The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education and Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners held a joint meeting, on Monday to discuss priorities and budget forecasts. They also talked about the future of the Charlotte area’s public pre-K options.
While most of the 6,583 seats across those programs are filled, there are about 295 vacancies. Most are in the NC Pre-K program, which is only 85% full. County Commissioner George Dunlap said filling them should be a priority.
“That’s 295 slots going to waste. I want to know what we’re going to do to fill them," Dunlap said. "Apparently the marketing strategy isn’t working, so we need to do something differently.”
CMS staff said the NC Pre-K program faces barriers — a lack of transportation options and wrap-around child care for before and after the school day. Dunlap said the county and district should explore that issue.
Pre-K staff from the county and district told the two boards ensuring all seats are filled is a priority for this year and beyond. There are also plans to explore a universal application process to make it easier for families to apply across all four programs.
CMS data show students who attended public pre-K, performed better than average on their beginning-of-year literacy assessments.
CMS measures student literacy at the beginning, middle and end of each school year.
About 43% of kindergarteners met their benchmarks in their beginning-of-year assessments this year — down slightly from last year. But for students who attended a public pre-K program in Mecklenburg County, that number was 49%.
The district has a goal to increase the percentage of kindergarteners meeting literacy benchmarks on their end-of-year tests from 73% as of June 2023 to 97% by June 2029.
CMS board members Liz Monterrey Duvall and Summer Nunn both suggested instituting some form of charge for pre-K students from families with higher incomes. That revenue might help expand pre-K options to different geographic areas.
"Especially if we can get 3- and 4-year-olds with a certified teacher, quicker, parents will line up for that in this county," Nunn said.
When the county first established its pre-K program, it decided against any sort of copay or charge. County officials decided the administrative burden of creating an infrastructure to process that wouldn't be worthwhile, said County Manager Dena Diorio.
