Oregon

Overview

During the 2022-2023 school year, Oregon preschool enrolled 11,720 children, an increase of 1,711 from the prior year. State spending totaled $189,067,971, up $45,008,829 (31%), adjusted for inflation, since last year. State spending per child equaled $16,132 in 2022-2023, up $1,739 from 2021-2022, adjusted for inflation. Oregon met an average of 7.7 of 10 quality standards benchmarks.

What's New

During the 2022-23 school year, Oregon preschool programs reported a shortage of qualified teachers. To retain qualified staff for Oregon Pre-Kindergarten (OPK) classrooms, Preschool Promise and Healthy Families Oregon, the state is instructed to allocate up to $25.6 million of its 2023-25 OPK budget, $16.7 million of its 2023-25 Preschool Promise budget, and $2.8 million of its 2023-25 Healthy Families Oregon budget to increase provider rates by at least 7% over previous funding levels for each of these programs.

Also, during the 2022-23 school year, the Early Learning Division launched a Request for Applications for Preschool Promise to increase the number of children served. This provided current grantees with the opportunity to increase the number of slots and allowed new Preschool Promise grantees to receive these grants. Through this expansion, the State added 57 new Preschool Promise grantees statewide.

On July 1, 2023, the Oregon Early Learning Division (ELD), which oversees OPK and Preschool Promise, transitioned out of the Department of Education and became its own department, the Department of Early Learning and Care (DELC).

Additionally, during the 2023-24 school year, both OPK and Preschool Promise amended their grant terms to allow programs to enter into two-year grants. The two-year grants provide families across the state with more stability and reduced stress knowing that their children can have continuity of services at family preferred provider for two years. Moreover, it allows grantees to have funding for two years reducing staff stress and increasing provider stability.

Background

Oregon has two state-funded preschool programs: the Oregon Pre-Kindergarten (OPK) program, established in 1987, and Preschool Promise, launched in 2016.

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. 

Oregon’s overall support for state-funded preschool, including enrollment and funding for both OPK and Preschool Promise, is depicted in the first two sections of this state profile. The third section focuses solely on the OPK program, and the fourth section provides information on Preschool Promise.