Oregon

Overview

During the 2021-2022 school year, Oregon preschool enrolled 10,009 children, an increase of 1,014 from the prior year, as the program began to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. State spending totaled $135,009,596 down $26,018,407 (16%), adjusted for inflation since last year. State spending per child equaled $13,489 in 2021-2022, down $4,413 from 2020-2021, adjusted for inflation. Oregon met an average of 6.9 of 10 quality standards benchmarks.

What's New

In 2021, Senate Bill 5513 was passed, which included Policy Option Package 402, which expanded the state’s three early learning programs: Preschool Promise, Oregon Pre-Kindergarten (OPK), and Healthy Families Oregon. This package included $68 million in additional funds for the 2021-2022 school year, which added 2,516 slots to Preschool Promise, converted 1,400 part-day slots to full-day slots in OPK, added 265 slots to Oregon Pre-Kindergarten Prenatal to Three, and served an additional 100 families in Healthy Families Oregon. 

Additionally, on July 1, 2023, the Oregon Early Learning Division (ELD), which oversees OPK and Preschool Promise, will transition out of the Department of Education and become its own department, the Department of Early Learning and Care (DELC). There are many anticipated benefits from this shift, including a new procurement and data analytics unit for more efficient public funding processes, improved alignment with subsidy-based child care initiatives, increased capacity for data management and analysis, and more robust internal staffing to support public programming.

Background

Oregon has two state-funded preschool programs: the Oregon Pre-Kindergarten (OPK) program, established in 1987, and Preschool Promise, launched in 2016. OPK and Preschool Promise are both currently overseen by the Oregon Department of Education’s Early Learning Division. 

OPK provides comprehensive child and family development services for 3- and 4-year-old children from low-income families through a state-federal partnership between the Oregon Department of Education and Region X Office of Head Start. OPK is funded using the state general fund to serve additional Head Start-eligible children. Funding is awarded through a competitive process to all grantees. OPK includes Region X, Region XI, and Region XII Head Starts, and, even though most of the funding goes to Head Start grantees, there are six non-affiliated organizations that receive OPK funding. OPK programs must follow federal Head Start Performance Standards and the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework. Eligibility for OPK also follows federal Head Start requirements. 

Preschool Promise is a mixed-delivery program for children from families with incomes up to 200% of the federal poverty level (FPL). While funding for Preschool Promise was initially administered through Early Learning Hubs, public schools, child care centers, family child care homes, Head Start, Relief Nurseries, Education Service Districts, and other community-based organizations now receive grants directly from the Early Learning Division. Preschool Promise programs are required to participate in Spark, Oregon’s quality rating and improvement system. 

Both OPK and Preschool Promise employ two sets of early learning standards: The Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework and the Oregon Early Learning and Kindergarten Guidelines, which are aligned with the Common Core State Standards for K–12.