PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Multnomah County's Preschool for All program is at risk of missing one of its main goals: universal access to preschool in the next five years, according to an audit of the program.

On Wednesday, the county released its audit of Preschool for All, which aims to provide free, inclusive and universal preschool for three- and four-year-olds across the county. Voters approved the program through a 2020 ballot measure -- creating a 1.5% or 3% tax for high-income earners, to support the county's mission.

Now, entering its fourth school year, the program is seeing progress reaching students prioritized by the program, but auditors are raising concerns over a lack of preschools applying for the program, which is hurting the program's chances of achieving universal preschool access by 2030.

“It is positive that Preschool for All is supporting access to preschool for those who have historically had the least access,” said County Auditor Jennifer McGuirk. “But Preschool for All needs to significantly ramp up its efforts to meet the ambitious goal of universal preschool by 2030.”

Audit findings

One of the main findings in the audit is the program's progress in reaching priority groups of students, including children from low-income and BIPOC families, students in foster care, facing homelessness, and those who speak a language other than English or have disabilities.

According to the auditors, a majority of the children who apply and enroll in the program have at least one of the priorities, with a majority of Preschool for All students coming from low-income (74%) or BIPOC families (67%).

“The proportion of enrolled families that indicated on their applications that their children are lower income, BIPOC, and speak languages other than English are all higher than the proportion of those groups in the county overall, according to census data,” the audit noted.

The audit also found that Preschool for All has supported preschools to better serve children but could be providing more support -- including providing better training for preschool providers to serve children from different backgrounds.

Currently, providers have optional trainings such as inclusion courses, special education trainings, and trainings on trauma response strategies for early childhood.

“While these trainings are a good start, Preschool for All should continue to develop and offer additional trainings to providers, especially trainings that focus on topics such as understanding personal bias, cultural responsiveness, and working with children with disabilities,” the audit states.

Another main finding from the audit: Preschool for All is at risk of not meeting its goal of achieving universal access to preschool by the year 2030.

The growth of Preschool for All depends on getting existing preschools to participate, however, many preschool providers in the county have not applied for the program, according to the audit.

“At the start of the 2024-25 school year, Preschool for All offered around 2,000 seats. The program forecasted that it will need to grow to 11,000 seats by September 2030. Preschool for All estimated that about 7,000 seats will come from converting existing private preschool seats to the program. 4,000 seats will come from newly created seats at new or expanded preschool sites. However, a lack of data on current preschool capacity and the changing private market make it hard to know exactly how many new seats will be needed,” the audit states.

“While the goal is still to reach universal preschool by 2030, slower growth initially means that fewer eligible children will be able to access free preschool in the meantime. If the program only meets its revised goals, it will have served about 7,500 fewer children by 2030, compared to how many children it could have served if it had kept its original goals. Based on the program’s forecast, it could take an additional two years for Preschool for All to have enough seats to serve all children in the priority groups," the audit said.

Preschool for All's model is built on roughly 80% of existing preschool seats being converted to Preschool for All by 2030. Meanwhile, auditors said that around 11% of potential sites are participating.

According to the audit, at the start of the 2024-25 school year, there were 122 preschool sites participating in Preschool for All, and based on state licensing data, there are about 840 potential licensed preschool sites that could be participating.

Auditors said they spoke to some preschool providers that are not yet participating in the program, saying providers want more assurances about how the program will operate before joining.

“Only limited program and financial information is available to providers before they apply to the program," the audit said. "Preschool for All has a provider program guide, which has extensive instructions and requirements for providers. However, it is not on the website and not available to providers before they have applied."

The audit adds, “While the website lists the current seat reimbursement rate, it is less clear about other funding. It says that providers may be able to receive the following funds: start-up, transportation, infant/toddler stabilization, and inclusion support funds. However, except for start-up funds, it does not describe how much money is available per preschool. It also says that inclusion support funds are subject to approval.”

Auditors also heard concerns over whether program funding is enough to cover business expenses and if providers will receive enough supports to serve children with disabilities.

Providers denied

While searching for preschool providers, Preschool for All has also denied about a quarter of provider applications -- denying 83 applicants in three years, according to the audit.

Preschool for All screens providers on several factors including their ability to serve priority students and readiness for the program.

As most denied providers do not apply for the program again, auditors suggest Preschool for All should work with denied preschools to help them gain approval down the road.

Changing operations

Auditors also noted that the Preschool for All program has several requirements, so some schools have to adapt in order to join. These requirements include 10-hour program days (or six if on a school year schedule), specific teacher wages and benefits, a second staffer during program hours, along with requirements for certain insurance levels and schools must offer lunch.

While some schools found the changes to be beneficial -- such as providers serving more diverse classrooms -- auditors noted some challenges providers face, including needing to build kitchen facilities or hire more staff to cover longer hours.

While Preschool for All is at risk of not meeting its 2032 goal, the program has two strategies to expand. This includes a facilities fund for schools to renovate along with investments to increase teaching staff.

"The new capacity needed is hard to estimate in part because the market is changing. State licensing data shows that the number of providers decreased during the pandemic but began increasing again in 2023," the audit notes. "The change was most dramatic for home-based providers. The number of center-based preschools has been more stable. However, because center-based preschools serve more children than home-based preschools, small changes in the number of center-based preschools can have a greater effect. At least some growth came from Preschool for All providers expanding to new locations."

Recommendations

Overall, the audit offers 16 recommendations for the county's Department of Human Services, which oversees Preschool for All.

By May 1, 2025, auditors recommend the program develop and implement a process to verify the accuracy of families' application answers when it comes to identifying priority students.

At minimum, auditors say this includes verifying income with documentation since it's the highest-weighted and is straightforward to document.

Other recommendations should be implemented by April 1, 2026. These recommendations includin maintaining a list of available preschool seats on the Preschool for All website for parents looking to enroll their children, adding more teacher trainings and specifying facility funding guidelines for providers.

In response to the audit, Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said, in part, "The Preschool and Early Learning Division (PEL) is committed to building a strong and
sustainable program that meets the needs of families and providers. Many of the improvements
highlighted in this report are already underway. We appreciate your partnership in this effort
and look forward to sharing our progress in the future."