Children are eligible for UPK in the year before they become eligible for kindergarten.  Most of Adams County utilizes a cutoff of October 1, meaning that a child who turns 4 before this date in the year they wish to enroll in preschool will be eligible for UPK. Children who are three years of age, or younger in districts that have a waiver to serve children under three, will also be eligible for UPK hours if they meet at least one qualifying factor. Information about eligibility for younger children will be made available once criteria are finalized.

Some children will qualify for additional hours of preschool under the UPK program. Details can be found at https://cdec.colorado.gov/universal-preschool-family-information and may be limited due to funding and/or availability. Families may also qualify for CCCAP, Head Start, or other state, federal, or locally funded child care programs. Families may also utilize a “private pay” option in coordination with their provider, to supplement Universal Preschool and other funded programs for which they might be eligible.

While LCOs will strive to ensure that every family is served, enrollment will depend on the availability of a suitable provider to meet the child’s needs, therefore slots are not guaranteed.

The Colorado Universal Preschool Program (UPK) will be delivered through a mixed delivery model, meaning that families can choose to send their child to any licensed preschool, whether school-based, community-based, or home-based, that is participating in UPK. When applying for UPK, families will be able to see participating preschools in their community and indicate their preference.

UPK is housed within the new Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC), along with other early childhood and family support programs. In order to ensure that the program is responsive to the varying needs of communities across Colorado, CDEC has appointed Local Coordinating Organizations (LCOs) to support the program at a local level.

The family online application can be found at https://upk.colorado.gov/

Yes. UPK is designed to be stacked with CCCAP, Head Start and local programs; LCOs are expected to support families in the process of blending and braiding state funding to augment provision for eligible children.

A local coordinating organization (LCO) is a community agency or organization that is responsible for supporting access to and equitable delivery of early childhood and family support programs in the community. The LCO’s role is to foster partnerships and create alignment to ensure the equitable provision of early childhood and family support programs. The LCO will establish and implement a comprehensive, locally driven plan to achieve these goals.  LCO’s were stood up with HB22-1295 with the launch of UPK.