Preschool Integrated Program 
The district currently offers a tuition-based preschool integrated program with half-day classes for three and four-year olds at Rice Elementary. The goal of these inclusion programs are to bring together children with special needs with their typically developing peers in a collaborative classroom environment where students experience a variety of early reading and math concepts, language development, fine and gross motor skills, related arts and social skills. The curriculum used in these programs are state approved, developmentally appropriate, and based on best practice in early childhood education.
2024-2025 Tuition-Based Preschool Integrated Program
All families that applied to the program by the established deadline in February of 2024 were accepted in the program and official acceptance letters and next steps were sent out the week of 2/26/24.
New to ETSD? Applications continue to be accepted in the fall for the 2024-2025 school year as a limited number of spaces remain available. A completed application and non-refundable application and commitment fee must be submitted to the Curriculum Office if you are interested in applying for the program. Click here for a general information letter, more specific timelines, and the actual application for the 2024-2025 program. Please note that no tuition charges are due at this time pending more information from the state regarding Preschool Education Aid (PEA), see special note below. If you have questions about the program or application process, please call 856-983-1800, ext. 5050 or email [email protected].
Special Note: ETSD is now eligible and applied in mid-August for preschool education aid through the state of New Jersey. If awarded, the aid would provide free full-day preschool for tuition-based students that are currently in our preschool inclusion program. Click here for more information and to view a parent letter that was sent out to families in July about this initiative.
We are excited to announce that on October 3rd the State of New Jersey approved the Evesham Township School District application to expand our preschool program. The school district will be working on a plan for the transition from half-day to full-day and will communicate with all preschool families upon its completion. The approval of the preschool expansion means that the $3,000 tuition charges for 2024-2025 that was deferred in July will not be collected at all. The preschool program will remain at Rice Elementary School and will be converted to a full day program that will follow the regular district school calendar with the anticipated start date of January 2, 2025. More information will be forthcoming in the near future.
2024-2025 PEA Program
Notification was received on October 3rd that the ETSD application for preschool education aid was approved by the state and will be phased in over the next five years in order to provide free full-day preschool to all ETSD families that are interested by the 2028-2029 school year. The district will be developing a lottery process later this fall to accommodate a predetermined number of students each year that will grow annually based on district classroom space and partnerships with local private providers over that five year period.
This school year is considered year one, and our approved plan only allows us, due to limited space, to transition current Rice students that are already enrolled in our preschool program from half day to full day after winter break. Therefore, we are not able to accept any new requests for participation in the Rice program. However, we have partnered with two local private providers that will have one classroom each, beginning January 2nd, with a limited number of spaces available. More information will follow regarding an application process for these spaces and details about the lottery.
In year two, the lottery system will be used for both district and private provider classrooms. Once we have the lottery system process in place and timelines developed, we will publish that information to families and advertise accordingly. Information will continue to be posted here on our district website and sent out to ETSD families and local community resources as it becomes available.