COLORADO SPRINGS— Nearly 25,000 families got matched in Universal Preschool (UPK) provider in the first round on April 26th. One mom says she can't even get into her last choice.
"Now we're kind of left with no preschool option next year so we're pretty frustrated," said Elizabeth Miller.
Miller said she got matched with her last choice but was told they had no more room. She said they had a waitlist of more than 100 children in front of her.
"I'm just confused as to why we're with no option now," said Miller. "I cannot get a hold of the state so I emailed and called."
I reached out to UPK state officials at the education department. They told me, "This conflicts with the stipulations of the UPK provider agreement and should not be happening," said UPK Colorado spokesperson Hope Shuler in an email.
Staff at the UPK El Paso County coordination center,Joint Initiatives for Youth and Families, explained the automated enrollment system doesn't allow providers to be over-enrolled.
"[The system] will only match a provider with the number of seats that they have said that they've had available," said Joint Initiatives for Youth and Families vice president of programs, Kelly Hurtado.
Hurtado said it's too early to tell if this problem is statewide. Shular said they should have answers early next week.
Miller said she's panicking to find a preschool after giving up her spot at daycare.
"My understanding from the state that we're guaranteed a preschool so hopefully that's still the case, we're trying to hold to some hope," said Miller.
But I found out, families aren't guaranteed a spot with a UPK provider next fall.
"There may be locations that do not have enough provider seats to serve all the eligible children in the area," said Shuler in an email.
Joint Initiatives for Youth and Families said they're seeing more applicants than spots open in some areas of El Paso County.
There are about 150 UPK providers families can choose from in El Paso County said Hurtado.
"Those numbers keep increasing, so we feel hopeful that this is a system that will continue to increase availability for children and families over time," said Hurtado.
UPK state officials said 90 percent of families got matched with their first choice.
"I'm hoping this is working out for families as they want it to, unfortunately for our family, that's not the case," said Miller.
The deadline to accept or decline a match is May 10th. The next round of matching will start after May 17th.
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