-based schools to eliminate religious instruction during state-funded class time amounts to religious discrimination.

If Colorado adopts the proposed rules banning religious instruction during state-funded preschool hours, he said, “I suspect it will be tied up in years of litigation.”

Welner worries that some preschools’ religious teachings could send damaging messages to children. He raised the possibility of a young transgender child attending universal preschool in a faith-based program that’s intolerant of transgender people.

“There is something disturbing, to me at least, about using taxpayer money to subsidize the education of a child in an environment that is essentially attacking the kid’s identity,” he said.

Parent choice was part of the universal preschool vision

Colorado’s Democratic governor, Jared Polis, has championed state-funded preschool for all since hitting the gubernatorial campaign trail in 2017. Two years later, during his first term, voters approved a nicotine tax to help pay for the program.

Parents began applying last winter, using an online form to choose up to five preschools they liked. The state matching system then assigned their child to a spot at one of them. Despite some confusion about the application process, families flocked to join, and enrollment quickly exceeded the state’s projections. Today, nearly 50,000 children are getting tuition-free preschool through the program, most of them 4-year-olds.

From the beginning, state leaders planned to offer universal preschool in all kinds of settings — in public schools, faith-based centers, and homes licensed by the state. The idea was to give parents lots of choices, more than were offered under the state’s previous smaller preschool program for children with risk factors. That was mostly offered in public school classrooms.

Of the more than 1,900 preschools that joined the universal program, 39 are faith-based, according to state data. Together, they serve about 930 children.

Allowing faith-based preschools to participate in publicly funded early childhood programs is nothing new. The federal Head Start preschool program, plus a number of states and cities, have done it for years. But unlike Colorado’s universal program, those programs — including Denver’s long-running taxpayer-funded preschool tuition assistance program — generally prohibit religious instruction during the government-funded portion of the day.

Such a restriction was on Colorado’s radar, too. An open records request found that in October 2022, the state’s universal preschool director sent a fact sheet to more than 50 local universal preschool officials stating that faith-based preschools could participate, as long as they didn’t use state funds for religious programming. Some of those local officials posted that condition on their websites.

But somehow, amid the chaos leading up to the launch, the issue got lost. Last spring, the state ran out of time to create rules on things like class size, curriculum, and teacher training, so it told participating preschools to “keep doing what you’re doing.” State leaders pledged to come up with rules by the start of the second year in August 2024 and are in that process now.

In October, state officials told Chalkbeat by email that there’s nothing in writing prohibiting religious instruction in universal preschool. A spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood declined to comment about why the department didn’t establish rules on the issue from the outset.

Will this Christian curriculum be used in preschools next year?

Landmark Preschool opened in 2012 and serves children from infancy through preschool, about half of them from low-income families. It has the second highest rating on the state’s five-level scale for child care quality.

Landmark Preschool in Grand Junction, Colorado.

The school has two universal preschool classrooms, one that is play-based and one that is more structured, teaching skills like cursive writing. Both use the Abeka curriculum, a program popular with Christian schools and homeschooling families that describes the Bible as the foundation for all learning.

Currently, there are no state rules governing curriculum in universal preschool, but state officials plan to create a list of acceptable curriculums before the second year of the program starts. It’s not clear what the criteria will be or whether programs like Abeka will pass muster.

Weber, the center’s director, and Christy Barrows, an administrator at Landmark’s adjoining K-12 school, say they received repeated reassurances from local universal preschool officials that their program and curriculum would be acceptable.

“We’re very open about who we are and what we teach,” said Weber. “I tell all my tours, ‘Find the right fit for you, and if it’s not (here), that’s OK.’”

The preschool welcomes all children, including those from LGBTQ families, she said. But hiring decisions are not as simple.

“We have the Christian values and morals and beliefs,” Weber said. “That hire may not be a good fit for our center, because we will be teaching these values, and if you don’t believe in these values, that’s really hard to be hired.”

Bible lessons shape storytime at Landmark Preschool

Inside Haynes’ preschool classroom, it was time for a Bible story on obedience — specifically obedience to God. Between pauses to settle antsy children, Haynes told about a young girl who was stolen from her family and forced to work for the powerful general Naaman, who had leprosy.

“There were huge sores all over Naaman’s skin, and all these sores would keep getting worse and worse,” Haynes explained. But the girl stepped in to help, suggesting Naaman should visit a prophet.

“The little girl could have said, ‘It serves Naaman right to have leprosy. I’ve been taken away from my home and made to work as a servant,’” Haynes said.

Instead, “the girl chose to do what was right and forgive even though no one had told her to do it.”

Weber, who sat nearby observing the class, is waiting to see what new rules universal preschool leaders put in place and whether Abeka will make the approved curriculum list.

“Right now, it’s working out just fine, but in the future what does it look like?” she said. “We’re just going to take it year by year and see what we do.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Lodging tax for child care? Pueblo voters said no, Ridgway voters said yes

2023-11-09T22:14:43+00:00

Voters in the City of Pueblo soundly rejected a lodging tax increase for child care, while those in the town of Ridgway easily passed a similar tax for affordable housing and child care.

The win in Ridgway, a popular outdoor recreation destination at the base of the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado, points to the continued success of lodging tax measures for workforce housing and child care in tourist destinations. Meanwhile the loss in Pueblo, a former industrial city in southern Colorado, raises questions about the appetite for such taxes in communities where tourism isn’t the main draw.

Ridgway joins around 10 other other Colorado communities, including Estes Park and Eagle and Chaffee counties, that use taxes on hotel stays in part to support child care. The idea is that local workers power the tourism industry, so visitors should contribute to efforts that support a stable workforce.

Local leaders in Ridgway hope to use some of the new lodging tax proceeds to operate a child care center within a planned affordable housing project with up to 17 rental units. Construction is set to begin next year.

“Child care is pretty critical, particularly to the folks who are living in affordable housing, so they can afford to work,” said Kelly Goodin, director of community outreach at the affordable housing nonprofit Home Trust of Ouray County.

Tuesday’s ballot measure will increase lodging taxes in Ridgway by 2.5%, raising an estimated $100,000 in 2024. The proceeds will go toward tourism, housing, and child care efforts.

Goodin said the lodging tax revenue will help cover operating costs for the planned child care center, but that other funding sources will be needed as well. The new center will serve infants and toddlers — the most expensive age group to serve because state rules require lower staff-child ratios.

Colorado counties and local marketing districts, which are created by communities or regions to promote tourism, have been allowed to use lodging taxes to support child care or housing only since a change to state law in 2022. Before that, lodging taxes in these jurisdictions had to be used for tourism efforts. Some Colorado cities and towns have long had the authority to levy a lodging tax to support child care, but few have done so.

If Pueblo’s ballot measure had passed, it would have increased the lodging tax rate by 1.5%, generating more than $600,000 annually. The proceeds would have provided financial aid to Pueblo families who earn too much to qualify for state child care subsidies but still struggle with the cost of care.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

¿Cómo se califican los centros de cuidado infantil de Colorado?

2023-11-06T20:28:55+00:00

Read in English.

Cuando las familias envían a sus hijos pequeños a un centro de cuidado infantil o preescolar, quieren que ellos estén seguros, felices y entretenidos. ¿Cómo pueden saber si un programa está ofreciendo una atención de calidad?

El sistema de calificación de los centros de cuidado infantil de Colorado es una herramienta que puede ayudar. Las calificaciones son sencillas y se pueden encontrar haciendo una búsqueda rápida en línea. Ten en cuenta que no revelarán todo lo que los padres necesitan saber sobre un programa — hacer preguntas y visitar el sitio es importante también — pero son un buen punto de partida.

Aquí te explicamos cómo funciona el sistema de calificación de los centros de cuidado infantil de Colorado:

¿Cómo Colorado califica la calidad de los centros de cuidado infantil?

Colorado estableció un sistema de calificación de cinco niveles llamado Colorado Shines en 2015. Casi todos los centros de cuidado infantil y preescolares con licencia que atienden a niños desde el nacimiento hasta los 5 años tienen una de las calificaciones, y la calificación es válida durante tres años.

La calificación más baja es el Nivel 1, que indica que un proveedor cuenta con licencia estatal y cumple las normas básicas de salud y seguridad. La calificación más alta es el Nivel 5, y significa que el proveedor ha pasado por un proceso intensivo para demostrar que es de alta calidad en todos los aspectos de su programa — desde el currículo y sus prácticas comerciales, hasta la capacitación de los maestros e incluso los esfuerzos por utilizar libros y materiales en el idioma que el niño habla en su hogar.

Los programas con calificaciones de Nivel 3 y Nivel 4 también se consideran de alta calidad, pero obtuvieron menos puntos que los programas de Nivel 5 en algunas categorías.

¿Cómo puedo encontrar la calificación del preescolar o centro de cuidado infantil de mi hijo(a)?

Cualquier persona puede buscar las calificaciones de centros de cuidado infantil y preescolares en el sitio web del sistema Colorado Shines. Puedes buscar un proveedor específico, o todos los proveedores de un área geográfica. Además de la calificación, las listas incluyen horarios, información de contacto y otros detalles sobre los proveedores.

La versión en español del sitio web se puede ver haciendo clic en el enlace Spanish en la esquina superior derecha de la pantalla. El año que viene, el estado mejorará el sitio web para ofrecer más idiomas.

Los padres también pueden llamar al línea directa de información 211 del estado para obtener ayuda al buscar un centro de cuidado infantil o saber la calificación de Colorado Shines para un proveedor. Por último, pueden preguntarles directamente a los proveedores qué calificación de Colorado Shines tienen.

¿Todos los proveedores de cuidado infantil reciben una calificación?

La gran mayoría de los programas con licencia del estado que atienden a niños pequeños tienen una calificación de Colorado Shines. Estos incluyen centros de cuidado infantil (guarderías), preescolares privados, preescolares operados por distritos escolares y programas de cuidado infantil en un hogar. Las excepciones son los preescolares móviles, que ofrecen clases en autobuses adaptados o vans, y los preescolares forestales, que ofrecen sus servicios al aire libre.

Los proveedores sin licencia tampoco reciben calificaciones de Colorado Shines. Este grupo incluye a niñeras, babysitters y personas que cuidan un grupo pequeño de niños vecinos o parientes en un hogar privado.

¿Un proveedor de cuidado infantil que tiene una calificación alta puede haber sido objeto de investigaciones o multas del estado?

Sí. Una calificación alta de Colorado Shines significa que el proveedor generalmente usa buenas prácticas de cuidado infantil, pero los padres y empleados pueden presentar quejas si detectan algo alarmante y el estado puede investigar al proveedor basándose en esas quejas u otras inquietudes.

Los proveedores que estén en libertad condicional pueden mantener su calificación actual de Colorado Shines siempre y cuando estén trabajando para solucionar el problema. Sin embargo, el proveedor puede perder su calificación si viola las normas repetidamente.

Los padres pueden averiguar si un proveedor con cualquier calificación ha sido objeto de quejas, investigaciones estatales o multas en los últimos tres años haciendo clic en el botón azul View Details en la parte inferior de la pantalla de información del proveedor en Colorado Shines. Ellos pueden ver los reportes de las inspecciones estatales de rutina, y de las inspecciones estatales hechas debido a una queja, una lesión de un menor o por haber recibido una denuncia de maltrato o descuido de un menor.

Karen Enboden, del Departamento de Niñez Temprana de Colorado, dijo que los padres deben preguntarles a los proveedores sobre cualquier violación identificada por el estado, ya que el proveedor podría darles contexto adicional o explicar cómo se van a asegurar de que no volverá a suceder.

“No hay pregunta que no se pueda hacer”, dijo ella.

¿Un proveedor de cuidado infantil puede tener una calificación baja, pero seguir siendo de alta calidad?

Sí. Los proveedores de cuidado infantil no están obligados a subir en la escala de calificaciones en Colorado Shines y pueden decidir que permanecerán en un Nivel 1 o 2 porque no quieren pasar por todo el proceso requerido para obtener una calificación más alta. Por ejemplo, las calificaciones de Nivel 3-5 requieren que los evaluadores del estado visiten el centro para hacer una revisión en persona.

Eso no significa que los proveedores de Nivel 1 o 2 no cuiden bien a los niños. Simplemente significa que el estado no ha evaluado la manera en que esos proveedores manejan sus programas, salvo para asegurar que cumplen las normas básicas de salud y seguridad.

También hay que tener en cuenta que los programas de cuidado infantil nuevos entran automáticamente en el sistema con una calificación de Nivel 1 y puede tomar meses cambiar al Nivel 2 y más de un año para subir a Nivel 3 o superior. Eso significa que los programas nuevos podrían parecer de “baja calidad” en la lista, pero es porque no han tenido suficiente tiempo para obtener una calificación más alta.

Enboden dijo que los padres no deben necesariamente descartar un programa de Nivel 1 si se sienten cómodos después de haberlo visitado.

“Tenemos muchos programas nuevos en Colorado que van a estar en la lista de Nivel 1, pero es probable que están empezando su camino hacia la calidad”, ella explicó.

Si mi proveedor de cuidado infantil tiene una calificación baja en Colorado Shines, ¿en qué otras cosas debo fijarme para determinar si es de calidad?

No importa la calificación que tenga un proveedor, es importante visitarlo, observarlo y hacer preguntas antes de matricular a tus hijos. Los padres pueden preguntar cuántos niños hay en el salón de clases, cuánto tiempo se dedica a jugar, qué credenciales tiene el personal y si todos los empleados han pasado por una verificación de antecedentes.

Esta lista de verificación del estado — disponible en inglés y en español — es un buen resumen de las características en las que te debes fijar y las preguntas que debes hacer al visitar a un posible proveedor de cuidado infantil.

Ann Schimke es reportera senior de Chalkbeat y cubre temas relacionados con la niñez temprana y la alfabetización temprana. Para comunicarte con Ann, envíale un email a aschimke@chalkbeat.org

No, 1,000 Colorado child care programs are not about to close

2023-11-03T23:24:15+00:00

The headlines started appearing in July and August: A child care catastrophe was looming.

Nearly 1,100 Colorado child care programs would shutter and 83,000 young children in the state would lose care after federal COVID aid expired in September, according to projections from a national think tank.

The numbers were part of a state-by-state forecast put out by the left-leaning Century Foundation in June, intended to sound the alarm about the impact of lapsing funds — the so-called child care cliff. But Colorado officials say the nightmare scenario described in the report won’t come to pass.

“This is not at all what we are seeing in any shape or form,” said Mary Alice Cohen, director of the office of program delivery at the Colorado Department of Early Childhood.

Several factors explain the disconnect between the alarming Century Foundation projections and Colorado’s on-the-ground reality. State officials say they chose to spread COVID relief money for early childhood — about $678 million from three federal packages and $45 million from the state — among many efforts with various expiration dates. At the same time, the state’s new universal preschool program is sending new money into the sector, and some communities are beginning to tap novel funding streams, like lodging taxes, for child care.

State leaders also want to continue COVID-era strategies that made the biggest impact.

“We are going to go after federal grant funding,” said Cohen. “We’re going to work with foundations to see which ones they want to pick up and continue.”

Meanwhile, some experts have raised questions about the Century Foundation’s methodology, suggesting the numbers of potential closures are significantly inflated. The group’s analysis relied on a 2022 survey that asked child care providers whether they would have closed during the pandemic without the help of COVID aid. It didn’t ask about the likelihood they’d close after the pandemic ended and the aid expired.

Julie Kashen, the lead author of the Century Foundation report, during a recent webinar for journalists, hinted that the numbers in the report were meant to push lawmakers to act.

“Congress pays attention to things that are scary. Like, I wish that wasn’t the way of the world but it is,” she said.

Kashen went on to say that while mass child care closures are a real possibility, they’re not a foregone conclusion, and that if they occur, they will happen “slowly and over time.”

Providers knew COVID aid was short term

When the pandemic hit, Jennifer Knott’s child care center in the western Colorado city of Rifle received an influx of COVID aid. The money paid for new handwashing sinks and air filtration systems, gloves, and cleaning supplies. It also helped make up for enrollment losses and covered the cost of the additional staff needed to comply with COVID-era health rules.

Jennifer Knott operates child care centers in Rifle and Grand Junction.

“The funding was instrumental in allowing us to make the adjustments that were required to stay open,” she said.

But by the time the funding ran out more than a year ago, enrollment was back up and the center had mostly returned to pre-COVID procedures. Knots, who recently opened a center called Adventure Academy in Grand Junction and has plans for a second one on the same site, said while her margins are thin, her finances are stable.

She wondered if providers facing dire consequences because of expiring COVID aid, “are people that maybe are not running their child care centers efficiently.”

“I’m not sure why people would be experiencing that,” she said.

Leaders of some early childhood councils, which are regional groups that support child care businesses, said while providers benefited greatly from federal money, they knew it was temporary.

“We really haven’t heard the rumblings of, ‘If that goes away, I’m going to close,’” said Stephanie Bivins, director of the Mesa County Partnership for Children and Families, an early childhood council.

Sarah Romack, executive director of the Chaffee County Early Childhood Council, said local providers have “always known it’s one- or two-time funds.” As those dollars run out, she said, “I don’t think they are gonna beat down our doors, like, “What happened?”

In addition, nine of 12 providers in the county participate in the universal preschool program, which means a monthly payment from the state at rates that, for some, are about the same or higher than what they charge in tuition.

Romack said along with the influx of COVID aid, the pandemic put a magnifying glass on long-standing problems in child care, a field notorious for low pay and high turnover.

“We’re starting to have more conversations about compensation and benefits than we ever did before,” she said.

Today, there are glimmers of progress. A Chaffee County lodging tax passed last year will fund a new grant program for child care providers. Local leaders are also talking about building two new child care centers — one in a planned housing development and the other in a housing complex for senior citizens.

Child care still doesn’t pay for itself

For Mary Nelson, executive director of Denver Cooperative Preschool, the federally funded stabilization grant she received during the pandemic did exactly what it was meant to do — shore up her program during a time of financial uncertainty.

She used it to offset a rent increase, pay extra cleaning costs, and beef up end-of-year staff bonuses.

“All of that funding provided a little relief,” she said. “The relief has gone away, but the stress and pressure still exist.”

The true cost of child care exceeds the amount most parents can pay, and as Nelson found out recently, what the state can pay.

She’d hoped to participate in the state’s universal preschool program, but the reimbursement rate was too low — it would have caused an annual shortfall of $85,000. As a result, she didn’t join, and ultimately lost some preschool families and their tuition dollars.

But Nelson doesn’t want to compromise the center’s long-standing priorities, including placing three teachers in every classroom and offering the best staff pay and benefits possible.

“It sometimes makes me wonder how long we can sustain some of these ideals,” she said.

Dora Esparza, the director of business services for Denver’s Early Childhood Council, said many child care providers in the city constantly struggle because they’re “basically selling a service at a financial loss.”

She said of the expiring COVID aid, “I don’t think it’s going to push them over the brink, but I think it’s a return back to being on the brink. That is just the day in the life of [early childhood education] providers.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

More Colorado communities ask voters to approve lodging taxes for child care

2023-10-31T23:24:20+00:00

When Michelle Oger told staff at her child care center in the mountain town of El Jebel they’d soon be getting a $500 monthly stipend, “Everybody was kind of in disbelief,” she said, “like, ‘Wait, really?’”

The promise of more money suddenly put new options within reach: Snow tires, car repairs, a vacation with the kids. One full-time teacher who worked at Starbucks on the weekends said she’d finally be able to quit the second job.

The new stipend for child care employees in Eagle County is funded through a lodging tax, a mechanism that Colorado communities, especially in mountain resort regions, are increasingly tapping to generate new dollars for housing and child care for people who live there. The idea is that local workers power the tourism industry, so visitors should contribute to efforts that support a stable workforce. Such taxes also reframe child care as a larger economic interest rather than just a mom-and-dad issue.

At least 10 Colorado towns, counties, or local marketing districts currently earmark some of their lodging tax revenues for child care. Besides Eagle County, they include Summit, Clear Creek and San Juan counties, and towns like Estes Park and Georgetown. In November, two more communities will ask voters to approve lodging tax measures to support child care: the City of Pueblo and the Town of Ridgway in western Colorado.

“Pueblo is the first non-mountain-resort town in the whole state to pursue this,” said Sarah Martinez, a Pueblo City Council member and the facilitator of a group that has worked for years to find ways to boost child care funding.

Once an industrial powerhouse in southern Colorado, Pueblo is not primarily a tourist destination. However, it does host several big events each year, including the Colorado State Fair, the Chile and Frijoles Festival, and a hotrod show.

While most lodging taxes for child care and housing have passed, Martinez worries Pueblo’s vote could be close. Among those opposing the city’s measure is the Pueblo Lodger’s Association.

If the measure, Question 2A, passes, it would levy a 1.5% tax on hotel and motel stays — about $1.77 a night — that would generate more than $600,000 annually. The proceeds would help Pueblo families who earn too much to qualify for state child care subsidies but still struggle with the cost of care.

The lodging tax in Ridgway, a Western Colorado town considered the Gateway to the San Juan Mountains, would help pay for an affordable housing project that would include a child care center.

Colorado counties and local marketing districts, which are created by communities or regions to promote tourism, have been allowed to use lodging taxes to support child care or housing only since a law change in 2022. Before that, lodging taxes in these jurisdictions had to be used for tourism efforts. Some Colorado cities and towns have long had the authority to levy a lodging tax to support child care, but few have done so.

Josh Mantell, fiscal advocacy and special projects manager at the Bell Policy Center, said he expects to see more communities seek lodging taxes for child care.

“The state does not have the revenue to properly and adequately fund a lot of what we should consider public priorities, and funding for child care is at the top of that list” he said.

“It’s great to see communities step forward and do what they need to do,” he said.

At the same time, he worries about the inequities that may emerge as some communities pass lodging taxes and others don’t or can’t.

Millions for child care in ski country

The lodging tax Eagle County voters approved in 2022 will raise about $3 million a year for housing and child care. Such funds are typically distributed in the form of grants or other types of financial aid that providers or parents apply for. Each taxing community comes up with a spending plan based on local needs.

The new $500 monthly stipends will start flowing to full-time child care employees in November. County officials also plan to use the lodging tax proceeds to hire a health consultant to work with local child care programs, offer providers help with mortgage or rental payments, and assist with building improvements that create more infant and toddler seats.

“What’s so great about lodging taxes is it’s sustainable funding,” said Sam Markovitz, Eagle County’s early childhood initiatives manager.

Oger, executive director at Blue Lake Preschool in El Jebel as well as another center in neighboring Garfield County, hopes the new stipends will help attract and retain employees. Although her employees in Garfield County don’t qualify for the Eagle County stipends, the center’s board decided to use other funding to ensure they get the same monthly payment as their Eagle County peers.

Teachers at Blue Lake make $22 to $31 an hour depending on their experience, and aides start at $20 — about the same as the Wendy’s restaurant down the road pays. While the center has a core group of veteran teachers, Oger said there are also employees who cycle through after discovering they don’t enjoy mountain life or can’t afford to live locally.

Although Blue Lake has raised staff pay three times in three years, Oger said, “It’s still not enough to keep up with the rising costs.”

Making child care a viable career

It was a big deal when voters in Estes Park’s local marketing district approved a lodging tax increase from 2% to 5.5% for housing and child care, said Carlie Bangs, Estes Park’s housing and child care manager.

“To feel like the community sees you and is willing to support you … is really impactful,” she said.

Most of the proceeds from the tax will go toward housing initiatives in the northern Colorado town, which bills itself as the “base camp” for Rocky Mountain National Park. About 12%, or $600,000, will go toward child care.

In December, centers will get a subsidy of $25,000 to $32,000, and home-based programs can qualify for $4,000. The goal is to ensure that teachers get at least $20 an hour and aides get at least $16 an hour. Additional lodging tax money will go toward tuition assistance for families, and rental, mortgage, or building improvement help for providers.

Bangs said $600,000 is more than adequate this year, since the town has only three child care centers and three licensed home-base programs. But with about 500 children under 5 in the area, Estes Park needs more child care seats.

Bangs hopes the influx of lodging tax dollars can help make caring for children a viable option for prospective providers.

“We want to incentivize people to get licensed,” she said. “We want it to be something they do because they can put food on their table and go on vacation and live a fulfilling life with that career.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Smaller class sizes in Colorado’s latest draft of universal preschool rules

2023-10-31T03:27:35+00:00

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Colorado officials want to cap preschool class sizes in the state’s new universal preschool program at 20 students next year and require at least one staff member for every 10 children in the room.

These proposed limits represent a notable change from an earlier plan that allowed classes sizes of 24 preschoolers and staff-student ratios of 1 to 12. Both are higher than what leading early childhood groups recommend.

National experts panned the earlier draft of Colorado’s universal preschool quality rules, saying that the state’s proposal set a low bar and could lead to bad outcomes for kids. The new draft rules, released Monday, are set to be finalized next spring and will take effect in the fall of 2024. A state advisory committee will weigh in, but Lisa Roy, executive director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, will make the final decision.

The new draft rules reflect the balance state officials are trying to strike between ensuring the high-quality program they promised and making the requirements attainable to a wide range of providers in a low-wage, high-turnover field. Universal preschool is available in lots of settings: school district classrooms, private child care centers, faith-based preschools, and licensed home-based programs.

State officials launched the $322 million universal preschool program in August without establishing rules on quality in part because they ran out of time. State preschool leaders told providers last spring to “keep doing what you’re doing.” That means wide variations in quality this year for the more than 48,000 children getting tuition-free preschool through the program.

Some children attend preschools with top scores on the state’s child care and preschool rating system, Colorado Shines, while others attend low-rated programs. Research shows that high-quality preschool produces positive short- and long-term outcomes for children.

Colorado’s rules on preschool quality, which will spell out requirements around curriculum, staff training, and child health screenings, will eventually bring more consistency to the universal preschool program, but it could take till 2026 or after to fully phase in all the requirements.

Aside from the lower class sizes and staff-student ratios, the new draft is largely similar to the first one. As in the original, it generally requires providers to use a curriculum from a resource bank approved by the state. In addition, preschool providers would be subject to on-site evaluations every three years. It also specifically states that faith-based preschools can’t include religious instruction in hours funded by universal preschool — a rule that is not in place this year, according to a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood.

Training requirements for preschool staff are a bit different in the new draft, with employees only required to have completed four hours of training on some topics next year, down from eight in the previous draft rules. The new draft institutes the 8-hour training requirement in either 2025 or 2026 — either the third or fourth year of the program — depending on the training topic.

The new draft also delays requirements for providers to offer or coordinate health and developmental screenings for preschoolers until the 2025-26 school year.

The new draft rules don’t address preschool teacher qualifications. A separate set of rules that will take effect in the fall of 2025 will set those requirements.

The state is collecting feedback on the latest draft of the universal preschool quality rules through at least Nov. 22.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org

Colorado rule change would give more universal preschoolers full-day classes

2023-10-26T15:00:03+00:00

About 3,000 more Colorado 4-year-olds will qualify for free full-day classes through the state’s universal preschool program next year under a draft rule that aims to better serve families in the lowest income bracket.

The proposed change would make 4-year-olds from families with incomes at or below the federal poverty level — about $30,000 a year for a family of four — eligible for full-day preschool at no cost to their families starting next August. This year, many children in this group lost out on tuition-free full-day classes because of a state funding shortfall. However, if voters approve Prop II on Election Day, the state would get more than $23 million, which could help cover the extra full-day preschool costs next year.

“This rule would provide crucial support to Colorado’s most vulnerable populations,” said Lisa Roy, executive director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, in a press release that cited high-quality preschool as a tool against poverty.

Colorado’s $322 million universal preschool program launched in August and offers free half-day preschool to 4-year-olds statewide, with some eligible for full-day classes. Some 3-year-olds also participate.

The proposed rule, announced Thursday by the early childhood department, represents the state’s effort to fix a key problem that surfaced last summer during the new preschool program’s tumultuous rollout.

State officials originally planned to give full-day preschool to a wide swath of 4-year-olds. That group included children with any of five risk factors, including those from lower-income families — defined as households with earnings up to 270% of the federal poverty level, or about $81,000 a year for a family of four. It also included English learners, children with special education plans, those in foster care, and those who are homeless.

But in July, just weeks before the first day of school, thousands of families were blindsided when they learned the state wouldn’t pay for full-day preschool as they’d expected. More families had applied for the program than state officials expected, triggering stricter eligibility requirements for full-day classes.

The longer days were thus offered to a much smaller group: children from families who met the income threshold and had a second risk factor. A group of school districts cited this 11th-hour shift among several grievances in their subsequent lawsuit against the state over universal preschool.

The tighter eligibility rules meant many children with only a single risk factor, including many from very low-income families, were out of luck. In some cases, school districts decided to cover the cost of the extra hours. In others, parents scraped together the money to pay the difference, settled for the free half-day program, or dropped out altogether.

The proposed rule is designed to more carefully target children with the greatest needs, a population that research shows stands to benefit the most from quality preschool.

The rule creates a sixth risk factor — “living in poverty” — that includes any preschooler from a family living at or below the federal poverty level. These children will then automatically fall into the more expansive “low-income” risk factor group, which includes all low and some middle-income families. Together, the two risk factors will make children eligible for full-day classes.

About 3,600 or 7% of Colorado’s more than 48,000 universal preschoolers are getting tuition-free full-day classes this year. That number could jump to about 6,600 next year under the proposed rule, according to state estimates.

With funding for universal preschool partly dependent on how much money the state’s nicotine tax brings in and how many children opt in, there’s still a chance the state could face a funding pinch in future years and limit the number of children who get full-day preschool at no cost to their families. However, the proposed rule would give children from the lowest-income families higher priority for full-day funding than they get now.

In addition, state forecasts on preschool participation and funding for next year indicate there’s enough money to serve the additional 3,000 4-year-olds expected to qualify for full-day classes.

State officials are collecting public comment on the proposed rule at least through Nov. 22, and expect to finalize it by the end of January.

Correction: Due to incorrect information provided by the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, an earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the number of children enrolled in universal preschool this year. It is more than 48,000 not 37,000. It also incorrectly stated the percentage of universal preschoolers who get full-day preschool this year. It is 7% not 10%.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Child care ratings: Here’s what Colorado parents need to know

2023-10-16T16:56:42+00:00

When families send their young children to child care or preschool, they want them to be safe, happy, and engaged. So how can they figure out if a program is offering high-quality care?

Colorado’s child care rating system is one tool that can help. The ratings are straightforward and can be accessed through a quick online search. Keep in mind they won’t reveal everything parents need to know about a program — asking questions and visiting the site are important too — but they’re a good starting place.

Here’s a closer look at how Colorado’s child care rating system works:

How does Colorado rate child care quality?

Colorado launched a five-level quality rating system called Colorado Shines in 2015. Nearly all licensed child care and preschool providers who serve children from birth to 5 years old have one of the ratings, which are good for three years.

The lowest rating is Level 1, which indicates that a provider is licensed by the state and meets basic health and safety standards. The highest rating is Level 5, which means the provider has gone through an intensive process to demonstrate high quality in all aspects of their program — from their curriculum and business practices to teacher training and even efforts to use books and materials in a child’s home language.

Programs with Level 3 and Level 4 ratings are also considered high quality, but earned fewer points in some categories than their Level 5 counterparts.

How can I look up my child’s preschool or child care rating?

Anyone can look up child care and preschool ratings on the Colorado Shines website. You can search for a specific child care provider or for all providers in a specific geographic area. In addition to the rating, the listings include hours, contact information, and other details about providers.

You can access a Spanish version of the website by clicking on the “Spanish” link in the top right hand corner of the page. Within the next year, the state will upgrade the website to offer additional languages.

Parents can also call the state’s 211 hotline for help finding child care or determining a provider’s Colorado Shines rating. Finally, they can ask providers directly what Colorado Shines rating they have.

Does every child care provider get a rating?

The vast majority of state-licensed programs that serve young children have a Colorado Shines rating. These include child care centers, private preschools, preschools run by school districts, and home-based child care programs. Exceptions include mobile preschools, which offer classes in retrofitted buses or vans, and forest preschools, which offer programming in outdoor locations.

Unlicensed child care providers also do not receive Colorado Shines ratings. This group includes nannies, babysitters, and people who care for a small number of children who are neighbors or relatives in a home setting.

Can a child care provider with a high rating still have been subject to state investigations or penalties?

Yes. A high Colorado Shines rating means the program generally uses good child care practices, but parents and or staff members can still lodge complaints if they spot something alarming, and the state can investigate the provider based on those complaints or other concerns.

Providers who are placed on state probation can keep their existing Colorado Shines rating as long as they are working to fix the problem. However, the rating may be removed after repeated violations.

Parents can find out if a provider with any rating has been subject to complaints, state investigations, or penalties within the last three years by clicking on the blue “View Details” button at the bottom of the provider’s Colorado Shines listing. They can view reports of routine state inspections, and state inspections triggered by a complaint, a child injury, or a report of child abuse or neglect.

Karen Enboden, of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, said parents should ask providers about any violations identified by the state because the provider may be able to provide additional context or explain how they’ll ensure it won’t happen again.

“No question is off limits,” she said.

Can a child care provider have a low rating but still be high quality?

Yes. Child care providers are not required to move up the ratings ladder in Colorado Shines and may decide to stay at a Level 1 or 2 because they don’t want to jump through the hoops required for higher ratings. For example, Level 3-5 ratings require an on-site review by state evaluators.

That doesn’t mean Level 1 or 2 providers don’t take good care of children. It simply means the state hasn’t assessed how the providers run their programs other than to ensure they meet basic health and safety rules.

It’s also worth noting that new child care programs automatically come into the system with a Level 1 rating and it can take months to move to a Level 2 and more than a year to move to a Level 3 or higher. That means new programs may look “low-quality” on paper, but it’s because they haven’t had enough time to obtain higher ratings.

Enboden said parents shouldn’t necessarily shy away from a Level 1 if they feel comfortable after visiting the program.

“We do have a lot of new programs in Colorado and they are going to be listed as Level 1, but it’s probably because they’re just starting their quality journey,” she said.

If my child care provider has a low Colorado Shines rating, what other things should I look for that show quality?

No matter what rating a provider has, it’s important to visit, observe, and ask questions before enrolling your child. Parents may want to ask how many children are in the classroom at one time, how much time is dedicated to play, and what credentials staff have and if they all receive background checks.

This state checklist — available in both English and Spanish — provides a good summary of features to look for and questions to ask when visiting a prospective child care provider.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org

Colorado seeks dismissal of universal preschool lawsuit brought by school districts

2023-10-13T02:31:17+00:00

Attorneys for Gov. Jared Polis and other officials say a lawsuit filed against the state over Colorado’s new universal preschool program is based on a flawed interpretation of special education law and the state constitution.

That argument came in a motion to dismiss the suit filed Thursday in Denver district court. The motion represents the state’s response to an August lawsuit brought by six Colorado school districts and two statewide education groups claiming the universal preschool program is harming children with disabilities and breaking financial promises to families and school districts.

The motion to dismiss argues that the plaintiffs disapprove of the state’s choices on how to run the universal preschool program, but that state officials have the latitude to make those choices under the law.

“Plaintiffs’ concerns should be addressed through the policymaking process, not the judiciary,” the motion states.

During a press conference announcing the lawsuit on Aug. 17, several school district leaders said they’d tried to give feedback to state officials during the universal preschool planning process, but were ignored.

The lawsuit was filed by the Colorado Association of School Executives, the Consortium of Directors of Special Education, and the 27J, Cherry Creek, Harrison, Mapleton, Platte Valley, and Westminster school districts.

In the suit, the plaintiffs alleged that children would miss out on vital special education services or full-day preschool classes, or would miss preschool altogether, because of problems with the state’s online application and matching system. The lawsuit named Polis, who’s long championed the universal preschool program, and leaders at the Colorado Department of Early Childhood and the Colorado Department of Education as defendants.

The $322 million universal preschool program, funded partly through a state nicotine tax, launched in August and offers 10 to 30 hours of tuition-free preschool a week to all Colorado 4-year-olds, and 10 hours a week to some 3-year-olds.

More than 45,000 children are enrolled in the program, including in school district preschools, private preschools, and licensed home-based programs.

BridgeCare, the state’s online application and matching system, is at the center of the lawsuit. Starting last winter, preschools listed their offerings on the platform and families used it to apply for a spot. A computer algorithm then matched kids to seats.

But according to the lawsuit, the system didn’t always work, leading to confusion and frustration. In some cases, it led to preschool matches for students with disabilities that meant school districts couldn’t fulfill the requirements spelled out in federal special education law.

But Thursday’s motion to dismiss argues that federal special education law makes it the state’s obligation to ensure students with disabilities are properly served — and that school districts’ legal obligations to such students start only after the state matches the children to district preschools.

The motion also argues that while the Colorado Constitution’s local control provision gives school districts authority over things like instruction and teacher employment, it doesn’t grant them “unmitigated control over how students apply to and are matched in a state-funded preschool program.”

Finally, the motion asserts that the school district plaintiffs speculated they would see enrollment drop, lose funding, or have to turn preschoolers away on the first day of school, without concrete proof that those things happened.

At the August press conference on the lawsuit, a Westminster district leader described how the district had been forced to turn away a 3-year-old preschooler that morning.

The state is facing two other lawsuits over the universal preschool program, both brought by religious preschools claiming that state’s anti-discrimination requirements violate their religious beliefs.

The state has addressed some of the problems cited by the plaintiffs in the school district lawsuit in recent weeks. For example, in late September, the state began allowing preschools to enroll “walk-ins” on the spot instead of making them wait until they’d been matched through the state’s online system, a process that can take days or weeks.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org

Parents: Colorado’s universal preschool program now allows walk-in enrollment

2023-09-29T20:48:09+00:00

A recent change to Colorado’s universal preschool rules now permits “walk-in” enrollment, allowing children to start classes more quickly — potentially the same day their families show up at a local preschool.

The state made the change in late September after some preschool providers complained that they were forced to turn away families who showed up without having first filled out the online application and received a preschool match through the state’s computer system. Under that process, preschoolers sometimes waited a week or more to start class.

Now, as long preschools have open spots, children will be able to start the day they walk in or shortly thereafter. Their families still have to fill out the state’s universal preschool application, but generally they’ll be able to do that on the spot, and their child will be placed immediately. Preschools may also require parents to provide key documents, such as the child’s birth certificate, proof of address, and immunization records.

The rule change is one of the ways state officials have tried to address criticism from some preschool providers, advocates, and lawmakers that the program’s application process is confusing for families and limits how much preschool providers can help them.

Ian McKenzie, a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, said of the new rule in an email, “We are delighted to show it as a sign of the work [the department] is doing to meet the needs of families throughout the school year.”

Since the year is already well underway, the new walk-in rule won’t affect most universal preschool families. However, it will help those who have recently relocated or are just finding out about the program.

Currently, about 38,000 4-year-olds and 9,000 3-year-olds get 10 to 30 hours a week of tuition-free preschool through the new state program — more children than the state initially expected. The program is open to all 4-year-olds statewide. They can attend in public schools, private preschools, child care centers, and state-licensed homes. Three-year-olds with certain risk factors are also eligible for the program, with classes generally provided only in public schools.

Families can still apply for universal preschool this year, either by filling out the online application or going to a participating preschool provider directly.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Voter guide: Prop II asks Colorado voters to spend extra nicotine tax revenue on preschool

2023-09-28T23:15:01+00:00

Should Colorado be allowed to keep $23.7 million raised through a state nicotine tax to help fund preschool? Or should that money be refunded to sellers of nicotine products?

That’s the gist of Proposition II (pronounced “eye-eye”), one of two statewide ballot issues voters will consider this election season. If voters approve the measure, the money will go toward the state’s new universal preschool program.

The preschool program began this fall and serves 38,000 4-year-olds and 9,000 3-year-olds with 10 to 30 hours a week of tuition-free class time. While the program has proven popular with families, its rollout has been rocky at times.

In July, thousands of families who expected tuition-free full-day preschool found out their children would get less because the state didn’t have enough money. In August, school district officials sued over the program, claiming the state is harming students with disabilities and breaking funding promises to families and schools.

Some of the $23.7 million up for grabs through the ballot measure could help solve these problems, though there’s not enough to address all of them.

Here’s a closer look at Proposition II.

Will Prop II raise taxes?

No. It simply allows the state to keep $23.7 million raised through a nicotine tax Colorado voters approved in 2020. Because the tax raised more money than originally predicted, the state is required by the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, commonly called TABOR, to ask voters if it can keep the extra revenue generated.

If voters say yes, the state will get to keep any excess revenue in future years as well.

Voters easily approved a similar measure in 2015 that allowed the state to keep extra marijuana tax revenue.

If voters reject Prop II, the $23.7 million would be refunded to wholesalers and distributors of nicotine and tobacco products, and the tax rate on nicotine products will go down by 11.5%.

How would Prop II money be used?

If voters approve Prop II, the money will go toward Colorado’s $322 million universal preschool program — the same place most of the nicotine tax money from the 2020 ballot measure is already going.

Leaders of the campaign backing Prop II say the additional $23.7 million will help pay for half-day preschool spots next year, as well as for full-day preschool for some children with risk factors. Such children include 4-year-olds who come from lower-income families, English learners, students with special education plans, and those who are homeless or are in the foster care system.

Who supports Prop II and who opposes it?

Dozens of elected officials, community leaders, and organizations support Prop II, according to leaders of “Preschool for all Coloradans,” a campaign backing the ballot measure. Supporters include Children’s Hospital Colorado, the American Lung Association, Colorado Children’s Campaign, Colorado PTA, Great Education Colorado, and Executives Partnering to Invest in Children.

So far, there’s no organized opposition to Prop II.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org

Colorado parents: Need help paying for preschool? Check out these programs.

2023-08-29T20:00:33+00:00

Leer en español.

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Starting this fall, Colorado is offering 10 to 15 hours of tuition-free preschool to all 4-year-olds as part of the state’s universal preschool program. More than 40,000 families have already applied, but the application process is still open and will be available throughout the year.

But what if you need more class time for your child than just 10 to 15 hours a week?

There are several ways to get financial help for those extra hours. The universal preschool program will pay for up to 30 hours of preschool a week for some children. They must be from low-income families and fall into one of the following categories: English language learner, homeless, in foster care, or have a special education plan. Simply being from a low-income family is not enough to qualify for 30 hours.

We’ve compiled a list of other programs that may help cover extra hours of preschool, including Head Start, the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program, and, for Denver residents, the Denver Preschool Program. Summit County also offers tuition assistance for preschoolers, through its Summit Pre-K Program, though the application window generally runs from May 1-31.

Military families may be eligible for financial help through the Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood program, which is for families who can’t access military-operated child care programs because of waitlists or the distance from their homes.

Finally, it’s worth asking your child’s preschool if they offer scholarships or discounts that could help lower the cost of care.

For questions about universal preschool or adding extra hours, contact the universal preschool help desk at 303-866-5223 or the local group in your county that is helping run universal preschool.

Here’s a quick look at some of the programs that can be combined with universal preschool to provide students with full-day classes.

Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP)

What is it: A state program that helps low-income families pay for child care, including preschool. Parents must be working, looking for work, or attending school.

Who’s eligible: Families whose children are citizens or legal permanent residents and whose household income is 200% to 270% of the federal poverty line. That’s $60,000 to $81,000 for a family of four. Each county sets its own income criteria, so check here for details based on where you live.

Financial aid: CCCAP covers most of the cost of child care for qualifying families, with the amount varying based on how much care a child needs above their universal preschool hours. Families who qualify also have to pay a parent fee — a co-pay that varies based on income, family size, and the number of children in child care.

How to apply: Online in English or Spanish, or contact your county’s department of human services.

What to know about combining with universal preschool: Only some preschools participate in the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program. Ask the universal preschool provider you selected if they take CCCAP, or find the provider name in the universal preschool application and click on the “View More Information” link. A pop-up box will tell you more about the provider, including if they take CCCAP or offer other financial help.

Some families who qualify for CCCAP may not receive assistance because of funding shortfalls — particularly once federal COVID stimulus dollars run out in 2024.

Denver Preschool Program

What is it: A Denver program that provides sliding-scale tuition help for 4-year-olds in preschool regardless of family income.

Who’s eligible: Denver residents who have 4-year-old children attending preschool regardless of immigration status.

Financial aid: Tuition credits range from $36 to $1,227 a month for up to 12 months, and are paid to the school on the family’s behalf. Use the Denver Preschool Program’s tuition credit calculator to estimate your monthly tuition credit. Credits are based on family size, income, and the quality of the preschool selected.

How to apply: Online any time in English or Spanish, or contact the Denver Preschool Program at (303) 595-4377 or info@dpp.org. Applications in PDF form are available in Chinese/Mandarin, French, Russian, Vietnamese, Somali, Amharic, and Nepali.

What to know about combining with universal preschool: Apply to universal preschool first and once your child is enrolled in a preschool, apply to the Denver Preschool Program. This is necessary because the Denver Preschool Program application requires that families list the preschool their child is attending. Most Denver preschools participating in universal preschool also participate in the Denver Preschool Program, but there are a few that don’t. Check here to find preschools participating in the Denver Preschool Program.

Head Start

What is it: A federally funded program that provides free preschool, health services, and family support to children from low-income families, regardless of immigration status.

Who’s eligible: Children who are 3 to 5 years old in families with a household income at or below the federal poverty guideline. That’s $30,000 a year for a family of 4. Children who are homeless, in foster care, or whose families receive public assistance are also eligible regardless of income.

Financial aid: Head Start is a free preschool program that provides part-time or full-time hours to the children it serves.

How to apply: Search here for providers near you and contact the center directly to apply. For help finding a Head Start provider, call 866-763-6481.

What to know about combining with universal preschool: Only certain preschool providers offer Head Start. The universal preschool application also shows whether providers participate in Head Start. For help, contact the Head Start provider you’re interested in or the local group that helps run universal preschool.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Marshmallows vs. chocolate: Kids tackle first day of school amid Colorado’s universal preschool launch

2023-08-23T18:03:20+00:00

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“Would you rather eat only chocolate or only marshmallows?” teacher Jordan Parsons asked the gaggle of preschoolers sitting on the rug in front of her.

Most of the 13 kids bounded to the left side of the rug, several gleefully jumping and shrieking at the thought of a marshmallow-only diet. A few chocolate-lovers drifted to the other side of the rug.

When Parsons asked which group was bigger, a member of Team Marshmallow confirmed the obvious: “This one,” he said brightly.

It was the first day of preschool at Denver’s Auraria Early Learning Center and part of the rolling launch of universal preschool in Colorado. The new $322 million program offers 10 to 30 hours a week of tuition-free preschool to 4-year-olds statewide and 10 hours to some 3-year-olds.

Up to 40,000 4-year-olds are expected to participate in the program this school year, double the enrollment of Colorado’s previous state-funded preschool program.

Many parents and early childhood advocates are excited about the state’s effort to help more families with preschool costs and prepare kids for kindergarten. At the same time, some aspects of universal preschool rollout have been rushed, confusing, and punctuated by eleventh hour changes.

Thousands of families who had expected the state to cover full-day preschool based on meeting certain criteria found out in late July the program would only pay for half-day classes. Most recently, school district officials sued over the program, claiming the state is harming students with disabilities and breaking funding promises to families and schools. Religious preschools also have sued, alleging that anti-discrimination requirements violate their religious beliefs.

But on Monday morning, the kids in Parsons’ classroom were unconcerned with legal questions and logistics. They were too busy with playground time, the “Would you rather?” game, and a story about a dinosaur named Penolope who ate her classmates.

The problems they did have were child-sized: A forgotten water bottle, outdoor playtime cut short by the melting heat, and a few pangs of homesickness that called for a break in the “cozy cove” — a large wooden hideaway stocked with a basket of toys.

A little girl in a pink and green sundress said her favorite part of preschool is “using scissors” — purple glittery scissors, to be exact.

A boy who proudly announced he’d just turned 4 in July, said he enjoys drawing — especially rainbows, like the one on his first-day-of-school shirt.

“I picked it out from Target,” he said of the green top.

Preschool students at Auraria Early Learning Center in Denver line up to go outside on their first day of school.

For her part, Auraria Early Learning Center Director Emily Nelson said she’s pleased with how universal preschool is shaping up. There have been challenges, but that’s true with any new system, she said.

“I feel good with where we’re at,” she said. “I feel like parents have the information they need.”

She’s heard some parents express relief that the state is helping defray tuition costs. Under universal preschool, the state covers the cost of 15 hours a week at the center, dropping monthly full-day tuition from $1,531 to $921. Some parents get additional assistance through campus scholarships or a taxpayer-funded tuition credit program called the Denver Preschool Program.

Like many providers across Colorado, Nelson had empty universal preschool seats on the first day of school — eight between her two 4-year-old classrooms. Statewide, about 56,000 4-year-old seats are available, well above the number that will be needed even if more families sign up in the coming months.

Nelson said having a few open seats is typical at this time of year, especially being on a college campus where classes are also just beginning. The center serves the children of students, faculty, and community members.

When the semester starts, parents think, ‘Oh child care, I need to figure that piece out,’” she said.

On Monday, the children at Auraria Early Learning Center had their own challenges to figure out. A ponytailed girl announced during storytime that she felt sad. Then she went into the cozy cove and emerged rejuvenated — ready to get back to her first day.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org

Colorado school district leaders sue state over free preschool program rollout

2023-08-17T19:05:37+00:00

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Six Colorado school districts and two statewide education groups sued the state Thursday, claiming Colorado’s universal preschool program is harming children with disabilities and breaking financial promises to families and school districts.

The Colorado Association of School Executives, the Consortium of Directors of Special Education, and six districts filed the lawsuit against Gov. Jared Polis, the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, and the Colorado Department of Education in Denver district court on Thursday. The districts include Brighton-based 27J, Cherry Creek, Harrison, Mapleton, Platte Valley, and Westminster.

The groups allege that children will miss out on vital special education services, full-day preschool classes, or any preschool at all because the state’s online matching system is rife with problems. In several of the plaintiff districts, the first day of preschool was this week, but lots of children were missing from class rosters.

The Colorado Department of Early Childhood is running the new preschool program, but the Department of Education is in charge of ensuring that preschoolers with disabilities are served according to special education laws. Launching universal preschool has been one of Polis’ signature priorities since he hit the campaign trail in 2018.

The lawsuit marks the latest and probably most significant bump in the rocky rollout of the preschool program, which offers 10 to 30 hours of tuition-free preschool a week to all 4-year-olds in Colorado and 10 hours to some 3-year-olds. Technology problems, poor communication, and last-minute changes have left many preschool providers and parents confused and frustrated in the run-up to the program’s launch this month.

The lawsuit touches on many of the same issues, with one of the school districts’ most pressing concerns being how the matching system functions — or doesn’t.

Mat Aubuchon, executive director of learning services for the Westminster district north of Denver, described a mother who showed up to preschool Thursday with a three- and a four-year-old — and the school had to turn away the three-year-old because they couldn’t verify the child was correctly placed.

These problems could have been avoided, superintendents said at a press conference, if district administrators had been included years earlier in the preschool planning process.

“I’m saddened that we’re here today,” said Cherry Creek Superintendent Christopher Smith. “All we’re asking is to be part of the solution.”

Thursday’s lawsuit is the third one the state has faced over universal preschool. In June, a Christian preschool in Chaffee County sued the Department of Early Childhood, alleging that a non-discrimination agreement the state requires from universal preschool providers would prevent it from operating in accordance with its religious beliefs. Two Catholic parishes that operate preschools filed a similar lawsuit on Wednesday.

But the school districts’ lawsuit touches more directly on one of universal preschool’s stated purposes: to help children who need it most get a strong foundation for school.

A spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood said the department would not comment on pending litigation.

In an emailed statement, Polis spokesman Conor Cahill lamented that the plaintiffs were distracting from the successes of universal preschool and pledged to defend the program “vigorously” in court.

“While it’s unfortunate to see different groups of adults attempting to co-opt preschool for themselves, perhaps because they want to not allow gay parents to send their kids to preschool, or they want to favor school district programs over community-based early childhood centers, the voters were clear on their support for parent choice and a universal, mixed delivery system that is independently run, that doesn’t discriminate against anyone and offers free preschool to every child no matter who their parents are,” Cahill said.

Jeremy Meyer, a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Education, said officials there are still reviewing the complaint.

“It is important to us to emphasize that CDE fundamentally values serving all students, and we are absolutely committed to ensuring preschool students with disabilities receive all the services they are entitled to under federal law to prepare them for success in school,” he said in an email.

A glitchy preschool algorithm creates district headaches

The state’s online preschool matching system — called BridgeCare — is at the center of the latest lawsuit. Starting last winter, preschools listed their offerings on the platform and families used it to apply for a spot. A computer algorithm then matched kids to seats.

But the system doesn’t always work. That’s led to long waits for parents on the state’s helpline, time-consuming manual fixes by regional groups tasked with helping run the new program, and preschool spots that go unfilled despite high local demand, according to the lawsuit.

In addition, district officials’ access to the platform is so limited they sometimes can’t properly place children with disabilities or even contact their families, according to the lawsuit. As a result, public schools can’t fulfill their legal obligation to such students and their parents, the plaintiffs said.

The lawsuit describes a last-minute effort in late July to give districts additional access to BridgeCare. In the Harrison district, it yielded days of fruitless back-and-forth between state and district staff about erroneous or missing sign-ups. Although district officials expected 124 students with disabilities to be matched with their classrooms, zero showed up on the list. State officials suggested the district “do some family outreach,” according to the lawsuit.

“We have failed students and we have failed their families,” Harrison Superintendent Wendy Birhanzel said during the press conference. “They will continue to lose instruction until changes are made.”

Bret Miles, executive director of the Colorado Association of School Executives, said part of the reason for problems with BridgeCare is that the state didn’t spend the money needed to get a system with more capabilities.

“They bought a cheaper version of it,” he said.

Bret Miles, executive director of the Colorado Association of School Executives, center, talks about his organization’s lawsuit at a press conference. He was joined by CASE Deputy Director Melissa Gibson, left, and CASE General Counsel Michelle Murphy, right.

Besides the matching system, the lawsuit alleges several instances in which state officials rolled back funding pledges, inappropriately diverted money for students with disabilities to the general education preschool fund, or are delaying payments.

The suit cites a promise by the state to pay for full-day preschool for students from low-income families, or who have one of four other risk factors. State officials announced in late July that only a fraction of those students — those from low-income families who also have a second risk factor — are eligible for tuition-free full-day classes.

The Westminster district north of Denver, where many students come from low-income families, will spend $2 million this year to ensure more than 170 4-year-olds whose families expected full-day classes will get them at no cost, according to the lawsuit. The Harrison district, which also has many students from low-income families, estimated it will have to spend several million dollars to cover full-day preschool for children the state now won’t cover.

The suit also claims the state reappropriated $38 million that was supposed to be used for preschoolers with disabilities into a pot of general education preschool dollars. In addition, it alleges the state plans to hold back some money until next June that districts need this year.

Scott Smith, Cherry Creek’s chief financial and operating officer, said when he and other district leaders raised concerns to state officials more than a year ago that there wouldn’t be enough money to fully fund the new preschool program, “We were continually disregarded.”

“That funding isn’t there and wasn’t there,” he said.

About 39,000 Colorado 4-year-olds have been matched with a preschool through the universal program so far. Most families were able to choose from a variety of preschool settings, including schools, child care centers, or state-licensed homes, but parents of students with disabilities were not. Such students — about 12% of the total — will generally be served in public schools, which have a legal responsibility to provide services spelled out in each child’s federally mandated special education plan.

The new $322 million preschool program is funded with proceeds from a voter-approved nicotine tax and dollars from the state’s previous, smaller preschool program, which was only for students from low-income families or who had other risk factors.

Through last school year, Colorado preschoolers who had diagnosed disabilities were served through the state’s “early childhood special education” program. School district teams placed the vast majority of those children in classrooms where at least half of students were typically developing kids.

This year, under the universal preschool program, integrating students with disabilities and their typical peers is still the goal, but the state’s electronic platform has taken over the role district officials used to play. That’s led to some children being matched to settings that don’t make sense or classrooms that don’t have the right balance of children, requiring convoluted change requests that have often further frustrated parents.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Fact-checking Gov. Polis’ statements on universal preschool and full-day classes

2023-08-16T00:14:45+00:00

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Thousands of Colorado families believed their 4-year-olds would get tuition-free full-day preschool through Colorado’s new universal preschool program. In July, they found out it wasn’t true.

The state didn’t have enough money for every child from a low-income family or with another risk factor to get full-day classes. Instead, only a fraction of them — those with low-income status and a second risk factor — would get the longer school day at no cost to their families. The rest had to come up with the extra tuition money themselves, drop down to a half-day program, or bow out altogether.

It was a blow to families, but also a blow to the $330 million universal preschool program that Gov. Jared Polis has made a signature priority of his tenure. For months, critics have charged that the program’s rollout has been rushed, messy, and confusing.

In a recent interview with 9News reporter Marshall Zelinger, Polis tried to explain why some children with risk factors wouldn’t get the 30 hours a week their families thought they were promised.

He provided a variety of answers: There’s not enough space. Families seeking full-day classes just want child care. Half-day preschool is better for kids.

So, what’s true?

Chalkbeat fact-checked some of the claims Polis made about universal preschool. Here’s what we found.

Is there enough space?

What Gov. Polis said: “There’s nothing even close to the space for full-day preschool.”

Fact check: This is partially true, but misleading. There are more than 24,000 full-day seats offered by Colorado’s universal preschool providers this year, according to April numbers from the state’s Department of Early Childhood. That’s more than enough for the more than 14,000 4-year-olds who have at least one risk factor and whose families were initially told their children would be eligible for tuition-free full-day classes.

The reason many of those 14,000 children are not being offered full-day preschool as their families expected is because the state doesn’t have enough money, not because it doesn’t have enough space. In some cases, full-day classes may be unavailable in a particular preschool or community, but on a statewide basis there are full-day seats available.

Polis is correct that there’s not enough physical space for full-day preschool for every 4-year-old who will participate in the universal program this year — more than 30,000 kids — but that was never the plan to begin with.

Child care vs. preschool

What Gov. Polis said: “Are you saying you want to pick your kid up at 2:30? Or five, right? If they say 2:30, then they’re in it for the full-day preschool because they value that academic experience. If they’re saying five, because I work and I can’t pick up my kid until five, they need a child care solution.”

Fact check: This is misleading. Polis’ comments suggest that parents wanted something out of universal preschool that wasn’t being offered, namely child care. But the state has long planned to offer full-day preschool hours to some families, clearly stating that in the application and other messaging. In some cases, the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, which is running the new program, even used the word “care” to describe the extra hours of preschool. (On Facebook, for example.)

Finally, giving children educationally enriching experiences and supervising them while parents work aren’t mutually exclusive. It’s also worth noting that preschool classrooms, like infant and toddler classrooms, are governed by state child care rules — so in that sense, preschool is child care.

Is half-day preschool best?

What Gov. Polis said: “This is a half-day universal preschool program. That’s what the voters approved. It’s also developmentally appropriate. Kids benefit the most in that 15-to-20-hour range.”

Fact check: Not necessarily. A 2019 experimental study of preschoolers in the Westminster district north of Denver found that full-day students outperformed half-day students in early literacy, math, physical, and socioemotional development. Full-day students attended for 30 hours a week and half-day students attended for 12 hours a week.

The study was particularly notable because it used gold-standard methodology, with students randomly assigned to full-day or half-day classes. The authors, including Allison Atteberry, who was then at the University of Colorado Boulder, concluded that the study provided compelling evidence “that a full-day, full-week preschool supports young children’s development, at least among a sample of primarily low-income, Latinx children.”

Is universal preschool high-quality?

What Gov. Polis said: “We are funding high-quality preschool.”

Fact check: This is not true. While many participating preschools may offer high-caliber programming, state officials are not requiring providers to meet any particular quality standards during the program’s first year. All providers must meet basic health and safety standards, but those have long been necessary to get a state child care license. The state told providers in April to “keep doing what you’re doing,” and said rules on quality will be added for the 2024-25 school year.

Experts say preschool can produce short- and long-term benefits for kids, but only if it’s high quality. Class-size limits, staff credentials, teacher training requirements, and curriculum choice are often among the criteria used to measure preschool quality.

The universal preschool program has already backed away from class-size rules used in Colorado’s previous targeted preschool program, which was for students with risk factors. The targeted program, which ended in June, capped class sizes at 16 children, while the universal preschool program will allow classes of up to 24.

Elementary students get the same hours. Should preschoolers?

What Gov. Polis said: “I view preschool much like I view first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade. We don’t give more fourth grade hours to low-income families.”

Fact check: This is misleading. It may be true that fourth graders from low-income households don’t get extra hours of school, but they already get six or seven hours of class a day.

Since the inception of Colorado’s universal preschool program, state leaders have talked about giving students with the highest needs more preschool to help them get ready for kindergarten. The 2022 law creating universal preschool says to ensure equity, the state “must” invest in extra preschool for children in low-income families. As details of the new program unfolded last year, state officials spelled out what that additional programming would entail: 15 extra hours a week, for a total of 30.

Colorado has long made a point to provide extra help to children who face barriers to educational success — providing extra funding to their schools or direct support to their families. In fact, until the universal preschool program launched this month, Colorado’s publicly funded preschool program targeted only students from low-income families or who had other risk factors. In short, the state recognizes that some kids need more help than others and routinely crafts policy based on that distinction.

Letter informing parents their children won’t get tuition-free full-day preschool

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado school districts rush to fill job openings before school starts

2023-08-07T17:27:09+00:00

There were stay-at-home mothers looking for work that matched their children’s school schedules, a former Starbucks barista who had tired of starting at 5 a.m., and a 60-year-old former Molly Maid employee who said housecleaning had become too much.

All joined the bustle at an Aurora Public Schools job fair just a week before school was set to start and talked to recruiters about positions driving buses, working with preschoolers, preparing meals, or cleaning schools.

In Colorado and nationwide, acute staffing shortages have made it harder for school districts to deliver basic services. But Aurora hiring representatives were upbeat about the prospect of filling vacancies in the 39,000-student district — if not by the first day of school on Aug. 8, soon after.

Travis Brown, a lead trainer with the district’s transportation department, said interest from candidates is higher this year than last.

“Are things still lean? Yeah, they are,” he said. “But there’s definitely a change in the number of folks who are coming out. Job fairs like this would have been desolate a year ago.”

Last-minute hiring is nothing new for school districts. Many have faced shortages of special education, math, and science educators, mental health staff, and bus drivers for years. Last school year, 720 teaching positions and 570 classroom aide positions went unfilled across Colorado, according to data from the state’s annual educator shortage survey. Hundreds more jobs were filled through stopgap measures like hiring retired educators or long-term substitutes.

Cynthia Cobb, Aurora’s early childhood education director, welcomed a steady stream of candidates to her table during the first hour of Tuesday’s job fair, taking down contact information and explaining the credentials needed to work with young children. Her department had 43 positions to fill, a combination of lead teacher and classroom aide jobs.

Cobb said there are more vacancies than usual, because the district is adding 19 preschool classrooms this fall as part of the state’s new universal preschool program, which provides tuition-free classes to any 4-year-old whose family wants it.

But like Brown, she said there’s more interest from job seekers, too. That’s due in part to a wage boost that has made Aurora more competitive with neighboring districts, such as Denver and Cherry Creek. Aurora’s starting pay for preschool aides is now $20 an hour, up from $14 last year.

Noting that she received 75 applications through the job search website Indeed during the past week, she said, “It didn’t happen before.”

To sweeten the deal, Cobb also let candidates know that she has grant money that can help them pay for early childhood education classes at the Community College of Aurora — on top of free courses the state is already covering as part of an effort to develop more early childhood teachers.

Selena Canche, a mother of five, attended the fair to find something with more consistent hours than her part-time package delivery job through Amazon Flex. She hoped for work in one of the district’s cafeterias or early childhood classrooms.

“Being able to work where my kids go to school is the goal,” she said.

Renée Le Floch, the former house cleaner, left the fair with the promise of a job interview with the district’s nutrition department the next day. After years of physical work, she hoped to land something less taxing. Plus, she said, working around children is her dream.

At the booth for the district’s nutrition department — which is hiring for 50 positions — a poster advertised the starting wage at $13.80 an hour. But Bianca Mendoza, a staffing and marketing specialist for the district, quickly noticed it was out of date. The rate is now $15.26 an hour, she said.

The job is fun, said Mendoza. “You get to love on those kids, feed them, hear their stories.”

Monica Drees, the former barista, stopped by three tables at the fair, but said a nutrition services job was her top choice. It would offer flexible hours and let her capitalize on her experience in food service.

Plus, she said, Mendoza “seemed really nice.”

“I can learn how to do a job,” Drees said, “but mostly I want to like my coworkers.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org. Chalkbeat intern Sara Martin contributed to this report.

Colorado backtracks on full-time preschool for 11,000 kids with risk factors

2023-08-02T23:12:28+00:00

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Nikki Spasova expected her 4-year-old son to get free full-day classes through the state’s new universal preschool program since he’s still learning English.

But just two weeks before Kristian was set to start preschool, Spasova learned that wasn’t the case. Instead, the state program will cover just 15 hours of preschool, the same hours offered to Colorado children who don’t face barriers to success in school.

Colorado’s universal preschool plan called for children like Kristian to get up to 30 hours a week at no cost to their families, provided there was enough money. It turns out there isn’t.

In the final weeks before school starts, that shortfall triggered a provision in state law that tightened eligibility requirements so that only children who are low-income and have a second risk factor will receive full-day classes.

Instead of half of 4-year-olds being offered free full-time preschool, just 13% will.

Some of the affected children are learning English, like Kristian. Many more are from low-income families — and money for additional child care subsidies is limited, too. Meanwhile, the state is sticking to its plan to offer 15 tuition-free hours to all 4-year-olds, even those from well-to-do families — more hours than required by state law.

“To cut back on the ones who really need it does not feel fair,” said Jean Doolittle, the owner of Southglenn Montessori Preschool in Centennial where Kristian is enrolled. “Instead of taking a little bit from everybody, they took a lot from those who need it most.”

The decision illustrates the trade-off Colorado leaders made in designing the new preschool program, which launches this month. Many early childhood advocates cheered Colorado’s move from a preschool program that targets certain kids to one that’s open to all 4-year-olds, but as the program rolls out, some providers are concerned the universal model shortchanges children facing the toughest odds.

Four-year-old Kristian, whose native language is Bulgarian, is among nearly 11,000 Colorado children who won’t be offered tuition-free full-day preschool this fall. The news has left families and providers scrambling with only days or weeks before school starts.

At least one district — Aurora Public Schools — has decided to cover the cost of full-day preschool for families the state rejected for the extra help.

But many families will either have to come up with the extra tuition money, switch their child to a half-day program, or bow out altogether.

For Kristian’s parents, the last-minute switch means they’ll have to pay $428 a month more than they’d planned.

“We can barely make it,” said Spasova.

Preschool funding gets spread more thinly

When state officials asked voters in 2020 to approve a nicotine tax to help pay for universal preschool, they promised 10 tuition-free hours a week to any Colorado 4-year-old whose family wanted it. Last fall, they decided to offer 15. At the same time, state officials planned to provide 30 hours a week to children with the highest needs — those from low-income families, with limited English skills, with a special education plan, are homeless, or are in foster care.

The state’s online application told parents that extra hours for students with any one of the five risk factors “will be added” after their application is reviewed,

But when demand for the new program exploded, there wasn’t enough money for everything.

Dawn Odean, Colorado’s universal preschool director, said Colorado’s 2022 preschool law dictated which groups would get prioritized for preschool funding and didn’t guarantee that students with risk factors would get extra hours.

State officials expected about half of Colorado 4-year-olds — around 30,000 — to participate this year, but is on track to exceed that.

Conor Cahill, a spokesperson for Gov. Jared Polis, said in an email Wednesday that sign-ups have hit 36,000.

That’s a number legislative staff worried about as far back as February, estimating it would cost $30 million more than the $322 million budgeted for universal preschool to serve all those additional children, according to a budget memo. To avoid too many signups in the first year, they recommended no extra funding for marketing universal preschool. The governor’s office used its own funds to pay for marketing and now touts that the state has surpassed its goals for enrollment in the first year.

Additionally, Cahill said the governor wants to offer 18 hours of preschool a week to all 4-year-olds by the end of his second term in 2026.

Odean, when asked how she would respond to families whose children have risk factors and who feel misled, said “that’s a hard one” and that the department is always looking at how they can give families more clarity.

“Are we getting to our most vulnerable?” she said. “I don’t think we know that at this point, but there is definitely all eyes on that consideration.”

In the Aurora district, officials expected about 1,200 universal preschool students to qualify for full-day funding because they have a risk factor, but only around 300 met the new criteria. Cynthia Cobb, Aurora’s early childhood education director, said the district will cover the cost of full-day classes for families the state rejected for extra hours.

“I’m grateful that the district has made the commitment that at this point we’re not changing any of their programming.”

Like other providers, she said the state application wasn’t clear. Since it indicated that families would get extra preschool hours if they had one risk factor, some families simply checked a single box even if they had multiple risk factors.

“So they may have said we speak another language at home and I’m done, I’ve got my risk factor,” said Cobb.

A pandemic baby faces language struggles

When the pandemic hit, Kristian had just turned one. He ended up spending lots of time with his parents on empty playgrounds or family hikes, but little time with people who might have exposed him to conversational English, Spasova said.

When he started at Doolittle’s home-based child care program a couple years ago, he knew two English words: “OK” and “hi.” Although he was shy, he started making big strides with English after about six months.

But his English still needs work and Spasova said she doesn’t feel confident enough to do it on her own.

“His head is jumbled. He will speak half a sentence in English and half a sentence in Bulgarian,” Spasova said. “It’s imperative for him to go to preschool so he can go to kindergarten next year and he will actually know some English.”

Kristian’s first day of universal preschool at Doolittle’s home was Monday. He’s among five children there who are participating in the state-funded program this year and one of two with a state-recognized risk factor.

Doolittle said the other family whose child has a risk factor opted for half-day preschool, but not Kristian’s family.

“That language obstacle is still humongous,” she said. “Him being here more hours is a huge benefit to him.”

Low-income families could lose out

Most of the 4-year-olds who have a single risk factor — and won’t qualify for 30 free hours of preschool a week — come from families considered low-income.

Michelle Dalbotten, who heads Step by Step, a Northglenn child care center, said some of her families fall into that category and recently found out their kids will only get 15 tuition-free hours a week.

“That’s where they may feel duped,” she said.

Under the universal preschool program, families qualify as low-income if they make less than 270% of the federal poverty level — about $81,000 for a family of four. That threshold means there’s nothing distinguishing very low-income families from families on the cusp of middle income.

Odean, from the Department of Early Childhood, said officials first need to see which preschoolers show up this fall, and then can use that data to make tweaks for next year.

She said the state officials could consider lowering the income threshold or establishing multiple tiers within the low-income category.

Melissa Mares, director of early childhood initiatives for the Colorado Children’s Campaign, said she’s hopeful that low-income families who aren’t offered full-day preschool through the universal program, may be able to use state child care subsidies or other funding sources to get the extra hours they need.

The subsidy application is separate from the universal preschool application this year, but the state plans to combine them in the future, she noted.

“What we’re hearing from families is they want it to be easy,” she said.

But Heather O’Hayre, Larimer County’s director of human services, worries that the subsidy program can’t compensate for the shortfall in the universal preschool budget — especially once federal COVID stimulus money runs out in 2024.

Already, there’s only enough money to provide child care subsidies to about 10% of eligible children, she said.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Letter informing parents their children won’t get tuition-free full-day preschool

Colorado offers free community college for prospective early childhood teachers

2023-07-18T20:40:56+00:00

Colorado residents interested in early childhood and five other high-demand careers can get training for free starting this fall at more than a dozen community colleges around the state.

It’s part of a new $40 million state program called Career Advance Colorado that’s intended to mint thousands of workers in shortage areas. Besides early childhood education, the program will cover tuition, course materials, and fees for up to two years of training for students studying education, construction, law enforcement, nursing, and fire and forestry.

“All these fields are in need of great folks to fill jobs that are open today and that are critical for our state’s success,” said Gov. Jared Polis in a recorded announcement about Career Advance.

The program is open to new students and those currently enrolled in one of the six target areas. For those already enrolled, the state will pay for their remaining coursework.

The offer of free training for prospective early childhood employees comes amid an ongoing shortage of child care and preschool teachers that’s led to shuttered classrooms at some centers. The need for qualified staff has become even more pressing as Colorado prepares to launch a major expansion of tuition-free preschool in August. More than 31,000 4-year-olds are expected to participate.

Career Advance is the latest effort by state policymakers to beef up the anemic pipeline of early childhood teachers. In recent years, the state used COVID stimulus money to pay for two introductory early childhood classes for hundreds of college students. It also offered scholarship and apprenticeship programs for students seeking early childhood credentials.

In Colorado, where the median preschool teacher wage is around $15.25 an hour, it’s hard to make a living in the early childhood field. The cost of college classes or student loan debt makes the barrier to entry even higher.

State officials and advocates recently have taken tentative steps towards addressing the field’s abysmal pay. As part of an effort to pay preschool teachers a living wage, the state pays a higher per-student rate in the new universal preschool program than it pays public schools for each K-12 student. In addition, the state recently unveiled a report recommending a series of statewide early childhood salary scales that would significantly boost pay. For example, the suggested rate would be at least $22 an hour for early childhood teachers in metro Denver and some mountain communities. The salary scales are not binding for preschool and child care providers, but show what workers in different regions would need to earn to make a living wage.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado free preschool program matches more than 27,400 families, seats still available

2023-06-21T23:24:04+00:00

More than 27,400 Colorado families have accepted preschool matches through the state’s new universal preschool program, according to the Colorado Department of Early Childhood.

That represents more than 32,000 children, more than half the state’s 4-year-olds, according to state estimates. The state had a goal of serving between 40% and 60% of eligible children in the program’s first year.

There are still plenty of seats available, though. The department currently reports more than 24,000 tuition-free preschool seats remain open across the state and are still available for families who apply by the July 13 deadline for the next round.

Beginning this fall, all Colorado 4-year-olds are eligible for between 10 and 30 hours of free preschool a week. Families who have certain qualifying factors are eligible for more hours of free preschool. Three-year-olds with qualifying factors may be eligible as well. Qualifying factors include low household income, speaking a language other than English at home, or having a disability.

Many participating preschools offer additional hours, but families have to pay tuition for that care.

According to a press release from the Colorado Department of Early Education, 90.7% of children have been matched to one of their preferred providers, with 78.6% of families being matched to their first choice.

Two additional rounds of matching are planned for the summer for new applicants or those who have not selected a provider yet. Families who applied in the third round will find out their match June 29. Families who apply by July 13 will find out later in the summer who their provider will be.

Enrollment in tuition-free preschool in Colorado is still open on a rolling basis. Out of Colorado’s 64 counties, all still have slots available. There are 1,930 participating preschool providers offering 56,866 seats, about 43% of which are still open.

Some rural counties have just one or two providers offering a few dozen seats, but even in those communities, the state reports open seats. Among populous Front Range counties, Denver still has more than 2,000 seats available, about 40% of the total and Arapahoe had almost 5,000 available seats, more than half the total.

The state’s universal preschool program will be funded in part with a voter-approved nicotine tax and offered in school district classrooms, private child care centers, church-based preschools, and homes licensed by the state.

The early childhood department estimates that families will save about $6,000 per year on average.

Sara Martin is an intern with Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Sara at smartin@chalkbeat.org.

Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott grants $1 million to Colorado early education nonprofit

2023-06-09T18:49:29+00:00

Billionaire MacKenzie Scott has awarded $1 million to a small, low-profile Colorado non-profit, whose leaders remain a bit stunned.

“The whole thing was very surreal,” said Heather Tritten, executive director of Parent Possible, which provides support for early childhood services. “When I look at who else has been funded in Colorado — organizations that are far bigger than Parent Possible, it feels very unreal that we were funded by MacKenzie Scott and that she wanted to invest in us.”

Parent Possible, which was founded in Colorado in 1991, works to equip parents with tools and education to prepare their children to learn. The nonprofit believes that investing in early childhood systems helps increase literacy and encourages students to graduate high school — which helps break the cycle of poverty.

It serves some of Colorado’s most low-income residents. According to its 2022 annual report, 87% of its client households earn less than twice the federal poverty limit. That would be less than about $49,720 for a family of three this year.

Tritten said Parent Possible was contacted in December to discuss a possible donation with an anonymous organization. In March, Scott’s foundation, Yield Giving, called to say it would donate $1 million to Parent Possible.

In the 15-minute conversation, they told her, “good luck with your organization and the important work you’re doing,” she said.

Tritten said the foundation will let Parent Possible use the funds for whatever is most important.

Scott, who as of last year was the fifth richest woman in the United States, has given away more than $14 billion since 2019. She has a 4% stake in Amazon as part of her divorce settlement with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. She has made waves in the world of philanthropy by making large gifts, including to schools and education nonprofits, with no strings attached. Last year, Scott gave $2.5 million to a Colorado Springs charter school.

The Parent Possible donation was announced this week.

Parent Possible provides 4,000 families with in-home visiting services and an additional 20,000 families in Colorado with virtual programs, like early learning education software and an app with learning tools and parenting help.

The app, called Vroom, was created with funding from the Bezos Family Foundation. It messages parents with suggestions for activities to do with their children every day.

Parent Possible provides some of its programs through partnerships with schools, family resource centers, departments of human services, and nonprofits. Its services are free of charge to Colorado families.

The home-visiting programs teach child development, how to promote the social and emotional development of young children and how to prepare 2- to 5-year-old children for preschool and kindergarten.

Parent Possible is still mapping out how to best use Scott’s donation to help the families it serves.

Tritten hopes to advance the group’s work and accomplish more than they had previously thought possible.

Sara Martin is an intern with Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Sara at smartin@chalkbeat.org,