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9 Investigates early learning struggles amid poor funding and little accountability

Next year, Orlando mother Sarah Dennis will send her youngest off to voluntary pre-kindergarten.

For Sarah the question of “where” isn’t much of a question, she’ll choose the same VPK she sent her oldest son to when he was four.

“It really helped prepare him for kindergarten,” says Sarah.

That is the idea behind VPK: To get kids ready for school by teaching a few basic skills.

In 2002, voters in Florida approved a constitutional amendment to establish a free statewide pre-kindergarten program for all 4-year-olds.

Now, a decade and-a-half later, VPK is understaffed, underfunded, and without any way to measure which VPK programs are preparing kids.

“It’s frustrating not having something,” said Karen Willis of the Early Learning Coalition of Orange County.

VPK funding is handed out from the state to a congregation of providers that range from private schools to public schools and from daycares to church-schools.

Florida used to have a test for checking to make sure the children in the VPK program were meeting basic standards, however, since 2014 the test has not been used or replaced.

“It was one way that we were able to look to see was some progress being made with these children, since 2014 we don’t even have that,” Willis said.