Preschool Programming 
The district currently offers general education, preschool integrated and self-contained special education classes for three and four-year olds at Rice Elementary and through partnerships with private providers. The goal of the inclusion program is 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 both programs are state approved, developmentally appropriate, and based on best practice in early childhood education.
Preschool expansion through PEA funding will be occurring over the next five years to increase opportunities for general education and additional integrated classrooms. The district received notification from the state on October 3rd that the ETSD application for preschool education aid was approved. The goal of PEA funding is to provide free full-day preschool to all ETSD families that are interested by the 2028-2029 school year (click here to view the approved PEA application),
The district has developed a lottery process 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 the five year period. The lottery system process will open in early February annually, with the actual lottery being held the first week of March. 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. See below for more information.
2025-2026 PEA Program & Expansion
The 2025-2026 school year is considered year two of expansion. The lottery system was utilized for both district and private provider classrooms with placement determined by attendance zone in alignment with district K-8 policy. The lottery system process opened on Tuesday, February 4th and remained open throughout the month for all interested families to enter. The actual lottery took place on Wednesday, March 5th and families were notified of acceptance in the program or placement on a waitlist on Friday, March 7th. Any family currently on the waitlist will be notified in the order of lottery placement should an opening arise. If your family is new to the area or missed the March lottery and you would like to be placed on the waitlist, please contact the curriculum office.
Please Note: Only new preschool families that were age eligible and interested in attending our free full-day program at one of our designated sites for the 2025-2026 school year were able to access the ETSD Preschool Lottery Form and submit one entry for each eligible child. As a reminder, all students currently in our program at Rice or a private provider site, if they remain age eligible, were able to remain in the program and did not need to enter the lottery.
Please see the Frequently Asked Questions document as a reference as it continues to be updated periodically. If you have questions that are not answered on the FAQ, feel free to reach out to Danielle Magulick, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, at [email protected].
2024-2025 PEA Program & Expansion
This school year, 2024-2025, is considered year one, and our approved plan only allowed us, due to limited space, to transition current Rice students that were already enrolled in our preschool program from half-day to full-day after winter break. A partnership with two local private providers allowed the district to open one classroom at each site, Malvern and Under the Sun, as of January 2, 2025. Both private provider sites are currently at capacity.