Universal Pre-K

• Students are matched to programs based on the placement made by their AU (Administrative Unit). Please reach out to your AU for placement updates.

FAQs
Please see the new FAQ pages at the end of the Provider and Family Handbooks in response to your great questions and feedback. These pages include the following new resources:

• UPK Age Eligibility Lookup Tool to better support families in understanding their eligibility based on their child’s birthday and their school districts cutoff date. With additional information about 3-year-old eligibility.

Any children with an August start date who were enrolled by July 31 are being paid in full for August on August 15.  This is being referred to as a “pre-payment” as normally UPK is paying in arrears.

 

Any children with a start date in August who were enrolled after July 31 will be paid for on September 15 – and it will be a full-month payment for August.  There MIGHT be a few exceptions for children who were enrolled before August 1 at one provider, and then moved to another provider during August — but the state has not issued a written statement on how those will be handled.

 

If ALL of your children were enrolled before August 1 and started in August, you will NOT receive a September payment as you will have already been paid in August as part of the pre-payment.  If your children are split between before August 1 and after August 1, then you will get payment for some children tomorrow (August 15), and payment for the rest on September 15.

 

In May, there will be two payments:  One on May 15 for April, and one at the end of May, for May.

 

It is our understanding that enrollments will be pulled on the last day of the month for payment on the 15th of the following month.

 

There will not be any payment this year for children who are in accepted status so if you don’t have children enrolled, get them enrolled.

 

It is not known how the providers with September start dates are being paid, but providers should receive communication from the state or Metrix IQ about that.  If not, please submit a support ticket at HERE.

 

The monthly payment amounts for El Paso County are as follows:

 

Part-day program:  $480.65 per month over 10 months for enrolled children

Half-day program:  $606.03 per month over 10 months for enrolled children

Children eligible for 30 hours (full-day) and enrolled in a full day or extended day program:  $1,076.24 per month over 10 months for enrolled children

The application matching process for UPK has concluded and has shifted to “direct enrollment.“

Families who have a child who will be 4 years old by October 1, 2024* (and not yet 5 by that date) and who are not currently attending with a UPK provider, may go directly to the provider of their choice to determine if there is a seat available and if so, to be directly placed in that seat. If you need assistance, please contact UPK@jointinitiatives.org.

To increase or decrease seats, please contact Noreen at nglt@mac.com.  If families need assistance with their applications, please ask them to contact UPK@jointinitiatives.com so that our family navigators can help. 

PROVIDER PROFILE SETUP
Providers can still sign up for UPK for the 2024-25 year by completing the 2024-25 setup form available on their provider page at provider.upk.colorado.gov. View the Program Setup Form Guide HERE. Need more assistance? Contact JI’s UPK staff at UPK@jointinitiatives.org or Noreen at nglt@mac.com

ENROLLMENT FOR 3-YEAR-OLDS WITH IEP
In the coming school year, Special Education Administrative Units (AUs) will be responsible for the placement of children eligible for special education. Families of children with IEPs are not able to select a program or a site when submitting their application. The application goes directly to the school district or Pikes Peak BOCES to work with the family for placement. Please do not tell families to choose a specific location; BridgeCare does not allow that option. All children eligible for special education with an IEP will receive funding in accordance with their IEP and will have two ways to apply for state-funded preschool:

1. Link sent to the family by their AU.
2. Log into upk.colorado.gov 

• Families who have a 3- or 4-year-old child (by October 1, 2024*) who has an IEP will register in the UPK system at upk.colorado.gov with the parent’s email tied to their child’s IEP. and mark that the child has an IEP.
• The school district or AU may send the family a link that will pre-populate in the UPK registration the location and program where the district/AU has a seat saved for the child.
• The registration will be sent directly to the School District or Administrative Unit (usually the school district) where the child lives for direct placement into a location and program so that the child may receive appropriate services beginning August 2024.
• The school district or AU may send the family a link that will pre-populate in the UPK registration the location and program where the district/AU has a seat saved for the child.

Families with children who will be three by October 1, 2024, (and not yet 4 by that date) who want to be served by their school district must go directly to their school district to register.  These children will no longer register through the UPK system (the exception is 3-year-old children with IEPs – see above).  Availability of seats varies by school district.  Any family who is unsure as to their home school district may click HERE to determine their district. If you need a school district contact for preschool, view the contacts for your home school district HERE. 

*Note: Some school districts have kindergarten eligibility dates that are different than October 1st.  Eligibility for UPK is determined based on the kindergarten eligibility date of the child’s home school district.  In El Paso County, the following school districts adhere to different eligibility dates:

• Manitou Springs School District 14 – September 1
• Edison School District 54JT – June 15
• Peyton School District – September 30