COLORADO — Colorado's Universal Preschool Program is facing legal pushback on multiple fronts after several school districts say the program has caused them more harm than good.
The lawsuit filed on Thursday by the Colorado Association of School Executives, special education leaders, and six different school districts, including Harrison School District 2 in Colorado Springs, alleges the rollout of the state's Universal Preschool Program (UPK) has caused districts to lose revenue, created more work for administrators, and diminished relationships with parents and students.
Gov. Polis signed the Universal Preschool Program into law in April of 2022, allowing every child in the state to receive 10 hours of free preschool per week.
The lawsuit, filed against Gov. Polis, the Colorado State Board of Education, the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, and other executives, claims the rollout of the system is unlawful because it has excluded children with disabilities and claims many have been matched with providers that cannot meet their individualized education programs (IEP).
Wendy Birhanzel, Superintendent of Harrison School District 2, said the online pairing system does not give districts full access to see which children have IEPs and what services they need, which she said has caused issues for teachers as the school year starts.
"There are certain rules we have to follow to provide our special education students what they deserve and need, and we are not able to do that with this current system," said Birhanzel.
Amy Lloyd, the Special Education Director for the district, said some families who have children with disabilities have been inaccurately matched with providers, like private preschools, who are not required by law to offer the specialized services.
"The frustration expressed by the parent is because my child has an IEP, I don't have the right to choose in a situation where other families do because their students don't have special needs," said Lloyd.
Birhanzel said the Colorado State Department of Early Childhood promised 30 hours of free preschool to at-risk students. The lawsuit claims the department changed the requirements for who could get the extra hours at the eleventh hour and cut back funding.
"Parents were promised 30 hours if they had at-risk factors, which for us is most of our students, and now they're being told 10 to 15 [hours]," said Birhanzel. "Districts or the providers are having to fund that out of their own finances to make up that time for families."
She said the district is in complete support of universal preschool, but said the rollout of this program has been anything but universal.
"Unfortunately, our students at risk who need the most intervention early and the most access to education are the ones who are being hurt by this current program," she said. "It's destroyed relationships with parents because we can't help them when they come to register because it's all out of our hands, and so we're seeing parents just give up and not attend."
Birhanzel said only about half of the children the district expected are actually enrolled in preschool this year. She said through the lawsuit, the plaintiffs are hoping to get full access to the online pairing system and funding from the state to provide 30 hours of preschool to at-risk children.
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