Opinion: Colorado’s universal preschool program is admirable, but it has some serious deficiencies
While the state should be lauded for launching the program, it has big deficiencies that are in need of fixing.
Last summer, I started researching how to enroll my child. I had learned from friends, whose child is similarly situated to mine, that 3-year-olds who have one or more qualifying factors (which can include low-income families or dual-language learners) can begin the program early; otherwise, children are only eligible to start at age 4.
I first contacted the state's information line to learn more about enrollment and found the people I spoke with did not understand the criteria for 3-year-olds until I pointed it out on their website. I also learned about an arbitrary date requirement: to enroll, children must be 3 (or 4 for the 4-year old program) by Oct. 1 of the school year in question. In other words, those born Oct. 2 onward must wait an additional year, despite this not being required by the legislation.
This requirement cuts against the purpose of the program. The state recognizes that 3-year-olds with qualifying factors should get the help they need, but this requirement means they will not get that help until they are closer to age 4. In addition, it will mean that 3-year-olds with qualifying factors who may later start kindergarten early, will not be able to participate in the UKP program for two years.
Instead, the state should omit the requirement, and simply adjust it so that 3-year-olds with qualifying factors can be part of the program so long as they are 3 during any part of the academic school year.
The second problem with the program is that the state leaves it up to each school district to determine who can serve as a provider for 3-year-olds with qualifying factors. A problem is that Denver Public Schools won't contract with my child's current day care provider for the 3-year-old program even though the city does so for the 4-year-old program, and despite the fact that my child's school serves 4-year-olds with the same qualifying factor. I requested for this to be changed and was told by a DPS official that would not happen unless the state provided DPS more funding.
I also learned that the only providers DPS contracts with for the 3-year-old program do not operate year-round. So, parents in our position are left with two bad choices: have our children take part in the program but go to a new school, even though this would be very disruptive to the children; or not participate in UPK until our children are almost 5, despite them having qualifying factors.
In addition, we would be forced either to stay at home during the summer to look after them, or send them to costly summer programs — neither of which most parents are in a position to do. The easy fix is to give parents real school choice by allowing them to send their children to qualified schools that want to be providers.
Despite me contacting numerous individuals about this at the city and state levels, there seems to be no willingness to resolve this. I also sent this feedback to Colorado's director of UPK, Dawn Odean, but did not receive a response to my email or phone call.
If Gov. Jared Polis and the leadership at the Department of Early Childhood Education want to serve our state's children — and put the children's needs above those of the government bureaucracy — then they would do well to address these challenges. Our children — current and future — deserve better.
Chris Fletcher lives in Denver and is a parent of a prospective universal preschool student.
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