Reply to Exceptions to the Prek3 Sept 30 cut off date?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Hi,
we live in DC and our daughter will turn 3 on October 20th. Has anyone heard of any PreK-3 programs with a later cut off date than September 30th, or any exceptions which would enable us to register her in DC for the 2025/26 year. She is very advanced developmentally and we would love to not pay an extra year of daycare...
Thanks![/quote]

There are no exceptions to the cutoff date in DCPS that would enable you to register her early. Even if your child was born on October 1.[/quote]

Yup. I know kids who missed the cutoff by literally minutes and their parents could not get an exception.

It's because the universal PK program is an entitlement benefit, not regular school. If DC didn't have universal PK, and you started in public in Kindergarten at age 5, I think there would be more flexibility for special cases. The schools want kids in the developmentally appropriate grade.

But precisely because the PK program functions as free childcare, and is an expensive benefit that DC invests a ton of money into (because they created a high quality program -- PK teachers in DCPS are almost universally highly qualified, with graduate degrees in ECE and many have long tenures, plus the district has invested a ton in facilities because programs that serve this age group have very specific facilities requirements), they have to be strict about the cut off. If they make an exception for anyone, then a huge group of people will want the same exception, and it would bankrupt the program.

Whereas you wouldn't see the same domino effect if we were talking about K because by then families have figured out their childcare and childcare for older kids is also cheaper. People used to just pay for preschool or have a SAHP (or both). And K is a lot more demanding than PK so parents thought harder about rushing younger kids into it.[/quote]

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