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Legislative counsel walks House Ways and Means through draft prekindergarten statute that shifts private-provider payments to childcare fund
Summary
Committee reviewed draft statutory language changing who pays for publicly funded prekindergarten: public providers stay funded through the education fund and school districts while prequalified private providers would be paid by DCF from the Child Care Contribution special fund; the draft also addresses prequalified standards, a universal pre-K coordinator role, ADM counting and foundation-formula implications.
Legislative counsel presented draft statutory language to the House Ways and Means committee on Feb. 4, 2026, proposing a set of changes to Title 16 (education) and Title 33 (human services) that would change how Vermont funds and administers publicly funded universal prekindergarten (UPK).
Counsel summarized the status quo: the UPK entitlement enacted in 2014 requires districts to provide access to at least 10 hours per week for eligible 3- and 4-year-olds (and some 5-year-olds not yet enrolled in kindergarten) and, under current law, tuition payments for UPK—whether to public or private prequalified providers—flow through the education fund and the student's school district.
The draft language preserves the 10-hour entitlement but proposes several structural changes. It would narrow the statutory definition of a prekindergarten child (the draft focuses on 4-year-olds and 5-year-olds not yet enrolled in kindergarten), require each school district to…
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