Florida

Overview

During the 2022-2023 school year, Florida preschool enrolled 155,668 children, an increase of 2,574 from the prior year. State spending totaled $440,315,538, and an additional $48,867,817 in federal recovery funds supported the program, up $110,490,459 (29%), adjusted for inflation, since last year. State spending per child (including federal recovery funds) equaled $3,142 in 2022-2023, up $669 from 2021-2022, adjusted for inflation. Florida met 4 of 10 quality standards benchmarks.

What's New

Beginning in the 2022-2023 program year, Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) providers participated in the coordinated screening and progress monitoring program and a program assessment designed to measure the quality of teacher-child interactions. Data gathered from the 2022-2023 program year will be used to develop a new accountability system for Florida’s VPK program. Beginning with the 2023-2024 program year, the Florida Department of Education will adopt the methodology for calculating a VPK provider’s performance metric using a combination of data points which will include: program assessment composite scores; student learning gains from the initial and final progress monitoring results; and student learning outcomes as determined by the final progress monitoring results. The VPK Provider Performance Metric and designations will be used to determine how well VPK programs prepare students to be kindergarten ready. Data gathered from both the coordinated screening and progress monitoring and program assessments is also used to increase knowledge and skills of early learning professionals through targeted professional learning and coaching supports. Additional VPK instructor training requirements were added in law requiring all lead VPK instructors complete an approved training on the performance standards, three 5-hour training courses in emergent literacy and an additional emergent literacy training course at least once every 5 years. Senate Bill 2500, passed during the 2023 legislative session, included increased investment in the VPK program providing an additional $20 million to increase the Base Student Allocation (BSA). School Year BSA increased from $2,803 to $2,941 (increase of $138). Summer BSA increased from $2,393 to $2,511 (increase of $118).

Background

Florida’s Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program (VPK) was launched in 2005 after voters in 2002 approved a constitutional amendment providing prekindergarten access for all 4-year-olds. Parents may postpone enrollment of young 4-year-olds in the VPK program for a year, consequently making some 5-year-olds eligible. The program is managed by the Florida Department of Education, Division of Early Learning (DEL). Age-eligible children are enrolled in either a 300-hour summer program, which every school district is mandated to offer, or a school-year program totaling 540 instructional hours. Teachers in the school-year program are required to have at least a CDA credential or equivalent credential. Teachers in the summer program are required to have a bachelor’s degree.

VPK is provided in a variety of settings such as public schools, accredited nonpublic schools, licensed child care centers, accredited faith-based centers, and licensed family child care homes. Most children attend VPK in nonpublic school settings. Regional early learning coalitions monitor programs for compliance and administer VPK, distributing funding based on a fixed hourly rate. Programs are required to meet the Florida Early Learning and Developmental Standards: 4 Years Old to Kindergarten, which were most recently revised in 2017. Florida’s School Readiness Program is a separate initiative, funded by CCDF. The program offers financial assistance for childcare to qualified parents. This report focuses solely on the VPK program.

Florida Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Education Program

Access

Total state pre-K enrollment	155,668
School districts that offer state program	100% (counties)
Income requirement	No income requirement
Minimum hours of operation	3 hours/day
Operating schedule	Determined locally
Special education enrollment, ages 3 and 4	22,604
Federally funded Head Start enrollment, ages 3 and 4	31,437
State-funded Head Start enrollment, ages 3 and 4	0

Resources

*Pre-K programs may receive additional funds from federal or local sources that are not included in this figure. †Head Start per-child spending includes funding only for 3- and 4-year-olds. ‡K–12 expenditures include capital spending as well as current operating expenditures.