How has Colorado’s Universal Pre-K program improved since shaky rollout last year?

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - Enrollment for year three of Colorado's Universal Pre-K (UPK) program is now underway. However, after the program's launch for 2023-2024 was considered shaky by many, local officials and parents are saying that the application process has taken some big strides.

Joint Initiatives is a non-profit that is responsible for matching thousands of 4-year-olds to a Pre-K provider in El Paso County, on behalf of the state, as a Local Coordinating Organization.

They say with UPK's inaugural 2023-2024 school year, they matched 85% of children to a provider in the area, which was a process that caused headaches for some parents. Issues ranged from being matched with lower priority locations for their child, to a lack of communication with program officials, as well as problems for parents with children who had Individualized Education Plans (IEPs).

"There were things that did not go as smoothly as the state hoped and certainly as [Local Coordinating Organization's] hoped," said Noreen Landis-Tyson, who heads Joint Initiatives with decades of early education experience.

She says for the current school year, 2024-2025, they were able to add 33 new providers within the county and increased their match rate to 92%.

"We were able to bring on additional providers between year one and year two, specifically family child care teachers, which we were really happy about because that's an option that many families could benefit from," explained Landis-Tyson.

That success, according to Landis-Tyson and the Governor's office, is in part due to a more simple application process, which is also now available in 11 language options. It comes along interpreters for up to 100 language options available by calling their help desk.

There's also been "enhanced support," per a release from the Governor's office, for families that have children with IEPs which aims to make the 2024-2025 enrollment smoother.

In addition, families who meet the federal poverty level can now immediately qualify for 30 free hours/week of childcare.

All applicants are eligible for 15 free hours of childcare, however, to qualify for 30 hours you have to meet one of several factors:

• You're experiencing homelessness
• A child has an Individual Education Plan, or needs special education
• The family is living in foster care or kinship care
• The child is learning another language or is learning English, and speaks another language at home.

Nicole Schiff is a mother in Colorado Springs. She and her husband both work full-time. She says that last year, when she was approaching enrollment for the UPK program for the first time, she was wary after the inaugural rollout.

"I heard some of the challenges and kind of horror stories from a lot of parents with older kids and how confusing it was," said Schiff.

Ultimately, she says her 4-year-old daughter, Phoebe, ended up having no issues getting signed up for UPK's second year.

"I signed up, I saw the school [I wanted], I clicked on it and that went really well," she added.

Schiff adds that she wishes the program was around for her older children, not only to help save money. but to have allowed her and her husband to not disrupt their careers.

Governor Polis tells KRDO13 this week that, on top of building up the program in the last 18 months, he's even looking to increase the minimum number of free childcare hours that families can receive.

"That's the goal by the end of my term. So I'm confident we'll get to 18 hours over the next two years. We're at 15 hours free for families for preschool now," said the Governor at an unrelated event on Wednesday in Colorado Springs.

With enrollment open for the 2025-2026 school year as of Dec. 17, Landis-Tyson says the application process can take as quick as 10 minutes. But reiterated that applications are not on a first-come-first-serve basis, but rather follow a specific timeline which you can read below:

From Dec. 17, 2024 to Feb. 3, 2025: All families looking to use the UPK program can send in applications. However for those who are currently already using a provider for their child, have a sibling of another child at a provider, or are an employee at a provider, they will be considered as "pre-registered," and will have a leg up within the matching process.

Feb. 10, 2025: This is when the first matching algorithm will run. It will primarily be for families who do not have pre-registration status, but want to enroll in the 2025-2026 school year. Applicants will have the opportunity to put up to ten providers in their application and rank them in the order that they would like their child to attend that provider. Every applicant will be assigned a random lottery number, where the system will then try to match that person to their highest-ranked provider. If it can't be achieved, then the algorithm goes to the second choice, then the third choice, and so on.

After the algorithm runs through completely, applicants will be notified by the provider that they have been matched and they'll have the opportunity to accept that match or decline that match.

March 10, 2025: There is a second matching algorithm that commences for families who have not yet been matched, or did not accept their their previous match.

April 1, 2025: If someone has still not been matched by this date, Landis-Tyson says Direct Enrollment will begin. This means that a family who has not yet been matched can go directly to pick a provider and see if they have a seat open. If they do have a seat open, then the provider can immediately register that family in that open seat.