When Can I Register For Vpk In Florida?

Parents desire the best for their children — good grades, college, and a career. It all starts with a strong foundation of learning. Your child's brain goes through the most important growth and development by age 5. Children who nourish high-quality preschool do much better when they reach kindergarten. It tin can make a huge difference in their success throughout life.

That'due south why it is of import that your child nourish Voluntary Prekindergarten. VPK is free of charge to all 4-twelvemonth-old children in Florida regardless of family income. The high-quality learning opportunity builds a strong academic structure. VPK uses educational materials for specific stages of your kid's development to prepare them for schoolhouse.

Voluntary Prekindergarten began every bit an amendment passed past Florida voters in Nov 2002, then signed into law in January 2005 with its implementation in August 2005. Together, with both the Early Learning Coalition of Orange Canton and Early on Learning Coalition of Osceola County, 4C provides these services to eligible families. The plan is enriched with early learning activities, experiences, and high curricula standards to fit each kid's developmental needs. Participation is completely voluntary.

Eligibility Requirements

Voluntary Prekindergarten is free for all children who are 4 years sometime on or before Sept. one, reside in Florida, and who are not participating in the Gardiner Scholarship Program. Parents whose children are built-in from Feb. ii through Sept. i of a calendar year may choose to enroll their kid in VPK in either the school year their child turns iv or the adjacent.

ENROLL FOR VOLUNTARY PREKINDERGARTEN

Plan Options

Parents tin can choose from one of the following programs:

School-Year Program: Provides 540 instructional hours, with course sizes of 20 or fewer students. Instructors must hold a Nascence through V Florida Kid Care Professional person Credential and meet standard background screening requirements.
Summer Programme: Provides 300 instructional hours, with class sizes of 12 or fewer students. Instructors must hold a Available's caste and meet standard background screening requirements.
Specialized Instructional Services Program (Sis): For children with special needs and/or disabilities that have an established Individualized Teaching Plan (IEP); VPK funding is allocated for an IEP service(due south); hours will vary.

For more information, visit the Florida Early Learning VPK website

Where Tin Your Child Nourish VPK?

Public, private, and faith-based providers may exist eligible to deliver the program depending on whether they meet the minimum standards required in law. A private prekindergarten provider may institute and use criteria to determine whether to admit a child for services in the school-year or summer programs. Criteria must be objective and utilize uniformly to all children. Florida police prohibits VPK providers from discriminating confronting children or their parents on the grounds of race, color, or national origin, including the refusal to admit a kid to the VPK program.

Florida police besides prohibits providers from requiring enrollment into other services as a condition of VPK enrollment. VPK is free for eligible children, regardless of family income. Providers are not permitted to charge a fee (registration, supplies, etc.) or require parents to agree to whatsoever boosted services as a condition for enrolling their child in a VPK programme. State law does not, however, prohibit a provider from charging registration fees for child care provided before and/or after the VPK program. Providers may also charge late fees for children non picked upwards at the end of the VPK program. Make certain y'all understand the policies of the programme yous are because before your child attends.

To search for all relevant information pertaining to child care providers, click here.

How to Enroll

Parents must use Florida's Early Learning Family Portal to enroll a child in VPK.

Learn how to sign up for VPK in Orange Canton – English | Spanish | Creole

Here are videos to assistance you become familiar with the process:

Video: Create a Family Portal account.
Video: VPK child awarding procedure.

ENROLL FOR VOLUNTARY PREKINDERGARTEN

Readiness Rate

The VPK Provider Kindergarten Readiness Rate is a measurement of how well a Voluntary Prekindergarten provider prepares 4-year-olds for kindergarten. VPK Standards describe what 4-twelvemonth-sometime children should know and be able to perform by the stop of the VPK programme. To find out more information regarding the VPK Readiness Charge per unit and to search for individual provider readiness rates, click hither.