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Gaston County Schools describes scope, capacity limits of NC Pre-K program
Summary
District officials told the board the NC Pre-K program serves roughly 825–850 children across school and private daycare sites, with 915 state-allotted slots and more than 650 applications for 2025–26.
District staff briefed the Gaston County Board of Education on April 14 about the NC Pre-K program's size, funding and classroom models and urged families to register before pre-K registration ends in May.
Presenter Emily Pogue said NC Pre-K services in Gaston County are funded by NC Pre-K funds, Title I and the Department of Exceptional Children, and that the district serves both regular and special-education students in publicly operated classrooms and contracted private daycare sites.
Pogue said the district is "allotted currently 915 slots from the state" but that the system does not yet have space for all of those slots; instead, it is "right now serving roughly 825 to 850 kids." She described current placements as classrooms in 18 elementary schools plus 25 classrooms in 12 daycare sites and said the district has over 650 applications for the 2025–26 school year.
Pogue described classroom ratios and developmental-day licensing: regular class ratios "are 1 to 9, 2 to 18, and our developmental day rooms are 2 to 12 students," and the district operates two evaluation teams that assess children as soon as they turn 3 for services including speech, physical therapy and occupational therapy.
The district said it uses Frog Street curriculum aligned to the North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development and noted the program's social-emotional focus, including Conscious Discipline and the pyramid model for promoting positive behaviors.
Board members asked for one clarification for the public: Pogue restated the slot figures and the mix of public and private sites. No board vote was required on the informational presentation.
