COLORADO SPRINGS — Colorado Universal Preschool (UPK) is starting to match families with providers for next school year. It's coming several months earlier than last.
This state-funded program started in 2023, and offers up to 15 free hours of preschool a week.
UPK providers have until November 8th to sign up for the new "pre-registration" round. It starts in December. It's primarily for those who want to stay with the same provider or have a sibling attend.
"I know I've talked to several of them, and they're just feeling that peace, that that they're going to be taken care of, and it's not going to be last minute, it's not going to be put not going to be put off until the summer," said one UPK provider in Fountain, Javinia Downes.
The first round of open matching for the 2025-26 school year starts in February, wrapping up in April, which is when the first round started for the 2024-25 school year.
"Everything feels rushed and it makes me wonder if we're doing it properly, if everything is being as thought out as it could be," said Downes. "We're still in that edgy, where we're still building the plane as it's flying."
Joint Initiatives for Youth and Families (JI) is the El Paso County UPK coordinator. They said the earlier timeline stems from UPK provider feedback; wanting to avoid the last-minute scramble.
"I feel like JI has definitely heard us and they're really fighting for us," said Downes.
JI's foundations programs director, Shay Almonte, said the earlier timeline helps them too.
"It allows us to problem solve right as we're learning this new system, as the system continues to be developed, there are glitches," said Almonte.
Almonte said this school year, about 3,800 UPK seats are filled with about 200 providers in El Paso County. The majority of those seats were matched in the first round.
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