Virginia

Overview

During the 2021-2022 school year, Virginia preschool enrolled 22,243 children, an increase of 4,187 from the prior year, as the program recovered from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. State spending totaled $106,627,053, including $10,785,265 in federal recovery funds that supported preschool, up $21,018,465 (22%), adjusted for inflation since last year. State spending per child (including federal recovery dollars) equaled $5,279 in 2021-2022, down $60 from 2020-2021, adjusted for inflation. Virginia met an average of 5.9 of 10 quality standards benchmarks.

What's New

During the 2021-2022 school year, more than 1,200 children benefited from the state’s Early Childhood Foundation Mixed Delivery Program. This is a public/private partnership that is included in this report for the first time this year. The Mixed Delivery Program is administered by Virginia Early Childhood Foundation (VECF) and provides publicly funded early childhood care and education (ECCE) services in licensed, non-school-based and non-faith-based private ECCE settings for children who have been identified as at-risk for entering kindergarten without the necessary social and academic skills for success. The Mixed Delivery Program uses VPI child eligibility criteria. 

In 2022, the state budget included an additional $16 million for the Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI) and increased per pupil rates that are benchmarked based on the standards of quality. Starting during the 2022-23 school year, the per pupil rates will be based on the biannually re-benchmarked rate, which follows the same model of basing costs on standards of quality as K–12. This change led to a significant increase in the per child rate and will ensure that the VPI rate remains comparable to other grade levels. 

VPI also expanded eligibility during the 2021-2022 school year, with more programs using the local eligibility criteria waiver, the community provider add-on, and expanding their focus on inclusive classrooms. Beginning in 2022-2023, children with disabilities or delays who are eligible for special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, regardless of household income, are eligible for VPI. 

In December 2022, Virginia was awarded a federal Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B–5) one-year planning grant for $4 million. The state will use the funding to update the statewide ECCE needs assessment and strategic plan, as well as implement key ECCE priorities related to quality early learning settings and supporting the ECCE workforce.

Background

The Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI) began in 1995 to serve at-risk 4-year-olds not enrolled in existing preschool programs. During the 2021-2022 school year, VPI programs operated in 96% of eligible school divisions. Programs are required to operate for a minimum of three hours per day, though 95% of children attend full-day programs throughout the school year. VPI is funded by an annual legislative appropriation of state general funds and a required local match based on the local composite index. The local match is capped at half the per-pupil amount. Funding for VPI is available to school divisions where there are at-risk 4-year-olds who are not served by Head Start. 

VPI eligibility has always been based on risk factors including, but not limited to: family income at or below 200% FPL, family income at or below 350% FPL for students with special needs or disabilities, homelessness, or parent(s) with limited education. A total of 15% of slots can be filled using locally determined eligibility criteria unless a locality applies and is approved for a waiver to fill more than 15% of slots using local at-risk criteria. 

Beginning in 2021-22, 535 public school VPI programs opted to participate in the first practice year of the state’s new required Unified Measurement and Improvement System, VQB5. These programs received Practice Year 1 ratings in fall 2022. The new unified system uses measures of teacher-child interactions and curriculum implementation to support improvement across all publicly funded birth-to-five program and will be required for all publicly funded preschool programs by fall 2023.