Preschool Expansion
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 3, 2024 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). ETSD provides a mixed delivery of preschool classrooms utilizing in-district schools, as well as private providers. All private provider classrooms will follow the same requirements as ETSD and provide a common educational experience in terms of length of school day, calendar year, teacher certification, and curriculum implementation.
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.
Only new preschool families that are age eligible and interested in attending our free full-day program at one of our designated sites are able to access the ETSD Preschool Lottery Form annually and submit one entry for each eligible child. All students currently in our three-year old program, whether in-district or at a private provider site, if they remain age eligible, are able to remain in the program as a four-year old and do not need to enter the lottery.
Information on expansion 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 on the current school year. Please also see the Frequently Asked Questions document 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/Preschool Program Coordinator at [email protected].
2025-2026 PEA Program & Expansion
The 2025-2026 school year is considered year two of expansion. Preschool programs will continue to occur at Rice, Malvern, and Inspire (formerly Under the Sun). The program is expanding to include the Marlton Preschool Center, formerly Teddy Bear Academy, as well as Chesterbrook Academy next year. This allows for an additional 100 preschool students to be served. 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. There were approximately 400 entries received. 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.
As of July 7, 2025 the district was able to obtain state approval for a new private provider site, The Learning Experience. This allowed for two additional preschool classrooms, one for three-year old children and one four-year old children. This new partnership allows the district to place 30 more students into our program. Any family currently on the waitlist impacted by this addition or based on any spaces that may have arisen after orientations in late June were notified of placement.
Unfortunately, the district continues to have a waitlist. As a reminder, families are notified if and when space becomes available based on the order of initial 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. Families added to the waitlist after the lottery occurs annually are placed at the end of the list based on the date of request to be added.
2024-2025 PEA Program & Expansion
The 2024-2025 school year was considered year one, and our approved plan only allowed us, due to limited space, to transition 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.