This story was written by Lia Salvatierra, our new Education Reporter. Find more of Lia’s reporting here. Do you have an NKY education story? Email lsalvatierra@linknky.com.
Newport and Southgate independent school districts are expanding or sustaining full-day, year-round services for preschoolers with funding from EducateNKY.
Since 1990, when Kentucky formally required public schools to offer half-day preschool for students eligible because of either family income or disability, more public schools have partnered with local providers to offer full-day childcare on their campuses.
Models differ by district, but the goal is often the same: to provide morning, afternoon or all-day care for the duration of a typical work day and ensure preschool-aged students are preparing for kindergarten during key developmental years.
Under state law, 4-year-olds are eligible for public preschool if their family income is 160% below the federal poverty level. Both 3 and 4-year-olds are eligible if diagnosed with certain disabilities.
Those same preschool-aged students may be eligible for vouchers to reduce or cover the cost of full-day childcare available at some public school districts. Students who don’t meet those eligibility requirements may still be able to participate in a district’s preschool or full-day childcare.
Especially when serving families paying with vouchers, childcare can be a tough business, with many providers operating on thin margins. Jenny Watson, EducateNKY’s vice president of early learning and family power, said providers often need a financial backstop if they don’t fill their rosters.
“It’s a very tight formula that has to work for anybody to break even in childcare,” Watson said.
That’s one reason EducateNKY is helping fund outside providers for full-day care on Southgate and Newport campuses. Another reason is to ensure a seamless experience for students by bringing all partners together on campus to support kindergarten readiness all day, every school day — and even over school breaks.
“What is in place with this model is collaboration between the two entities. You have the kid as the common denominator, and then you’ve got childcare speaking to preschool staff and vice versa,” she said.
EducateNKY’s investment in this model will also be studied, with the help of public benefit organization, WillBridge DataCommunity.
While protecting student information, the partners will track whether students in full-day care are more ready for kindergarten, and whether it has an impact on their long-term success.
“We want to make sure that there’s data that’s shared on the table with all parties so that we can track these kids over time and make sure that this truly is a model that should be scaled,” Watson said.
Details on the Newport program
$60k investment over three years
With the EducateNKY investment, Newport will have 20 spots for afternoon, morning or full-day childcare for preschoolers on campus, in partnership with Learning Grove, a local preschool and childcare provider.
Part of EducateNKY’s investment went into outfitting a classroom for Learning Grove on the Newport Primary School campus. Newport has already offered 80 spots for half-day preschool five days a week, but it hasn’t had full-day services on campus until now. The classroom operated by Learning Grove will open its doors in October.
Care is open to children aged 3 to 5 living in Newport. Without assistance from state or federal vouchers, full-day care costs $270 per week. According to information provided by Learning Grove, there are only a few morning, afternoon or full-day childcare spots remaining. Interested families can sign up for more information here.
Before this, Lexie Lakes, a parent of three students at Newport Primary School, has had to bring her preschooler to full-day care elsewhere. Early Head Start in Newport didn’t run all or cover Fridays. Learning Grove’s Altamont center in Covington, where her son is currently enrolled, came with a commute that could risk her other kids being late to school.
Now, the full-day combined preschool and childcare option at Newport Primary School’s campus means all her kids will be together and she can finally go back to school, something she’s been putting off for years. Her son can’t wait to finally attend school with his three big sisters.
“‘Are we going today? Are we going today?’ he keeps asking,” Lakes said.
“When you really think about working families as well, being open till 5:30 and then starting at 7:30, that’s just a big benefit,” Superintendent Matt Atkins said.
“Ultimately, the end goal is to provide full-day preschool so that our kids are more prepared when they come in,” he said.
Details on the Southgate program
$20k investment over three years
With the EducateNKY investment, Southgate can continue to offer morning, afternoon or all-day childcare for up to 14 preschoolers on campus, through a new provider.
Though all but one of those spots are currently filled, interested families can contact the district office for more information. Care costs $41 per day for families that don’t qualify for childcare assistance.
As a smaller district, Southgate has historically offered preschool for all 4-year-olds and eligible 3-year-olds, with a cap of 24 students. It has also offered a full-day childcare option since 2017 with two different partners, however its most recent provider, Aunt Kathy’s Child Care & Preschool, Inc, closed its center at the district.
Southgate Superintendent Greg Duty said that partnership, which ran from 2019 to 2026, no longer has support from a grant. The district also worked with another provider for full-day care from 2017 to 2019.
With the former provider gone, EducateNKY’s investment has helped kickstart a new business to take over full-day services: Ms. Crystal’s Preschool and Childcare, which opened on Sept. 21.
Provider Crystal Young worked for Aunt Kathy’s and is licensed both as a preschool teacher and childcare provider. She said she treats her classroom like school all day rather than part childcare.
“We don’t treat it like it’s childcare,” Young said. “When it comes to the preschoolers, it is school,” she said.
Preparing for kindergarten is built into everything the preschoolers do, she said.
Duty said Southgate has prioritized offering an all-day option because research shows children’s brains are 90% developed by five years old. He said he’s proud that 50% of the 20 students currently enrolled in Southgate’s preschool are also in Young’s classroom.
“These are fantastic participation numbers that should pay dividends in the future,” Duty said.
And believes the impact of the district’s investment in full-day care since 2017 is already demonstrated in the district’s kindergarten readiness numbers, which were last reported as 71%, or third in Northern Kentucky, behind Beechwood and Fort Thomas Independent School Districts.
Mozell Malone, who has four students in the district, said she saw a difference in her children’s speech when her children switched from another daycare into full-day preschool and childcare at Southgate.
“I work and I go to school full-time … it’s important to know my kids are in good hands,” Malone said.
