COLORADO SPRINGS — The signing up for Colorado's new universal preschool program officially got underway on Tuesday, January 17, 2023. The program promised every family in the state 15 hours per week of free preschool the year before kindergarten.
Parents will see a list of participating providers and their hours, rates, location, etc. Families are prompted to then rank their top five providers.
Families will be matched in application “waves.” The first wave is from January 17 - February 14. Families should hear about their matches on March 10.
The second wave begins February 15 - March 13. Families should hear about their matches on March 29.
Some qualifying families will be eligible for up to 30 free hours. Providers will be paid based on the slots allocated by the local council to their program and the number of children who enroll. Below is the average pay per hour to serve at least 30,000 children:
- 10 hours - $4,837
- 15 hours - $6,044
- 30 hours - $10,655
The program launches in the fall of the 2023-2024 school year after voters approved a tax on tobacco in 2020 to fund the program.
Applications can be found here.
____
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.
