Posted January 9, 2023
Hello Denison Montessori community
As mentioned in last week’s Denison Digest, the SchoolChoice process for ECE families (ECE3 and ECE4 ONLY) will be very different than in previous years due to Colorado voters passing Proposition EE in 2020, which Governor Polis signed into law in April 2022. Along with other Colorado school districts, DPS is working with the Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) to continue expanding its Early Childhood Education program by rolling out a new enrollment process for Universal Preschool (UPK) Colorado. This new program will provide additional funding opportunities for our ECE-providing schools and district partners, including charter schools and private ECE providers.
All ECE-3 and ECE-4 families for the 2023-2024 school year must complete both a SchoolChoice application and a UPK Colorado application. The first UPK Colorado application window will open on Tuesday, Jan. 17 and close Feb. 15 — please note that this window is separate from our DPS SchoolChoice window (Jan. 13-Feb. 14).
We cannot emphasize enough that ECE-3 and ECE-4 families must complete both a SchoolChoice application and a UPK Colorado application.
Please find DPS specific FAQs here and a letter to families from DPS. All documents are available in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. If you need another language, please reach out to Ms. Natalie by email at nfickes@dpsk12.net.
Because this is a brand new program and system, we ask that families continue to check the UPK Colorado webpage and the DPS UPK Colorado landing page regularly for updates. Denison Montessori will share new information as it becomes available.