Applications open for expanded Seattle preschool program

The application period for Seattle’s decade-old preschool program opens this week to families in need of free or reduced tuition. Mayor Bruce Harrell announced Monday the city will add another 16 classrooms to the program, increasing the total capacity to nearly 150 classrooms and 2,500 students across the city.

Seattle’s preschool program was first approved by voters in 2014, making the city one of the first to provide mostly free pre-K programming to children aged 3 or 4. The program was re-approved and expanded by voters in 2018.

Tuition for families is set based on income. About 70% of families pay nothing for their children to attend and three-quarters of students are not white.

Most of the programs are operated by privately run preschools that receive funding from the city, while about a third are operated directly by Seattle Public Schools.

Since its founding, the program has twice received a gold rating from the National Institute for Early Education Research.

Dwane Chappelle, Director of the Seattle Department of Education and Early Learning, said the ramp-up process since 2014 has been deliberate so the city can ensure its programs are performing well.

Harrell made the announcement Monday at Causey’s Learning Center in the Central District.

“You are one of the greatest investments that the city can make,” Harrell told the preschool’s director, Ruth Causey-Brown.

The funding for the preschool program is mostly from the seven-year, $636.5 million property tax levy, passed in 2018. Just over half of that measure is dedicated toward the preschool program, with the rest funding public school health centers, academic assistance in K-12 schools and two free years of college for all high school graduates.

That levy will expire at the end of 2025. Chappelle said the city intends to ask voters to continue the funding, though no proposals are currently ready for publication.