COLORADO — For the third year in a row, Colorado is postponing quality standards for Universal Preschool (UPK).
The program gives four year olds in Colorado at least 15 hours per week of free preschool. As part of that, the state was supposed to require schools to have quality standards, which include the following:
- a 20 student cap on class sizes
- certain curriculum requirements
- additional teacher training
Those rules were initially supposed to take effect when the program launched in the summer of 2023, but amid challenges with the rollout, they were pushed back to 2024, then to 2025.
Chalkbeat Colorado is now reporting a state advisory committee voted to postpone the requirement again until July, 2026. They report the state is behind on some key tasks that are necessary to put the rules in place.
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91,000 Acres, 212 Homes Lost, and New Evacuations
An update on the devastating Aspen Acres Fire, which has now burned over 91,000 acres and destroyed 212 structures. New mandatory evacuations have been issued for parts of Fremont County as over 1000 firefighters continue to battle the massive blaze.
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