Concord to launch full-day pre-K

By Clayton Sidenbender

ELKHART — Four-year-olds in Elkhart County will have the opportunity to join one of the only full-day pre-K programs in the county starting this fall at Concord Community Schools.

The Concord Mini Minutemen Preschool will start in the 2025-26 school year. It will be available for 80 students.

“School will start with the Concord calendar, so then they’ll start in August,” said Erin Kennedy, the new lead teacher for the pre-K program. “Registration opens to the public April 1 and then when it’s full, we’ll get a waiting list going.”

Part of a $4.2 million grant called Next Generation School Improvement Grant will be used to help fund the pre-K program. The program will be also partly funded by federal Title I funds, which support schools with a high percentage of low-income students.

Accessible and affordable preschool options are few across the county, according to Dan Funston, superintendent of Concord Community Schools. He also said the county is a preschool desert.

“We’re going to start with one class per elementary school,” Funston said, “and then hope to grow from there. We have some construction projects going on at some of the elementary schools, and so we’re incorporating some bathrooms in some rooms and doing what we need to do from a facility perspective in order to support that.”

Indiana does not fully fund pre-K programs, but it does offer the On My Way Pre-K program, using mostly federal dollars. Tuition for Concord’s pre-K program will be income-based, and $150 per week for families who do not qualify for On My Way Pre-K. The program is free for children of Concord staff.

“Between those sources, we think it’ll be self-sustaining, but we know that we have this grant there to support it as needed to get it going,” Funston said.

The Head Start preschool program already offered by the district will not be replaced by the new pre-K program. Funston said there was a waiting list for several students to get into the Head Start program last year. He said the district hopes the new pre-K program will give more students an opportunity next year.

Funston said Concord has been working with Building Strong Brains, a coalition in Elkhart County working on change in the realm of early childhood education and development.

Kim Boynton, director of Building Strong Brains, said the county has been learning more about kindergartners’ readiness for school.

“Only 40 percent of Elkhart County kindergarteners have all the needed skills to support their success,” Boynton said. “Building Strong Brains, a coalition of 70 organizations, is working together to create opportunities for children to be ready to learn and thrive as they arrive at kindergarten. We are thrilled when opportunities emerge to help children and their families.”

Parents interested in learning more about the program can visit www. concordschools.com/ preschool.

Read this on the Elkhart Truth website HERE.