Last month, Marana Mayor and Town Council approved a resolution to provide $132,000 to Pima County for a new high-quality preschool class at Estes Elementary, as part of the Pima Early Education Program. This program hopes to increase the number of children from low-income families attending high-quality preschools in Pima County.
Back in 2019, a group called Preschool Promise began advocating for the county to fund preschool scholarships for low-income families across Pima County. The pandemic forced the program to be delayed a year, but research continued during this time. Their findings estimated that there are about 28,000 children ages 3-5 in Pima County. Almost 13,000 of those, or 46%, would be considered low income. Just under 4,000 of those children are currently enrolled in a high-quality preschool.
That leaves about 9,000 underserved preschoolers. The County is hoping that over the next few years, 5,400 students can be reached by this program. Many jurisdictions within the county are partnering on this program.
The Town of Marana is providing funding for one full new classroom at Estes Elementary, a total cost of $132,000 for a one-year, 10-month program. Costs are broken down to $6,600 per student and class size would be 18-20 depending on age. Some students already receive DES subsidies so each student may not use all of the $6,600, therefore allowing the excess to go towards scholarships at other programs. The new classroom at Estes Elementary will be a three-year-old class and all 18 spots were filled almost immediately after opening. Marana Unified School District hopes to expand this program in the 2022-23 school year.
Family and Preschool Provider Eligibility:
Families with three or four-year-old children (and five-year-old children not in Kindergarten), with a household income at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. This equates to an income of approximately $50,000 a year for a family of four.
Preschool providers must be located in Pima County, operate at least 6 hours a day for 10-12 months of the year, be contracted with DES to accept DES subsidies for eligible children, and be considered “high-quality” according to the State definition of high quality. Providers not yet rated must design their program to attain high-quality standards, be pursuing a Quality First rating, and have an active quality improvement plan.
Preschool providers include the existing mixed delivery system of school districts, centers, and home-based licensed/certified family childcare providers.
In year one of the Pima Early Education Program, the goal is to add 560 new scholarships and 480 new preschool seats (which is about 25 new classroom programs). Being able to assist 1,040 more preschoolers would take care of 19% of the targeted number.
With the Council’s approval on May 18, 2021, the Town has entered into the current IGA with Pima County for one year.
