Jump In Virginia Preschool Enrollment Expected With New Funding

RICHMOND, VA — Increased funding for Virginia’s two largest state-supported preschool programs is expected to result in historic enrollment for the upcoming school year.

Virginia authorized $151.6 million to Virginia Preschool Initiative and Mixed Delivery in fiscal year 2022, a $60.9 million increase from the previous school year and more than twice the investment made in fiscal year 2018.

As a result, the Virginia Department of Education’s Virginia Preschool Initiative and the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation’s Mixed Delivery Preschool Grant Program expect to serve more than 25,000 three- and four-year-olds this fall, as employers reopen and students return to in-person instruction, the office of Gov. Ralph Northam said Tuesday.

Virginia families earning up to 85 percent of the state median income with young children are temporarily eligible for Virginia’s Child Care Subsidy Program. The program is serving more than 20,000 children, which is 94 percent of its pre-pandemic total. Federal Head Start and Early Head Start Programs are funded to serve 14,463 children this school year and all sites are working toward full in-person enrollment by Jan. 1, 2022.

The Virginia Department of Education became the single point of accountability and oversight for all publicly funded early childhood programs in Virginia based on new laws that took effect July 1. Its new Division of Early Childhood Care and Education brings together 120 full-time employees, many of whom transitioned from the Virginia Department of Social Services, to focus on increasing access early childhood care and education programs.

More than 23,600 students across 126 school divisions are projected to be served by Virginia Preschool Initiative classrooms in the 2021-22 school year. This compares with about 18,000 total children served by Virginia Preschool Initiative programs in 124 divisions before the pandemic.

Thirty-seven school divisions will serve a combined total of about 1,600 three-year-olds in their Virginia Preschool Initiative classrooms. This is the second year of a pilot program to provide young learners with multiple years of preschool experience to prepare them for success in kindergarten and beyond.

Nearly 1,500 three- and four-year-olds will be served by the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation’s Mixed Delivery Grant Program across 45 localities. This compares to 239 children in 9 localities from 2020-21.

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