2026 Preschool one sheet w photoz.pdf (52,857 KB)

Preschool at BVSD

Universal Preschool Here’s what we do for enrollment • • •

Families need to first enroll in CDEC’s bridgecare and wait for matching rounds to see where their location is. This first step often takes months Once BVSD accepts a match, families have to go back into CDEC’s system to accept the match Then BVSD community liaisons connect with families and families can begin the enrollment process with BVSD

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Receive monthly payments based on monthly enrollment, comb through each month’s data reports and many errors, reconcile student by student and then submit reconciliation reports each quarter ▪ Larger gap in funding between cost of program and revenue we receive from state ◦ 30 hour payment is not double the 15 hour payment ▪ Funding does not cover our needs to serve all students on IEPs within our negotiated agreement and transportation restrictions

Here’s how it goes For Educators • Constantly needing to figure out workarounds to align state systems and BVSD enrollment systems that do no talk to each other - lots of additional spreadsheets, IT support, etc to align 2 systems • Delayed our ability to enroll quickly and efficiently • Negatively impacted our ability to be nimble and adjust seats by classroom section, which negatively impacts both students on IEPs and general education students • Community liaisons spending more time on enrollment and less time on other services and supports for families and students • Significant time and energy checking monthly payments from state and submitting reconciliation

For kids • Often delayed with starting in their classrooms to engage in learning with peers due to the multiple enrollment systems that must be completed. For families • Cumbersome, multi-step, confusing process that involves both district and state platforms and directions • Often families think they are done when they get a match in Bridgecare, and that is only the first step • Frustrated families who have to wait months to make decisions about preschool programming

Preschool at BVSD

Here’s what we need Monitor bill that would modify CDEC •

We support several of the changes suggested in the current, draft legislation ▪ Allowing families to enroll directly with school district, versus through BridgeCare (see below) ▪ Creating a leadership board, versus relying only on

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direction of CDEC Executive Director More collaboration when setting student : teacher ratio Allocation of resources ahead of providing services, versus in arrears

Advocate for •

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Flexibility in seat setting for school districts ▪ The Provider Agreement states that we can only change our available seats by 20% once we have entered them into Bridgecare ▪ The seats were required to be set in early November 2025 for the 26-27 school year ▪ We need to be able to adjust our available seats on an on-going basis in order to meet the needs of the community Direct enrollment process Districts need more control in all the steps and technology, including: ▪ Setting our seats by classroom section ▪ Adjusting our seats by classroom section in real time ▪ Having families involved in one platform for enrollment ▪ Setting our own timelines for enrollment so we can align ourselves with district, private sector, and family needs for planning ▪ In control of creating our own workflows. Losing time and efficiency trying to fit ourselves into CDEC’s work flows and steps ▪ Transitioning Bridgecare to a simple payment platform, where district provides family information in exchange for payment for services More accurate data collection Our data that we have to submit to the state is often more accurate than what is generated through CDEC’s systems. Allowing the district to handle directly would also decrease the burden on families ▪ Allow Districts to submit financial reports through CDE Data Pipeline ◦ In 2024-2025 school districts were allowed to submit financial reports through the CDE Data Pipeline ◦ Starting in 2025-2026 school districts are required to submit quarterly financial reports through the CDEC Metrix system. This creates additional burden on our business services staff and requires duplication of reporting Developing SchoolFinder tool If providing choice is critical in preschool legislation, focusing on building up the school finder feature in Bridgecare would accomplish this without putting a tremendous burden on school districts and ultimately, families, which is negatively impacting student learning Provide differentiated funding based on needs of students Students on IEPs should receive additional funding because additional FTE is needed for services