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2019-2020 applications open for Seattle Preschool Program

 (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

SEATTLE — The Seattle Preschool Program, designed to offer affordable preschool to 3- and 4-year-old children in Seattle, opened its application cycle for 2019-2020 on Friday. Click here to apply.

Seattle parents with 3- and 4-year-old children whose birthday is on or before August 31, 2019, are eligible to apply. Programs for dual language and special education are also available.

The preschool program was launched as a four-year pilot project following the approval of Proposition 1B by Seattle voters in 2014.

In November 2018, Seattle voters passed the $620 million Families, Education, Preschool and Promise levy to continue funding for an additional seven years of the program.

“To help close the opportunity gap, we must do all we can to make sure all children in Seattle come to kindergarten ready to learn. Access to high-quality preschool is one (of) the best way(s) to address inequity in education and in every community in Seattle," Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said in a news release.

The program currently serves 1,500 students and funding from the levy will allow to program to expand to serve 1,750 children by the end of the year.

In addition to opening up 250 more positions, the levy funding will also allow the Seattle Preschool Program to “increase the geographic diversity of the program, with a focus on providing more capacity in regions of the city with the highest demand,” the Department of Early Learning said in a news release.

The Department of Early Learning projects Seattle Preschool Program enrollment is expected to grow by 65 percent over the next seven years and will serve more than 2,500 children by the end of 2025-2026.

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