Welcome!
Early Childhood Council of Larimer County (ECCLC) is thrilled to be Larimer County’s Local Coordinating Organization (LCO) for Universal Preschool. We will continually be updating this page with opportunities to collaborate and learn. We are determined to ensure that Colorado Universal Preschool works our way in Larimer County. That means we will strive to make sure that everyone impacted by Universal Preschool, including families, early care and education providers, community partners, government, and local organizations has a voice–and say–in how Universal Preschool plays out in Larimer County.
PROVIDER UPDATES
Quality Standards
As outlined in the rule (specifically at § 4.113), beginning July 1, 2024, the Family and Community Engagement quality standard will come into effect, requiring that within six (6) months of participating in the Preschool Program, providers must have and implement policies and procedures (on their website or handbook distributed to families) which ensure:
The use of interpreters or other language resources to effectively communicate in families’ home language;
Seeking input from participating families on priorities, interests, home routines, and cultural and social practices;
Engaging with families on goals that inform the provider’s interactions and instruction with children, including with multilingual learners;
Engaging families and community partners in decision-making on preschool operations;
Involving families in the transition of children into and out of the Preschool Program, including the transition into Kindergarten; and The quality of program-family and program-staff interactions.
In the summer of 2024, providers participating in Universal Preschool will be asked to submit high-level information about their current instructional approach, as well as their current healthy development and family and community engagement policies and practices. This information will not be used to determine compliance. Rather, this process will help preschool providers better understand the standards well in advance of any monitoring, and will be critical to inform the Department on the development of responsive, relevant supports aligned to the implementation of the quality standards rules.
Key Dates & Action Items
Family Matching:
If you are matched to a PART-TIME (10 hours) or HALF-DAY (15 hours) program, your options are listed below:
If you do not want to make a change from 10-15 hours per week to 30 hours per week, no action is required.
If you do want to make a change from 10-15 hours per week to 30 hours per week, please follow these steps:
Contact your Universal Preschool provider to see if they offer and have space in a full-day program.
If they do, contact your Local Coordinating Organization (LCO) to unlock your provider selection choices to change your provider and/or program choices to a full-day, 30 hour per week program.
If your Universal Preschool provider does not offer or have space in a full-day program, contact your LCO to help you find another program option.
If you receive and accept a match from a provider that has a full-day program and open availability, you must then complete all registration forms with the provider to ensure you receive this funding for additional hours.
February 29 - July 5: Registration for Colorado Universal Preschool open for families.
April 22: First family-to-provider matching round runs - CDEC runs DAA
April 23 - May 7: Providers accept matches for first matching round.
Mid April: Following the matching round, you will be able to begin processing "new family" registrations. No provider steps are necessary during the Family Matching phase, until after the first matching round in April.
May 8 - 27: Families notified of first round matches. Families must accept or decline by May 27.
July 5: Second family-to-provider matching round runs. Providers must accept or decline matches by July 22.
July 23: Families notified of second round matches. Families must accept or decline by July 30.
Non-IEP Direct Enrollment:
July 6 until the end of the 2024–25 school year: Direct enrollment for non-IEP families directly through providers
IEP Direct Enrollment:
February 29th through the end of the 2024 – 2025 school year: Special Education Administrative Units (AUs) and school districts will request placement of students with IEPs. Providers will accept matches within 2 weeks of receiving a match. Families of a child with an IEP will have until 6/30/25 to accept their match, we ask that they accept within two weeks.
All updates needed for children with IEPs must be handled by the AU. Please refer families and providers directly to the AU for further assistance.
Please do not use tasks or email to send information related to a child with an IEP; not even a child’s unique application ID.
The AU will reach out to Angela Delin if they need further assistance.
Matching Updates
We did it; we have completed our first year of Universal Preschool! Thank you for all your support throughout this process!
Providers, please check your email closely. CDEC will send out the rates for the 24/25 Universal Preschool year in early summer. As you begin enrolling your kids for the fall, be sure to verify age and CO residency per your Provider Agreement with CDEC. Also, be sure to indicate the number of hours the child is attending your program; this will support correct payments.
The next matching round will occur on July 5th!
Providers will be notified to review their matches from July 8-22
Provider review period - must submit declines by July 21st at 10pm
Families will need to accept or decline their match from July 23-30
Program Changes
Program changes for next DAA due to LCO by June 27th
Providers, if you need any program changes, please submit them by the 14th or 29th of each month, as CDEC completes these requests on the 15th and 30th of each month.
Seat Adjustments
Provider Seat & Set Up Dates
August 1 - August 9: Providers can adjust seats
How to Request Adjustments to Seats or Programs
Please contact your LCO with the following information- Find my LCO
Names of programs to add or archive,
List of programs requiring more or less seats
Seat types for each
LCOs will submit requests to have these changes made in the system
Additional Hours:
If you are matched to a PART-TIME (10 hours) or HALF-DAY (15 hours) program, your options are listed below:
No action is required if you do not want to change from 10-15 hours per week to 30 hours per week.
If you do want to make a change from 10-15 hours per week to 30 hours per week, please follow these steps:
Contact your Universal Preschool provider to see if they offer and have space in a full-day program.
If they do, email your Local Coordinating Organization (LCO)—with the provider on copy about the transfer—and the LCO will submit the request to CDEC.
If your Universal Preschool provider does not offer or have space in a full-day program, you will need to edit your program preferences starting May 8, please email: upk@ecclc.org for support
If you receive and accept a match from a provider that has a full-day program and open availability, you must then complete all registration forms with the provider to ensure you receive this funding for additional hours.
Reminders:
A Universal Preschool Program is the number of hours a child is scheduled to attend each week. Universal Preschool funding covers the number of hours a child receives based on their eligibility.
A child can enroll in a program schedule that is more hours than their Universal Preschool funding will cover. The hours covered by Universal Preschool must be completely free to the family, but families will be responsible for tuition for any hours beyond what their Universal Preschool award covers based on the provider’s tuition rate.
For example, suppose a child is enrolled in a full-day program (30-40 hours) and qualifies for the standard 15 hours of Universal Preschool funding. In that case, 15 hours will be fully covered by Universal Preschool funding, and the family will be responsible for tuition for the other +16 hours.
Provider Agreement
Please review a copy of the provider agreement that can be found at bit.ly/UPKProviderAgreement
Submit your required documents to CDEC_procurement-contracts@state.co.us as soon as possible as matching rounds are set to begin in April. This is required in order to send the official provider agreement for signature.
Is there a better person to send this message to? Please send their contact information to CDEC_procurement-contracts@state.co.us.
Important Reminder: A signed Provider Agreement is required for your program to participate in Universal Preschool, including in getting matched with children in the coming months.
We’ve heard your questions about the requirements within the agreement. Please see pages 32-34 now included in the Provider Handbook for more information, including a breakdown of the required insurance, documentation, and affirmations needed to execute your agreement via Docusign. If you have any additional questions please submit those to CDEC_procurement-contracts@state.co.us.
ECCLC Provider Support
ECCLC holds monthly provider support sessions that are virtual via Zoom. You can register by clicking the links below! All dates are subject to change.
2024-2025 Provider Handbook_ V1_Updated_030124Provider Handbook 2024-2025
This handbook contains helpful information about eligibility, the enrollment process, and resources to market your program.
Provider Payment Information
MetrixIQ is excited to kick off the second half of the school year with an improved payment report process for Universal Preschool. On January 8th, we launched Metrix Enroll for Universal Preschool Payments – a web-based portal where you will find your monthly payment reports in one place. The new system also allows us to add student names to the report, which we hope will help make the review of your payments much easier. We are also working on an End of the Year report for providers, including payments received from MetrixIQ (UPK, bonus, grants, etc.). This EOY report will be available via Metrix Enroll as well.
Providers should have received an email from Metrix Enroll (no-reply@metrixenroll.com) and the subject line “Welcome” with your username and temporary password to activate your Metrix Enroll account. You can see a preview of the system, how to login and download your payment reports here.
Providers may receive multiple deposits and payment reports if they are receiving a back payment for a previous month for an eligible child. Eligibility for back payment is dependent on the child’s start date.
Year-End Provider Payment Reconciliation:
As we near the end of the year, it is imperative that all outstanding payment issues are resolved.
Providers MUST report any outstanding payment issues as soon as possible to Metrix IQ by submitting a ticket to: coupkpayments@metrixiq.com
LCOs can NOT review payment issues for providers.
Additional Resources
ECCLC's Colorado Universal Preschool Team
Universal Preschool Manager
Universal Preschool Associate
Communications Manager
Chief Program Officer
