Vermont lawmakers introduce childcare bill with universal pre-kindergarten

The bill would boost the number of hours toddlers are eligible to receive free, public prekindergarten education.

by Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech | Feb. 02, 2023

In this July 7, 2016, photo, children climb in the playground at Annette’s Preschool in Hinesburg, Vt. Vermont has become the first state to extend publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs to all 3-year-olds as of this month. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke)

Story at a glance

A new bill introduced into the Vermont state legislature aims to boost the number of hours and weeks three- to five-year-olds can receive free prekindergarten education.

Children of that age are already entitled to 10 hours of free public prekindergarten education a week for 35 weeks a year in Vermont.

The new bill would give toddlers access to full-time prekindergarten programs for the full school year.

A new bill introduced to the Vermont state legislature would give parents the option to send their young children to free, public prekindergarten classes for the full school year.

Under current Vermont law, children between the ages of three and five years old are entitled to 10 hours of prekindergarten education a week for up to 35 weeks a year.

The new bill would amend that law to grant three-, four-, and some five-year-olds in Vermont access to free full-time prekindergarten education for the entire school year.

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School districts without an elementary school or public prekindergarten education program will be forced to pay “tuition of resident students to attend a public prekindergarten education program outside the district,” according to the bill.

While many states have some form of universal pre-k or free public pre-kindergarten education, only a handful have programs that are truly universal.

A free, public prekindergarten program is typically considered universal when 70 percent of four-year-olds are enrolled in the program, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research.

Vermont has reached that threshold, according to a 2021 report from the institute, as well as Florida, Iowa, Oklahoma, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.

Earlier this month, Colorado joined the ranks of states offering a universal pre-k program. Enrollment for the state’s free pre-k program began this year.

Hawaii also put out a plan this year to offer free prekindergarten classes to the archipelago’s three- and four-year-olds.