Universal Preschool
Universal Prekindergarten
Act 166 of 2014 provides for universal access to publicly funded prekindergarten education. All public and private prekindergarten education programs, including Head Start and public school operated programs, must meet specific requirements to operate a PreK program in Vermont. The Agency of Education, in collaboration with the Agency of Human Services, created administrative rules to guide Act 166 implementation.
For more information regarding Universal Pre-School, click the links to the left and visit the Vermont's Agency of Education webpages.
Addison County Publicly Funded PreKindergarten
Our early education programs include school-based PreK programming and partnerships with community programs to provide public education funding for all 3-5 year-old children. School district staff also provide special education services to preschoolers with disabilities.
We believe early education is vital for ensuring the future success of our students. Research on child brain development shows that investments in the early years are key for building future success. Communities that make investments in early childhood see the payoff in later years academically and socially.
All of our programs are founded in the understanding that play is how young children learn. Play with people, objects, and classroom and community experiences can be intentionally designed by a teacher to achieve learning goals. Experiences through play foster language and literacy skills, social skills with adults and peers, problem-solving, curiosity, persistence, early numeracy skills, and creativity. All programs use the Vermont Early Learning Standards (VELS) as a framework for their curriculum and regularly assess children's progress toward early learning goals. Parents are active participants in their child's learning, and are invited to participate in conferences at least twice yearly.
Accessing Preschool in ACSD
Our school district offers some school-based preschool openings and will also pay for 10 hours/week of preschool at many local qualified programs.
Our school-based preschools typically open enrollment in the spring (usually around March). The majority of school-based spaces fill up quickly in the Spring. We will share an interest survey link here when openings become available.
Usually, there is greater demand than availability of openings at our school-based programs, so we encourage you to look into private preschool programs. Our district will pay for 10 hours/week for 35/weeks each year (school year) of tuition funding for children to attend PreK at prequalified community-based PreK programs.
If you are interested in finding a local PreK program that would be eligible, there is a list of recent partners at this website.
Your first step would be to enroll with the local program and they would help you with the paperwork for the tuition funding. I'm also happy to help you narrow the list if you can tell me what kind of program you are looking for (full/part-time, location, philosophy, etc.).
For more information about Universal Preschool in our area, please visit the Addison County Preschool Page.
ACSD has two preschool programs - one classroom at Bridport Central School and two classrooms at Mary Hogan Elementary School in Middlebury. Both programs are open to all district residents and families may indicate which site they prefer. Specific information on each of the programs is below.
Contact Us
If you have questions about publicly funded PreK, please contact:
Ashley Bessette, Addison County Universal PreK Coordinator
abessette@acsdvt.org
If you have specific questions about the Mary Hogan Preschool Program, please contact:
Kimberly Forbes, Mary Hogan Preschool Program Director
kforbes@acsdvt.org
If you have specific questions about the Bridport Preschool Program, please contact:
Heather Adams, Bridport Preschool Teacher
hadams@acsdvt.org
If you are interested in attending one of our Preschool programs, please fill out our interest survey.